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Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid: The plug-in for plutocrats

It's amazing what swapping batteries can do

Driving charge

Porsche reckons the Panamera S E-Hybrid has as 22-mile (35km) electric-only driving range but is at pains to point out that the real world range may vary since the air conditioning and heating are deactivated under NEDC test conditions. A more realistic figure would be, it says, somewhere between 11-22 miles (18-35km). In my experience, you get about 15-17 miles (24-27km) under battery power unless you drive either unusually gently or unusually aggressively.

Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid

Well whaddya know, it looks like a Porsche...

On the road, the Panamera has three hybrid drive modes: E-Power, E-Charge and the default Hybrid. In the first mode, the car moves under electric power only. As you’d expect, driving a car that weighs 2,095kg with only 95bhp is not a recipe for excitement but performance still isn't too shabby.

Under electric drive the Panamera will whirr up to 30mph (48kmph) in 6.1 seconds and push onto a maximum speed of 83mph (133kmph). This mode then is clearly designed for trundling around a city centre or stop-start driving on a congested motorway and for that performance is perfectly adequate.

Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid

...even more so from the rear

If circumstance requires the E-Power mode can be overridden temporarily by pushing the throttle hard towards the carpet and, in effect, kicking down. Once normality has resumed the car will revert to electric-only drive without any action required of the driver.

The problem with accelerating hard in E-Power mode is the noticeable pause as the drive train gets its act together and responds to your unexpected demand for more power. The transition from pure electric to hard V6-assisted acceleration is just a bit inelegant for a luxury machine like this.

Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid

The dashboard is elegant and informative too – click for a larger image

In the default Hybrid mode, the system blends electric power and drive from the 333bhp 3.0L supercharged V6 when it thinks best. With this combination there is much less delay when the V6 is brought into play. In this mode the system also tries its darndest to maintain the battery level unless you use the E-Power mode.

In the final setting, E-Charge, the V6 is brought online more often and on the open road will recharge the battery directly via the electric motor/generator. Porsche reckons that in this mode the V6 is kept running in its most efficient state, so by charging the battery it is actually making slightly better use of the energy contained in the petrol its burning.

Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid

See the energy flow – click for a larger image

In any of those three hybrid modes the Panamera is more Prius than Porsche but that’s a problem solved by pushing the Sport or Sport Plus buttons, which seriously ginger the Panamera up.

Once pressed those buttons let you feel the full effect of the drivetrain’s maximum 416bhp (306kW) and 435lb-ft (589Nm) output thanks to sharpened throttle response, more aggressive gear changes and stiffened suspension. In either of the spicy settings, the Panamera can get to 62mph (100kmph) in 5.5 seconds and then on to a top speed of 167mph (269kmph).

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