McLaren P1: World’s Fastest Plug-In Hybrid
By Jason Bennion | February 21, 2013
I’ve been saying for years that if hybrid drive-train technology is ever going to really take off with consumers, the engineers have got to build it into a car that has some sex appeal. The Toyota Prius and Honda Insight are popular enough, I suppose, and they aren’t bad-looking little cars for suburban runabouts… but I’ve never heard anybody ever call them “cool.” It seems to me hybrids to date have all been designed with an eye toward practicality and respectability. In short, they’re boring.
But now British autobuilder McLaren is aiming to change that impression with its upcoming P1 supercar. Set to make its official debut next week, the McLaren P1 already has tongues wagging thanks to some (no doubt carefully and deliberately) leaked details, such as a carbon-fiber body resting atop a twin-turbo 3.8-liter V-8, which is married to a huge 211-pound battery pack. At 903 total horsepower, McLaren is promising the P1 will be the world’s fastest plug-in hybrid… and it even gets pretty good mileage, which is, of course, the whole point of hybrids. All in a package that even I, an avowed Luddite who prefers the looks of 1960s Detroit to anything that ever rolled out of Europe, have to admit is pretty damn hot…
For more technical info plus a video of a camo-wrapped P1 in action, hop over to the Motoramic blog. Meanwhile, the guys at Speedhunters.com were lucky enough to get an exclusive preview of a P1 in more conventional livery, and they’ve got the photos to show for it. (I love Speedhunters’ description of the car: “The bodywork of the P1 looks like it’s been draped over the car in gaseous form and then solidified into this sinuous, curvaceous shape.” Yeah, that about sums it up.)
Now, if only someone would drop this technology into a Mustang or Camaro and price it so normal people could actually get their hands on one…
(Photo credit: Motoramic)
Jason Bennion also blogs at www.jasonbennion.com.
3 Comments
Chance Hales on February 21, 2013 at 8:07 pm.
Is that seriously the way they did the batteries? Ugh! FAIL! They need a lesson in battery layout from Tesla. The Model S’s batteries are flat under the floor essentially making the floor entirely made of the battery packs. They did this to not only create more space in the cabin(something Fisker failed miserably at) but also to keep the center of gravity low.
jason on February 21, 2013 at 8:33 pm.
Keep in mind, though, that the Tesla is all-electric. This thing also has an engine they had to work around. I wouldn’t second-guess the engineering team until the car actually comes out.
Besides, who’s to say that diagram is entirely accurate?
Chance Hales on February 21, 2013 at 9:23 pm.
Still seems like you should be able to put it all under the cockpit. It isn’t AWD so there isn’t a transmission/driveline tunnel and everything is all electronic these days from the steering to the pedals. Depending on how the batteries are laid out in that pack, it looks like they are shooting for them to be for pure power and not range. Unless that pack is in sideways…