Comment by _yb2s | Hacker News Reader

Comment by _yb2s | Hacker News Reader

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I drive an older Porsche and am considering an EV conversion. I would opt to do it myself, and keep the weight and weight location (balance) exactly identical to stock. To do this, it would require using a relatively small battery with less range to keep the weight low.

A Tesla Model Y has a 1700lb battery, and 300 mile range. So as a rough approximation, I could get 70 miles of range with a 400lb battery in place of the 400lb engine. That would be more than enough for me. Realistically, I could probably go even further than 70 miles with that size battery since the Porsche is a much smaller car, that weighs only 60% what a model Y weighs.

I'll probably wait until my Porsche engine (which runs perfect now) has some sort of expensive failure. Rebuilding a porsche engine properly is crazy expensive, more than the parts for an EV conversion.

Here's the thing... if you're going to do all of the work and expense of an EV conversion (maybe $100k for a pro job, or $10-20k in parts plus a lot of work), you want something unique and fun to drive. Nothing is really as fun to drive as a Porsche...

I can see doing this on a 914, 924/944, 928, 955, 996/997 (but people probably aren’t calling a 997 “older” yet).

For a valuable Porsche, though, I’d 10/10 do an expensive repair and keep the car gas. (There’s a pretty good chance that the EV conversion would worsen the driving dynamics and kill a lot of the current fun.)

You can get an automatic 986 Boxster for really cheap, and the space to put batteries in the center is pretty ideal... I expect once Porsche starts selling EV Boxsters they will be pretty great

You should definitely also put a bunch of batteries where the gas tank is and maybe even the front trunk (it's tiny anyway). That way you get much better balance.

> I'll probably wait until my Porsche engine (which runs perfect now) has some sort of expensive failure.

Don't get me started ;)

While you would get a nice static balance that way, hanging heavy weights far from the center of a sports car would likely destroy its charm.

That's why the fuel tank is in the front to begin with: to counterbalance the weight of the engine a bit.

The engine is about as far off-center as it is possible to go on a Porsche, it's hanging over behind the rear axle.

Porsche has been trying to transition to mid-engined sports cars ever since they started for better handling... the first 356 prototype was even mid-engined. But consumers keep wanting to buy rear-engined 911s so they keep selling them.

Porsche's factory race cars have been mostly mid-engined all along, and the 914, Boxster, Cayman, and 918 Spyder are mass produced mid-engined models.

Mid-engined Porsches IMO are ideally suited for EV conversion because they have no back seat, but instead have room for a battery right in the middle of the car, where the impact on handling is reduced.

The Cayman and Boxster are amazing to drive but even less practical than a 911. It's pretty tricky how Porsche purposefully underpowers them compared to the 911 so they keep selling their big ticket items. Also those two little jump seats make it a more or less usable family car for people with small kids.

A two seater is more practical for me with one kid… I can take the carpool lane with just the two of us! I take my son to school everyday in a Boxster… the dealer said I’m the first person in an decade to get the airbag reprogrammed for a front child seat.

Porsche had a hilarious ad campaign for the Boxster supposedly marketing it towards families with kids… pointing out that you would have to leave the kids at home.

I actually disagree that the Boxster/Cayman are underpowered just to sell 911s, I think Porsche engineers know what they are doing there. They are lighter than an 911, and have less traction with the weight further forward. They can’t really make use of as much power as a 911, and don’t need as much. Maybe with a limited slip and real race tires, but otherwise the Boxster already has as much power as it can actually transfer to the ground. It looks underpowered on paper, but I don’t think that opinion would persist past driving one hard on a winding road… they have a ton more power than other similar light roadsters like an mr2, miata, or Lotus elise.

That's a good point, they may not be able to effectively use it. But: the point that they are trying really hard not to cannibalize 911 sales has been made many times before and has more than a grain of truth in it.

Your son must be smiling on his school ride :)

Haha... He is used to it, and is mostly jealous that other cars have roofs for shade and warmth (I leave the top down year round)

It's true though that they could easily upstage the 911 with something more like a street legal version of their mid engine race cars. They arguably did this with the Carrera GT and later 918, but they didn't sell well at over $800k.

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