The electric car is an option that people consider when they want to buy a car, and therefore they ask: What benefits me most? An electric or plug-in hybrid?

The electric car offers us greater economic advantages than when buying a plug-in hybrid, but it is recommended for people who travel through urban areas (cities where they live) or surroundings, since batteries of great autonomy have not yet been developed . We remember that one thing is the autonomy data that manufacturers expose in their brochures or web pages, but then the consumption is very different, since factors such as asphalt, temperature and air conditioning, among others.

To be honest, the hybrid is a very viable option, since it offers many of the advantages of electric, but we can also venture on long-distance trips, since we do not only depend on the electric motor. That is one of the reasons why people opt more for the hybrid.

Also noteworthy are the disadvantages that a hybrid can bring, such as the wear of not only one type of engine, but two. Another disadvantage is consumption, since we pay for electricity consumption and gasoline consumption, so the electric vehicle would be a more profitable option in that regard.

Two of the most important disadvantages of the electric vehicle are price and recharging. Electric vehicles are very expensive for the features they offer, since they have not yet come to offer the autonomy and comfort features of a conventional car. (That the plug-in hybrid vehicle does offer)
The second, the recharge, is a more difficult issue to resolve, since as the Porsche directive said a week ago in the presentation of the Porsche Taycan 4S, the recharge should be reduced to 15 minutes and allow 300km autonomy. But how do we control that duration with a massive use of electric vehicles? What would be 15 theoretical minutes of recharging, could become more than double by waiting.

As I reflected in one of my first posts, I believe that the infrastructure needed to introduce the electric car is not yet finished, and therefore, the plug-in hybrid car is a better, more affordable option and offers greater comfort characteristics than the electric one today.

The last moment for the V12, V10 and V8 has arrived. Why? Are we going to run out of that heavenly sound of the Lamborghini and Ferrari V12? Without the V10 N / A of the Hurricane? Without the Ferrari V8 that made us get a smile every time we heard them pass?

Although we find it hard to believe, it is. With the arrival of the F8 Tribute there is an advance of goodbye to that V8 engine that has been 4 consecutive times the best engine of the year.
SF90 Stradale is called the new project that Ferrari presented a few months ago, using the hybrid technology of, until now the crown jewel of the Cavallino brand, the LaFerrari, but in which they do give the option of using e-drive mode (driving 100% without CO2 emissions). The vehicle mounts a V8 biturbo of 780 hp, and 3 electric motors that give an additional power of 220 hp.

In the case of Lamborghini they have also taken a step forward with the arrival of two cars that join the current line-up. First came Terzo Millennio, through a collaboration with MIT in which they tried to recreate the supercar of the future, which, as the Sant Agata brand suggests, is totally electric. Although the prototype is made, materials and technologies were still in development, such as the carbon fiber of the chassis and the body, which uses microtubes between links to recharge the battery thanks to the friction of the air with the car.

The brand car founded by Ferrucio Lamborghini that has been put up for sale and that makes Lamborghini’s entry into the plug-in hybrid sector a reality is the Lamborghini Sián FKP 37. Limited to 63 units, it consists of a V12 engine with 785 hp and an electric motor that provides an additional 34 hp.

There is still time for this type of engine, but the strategy chosen by these two brands is very important. Why? It confirms the change of mentality in the automobile industry, and the arrival, to stay, of the electric motor.

It is well known that Porsche has been expanding its range of models for a long time, and not only in segment type, but also in engine types. Who imagined a Porsche with diesel or hybrid engine?

If we had said it when I was born, back in 1998, they would have thought it was practically impossible, but in 2008 we would see the first Porsche diesel: Cayenne (957 E1 II).

Breaking the rules, Porsche presented its first hybrid in the luxury segment, the Cayenne S e-hybrid (958). Which was a success, which was accompanied by Panamena S e-hybrid.

Those were the first steps of Porsche in the world of electric motors. And why did they bet on them? Everything has to do with the spirit of competition of the Stuttgart brand, since the technology that has the Cayenne and the Panamera served as proof to build one of the jewels of the crown of motoring, the 918 Spyder and the 919 hybrid ( three-way endurance champion from 2015 to 2017).

With the new staging of the most recent model: Taycan, we see how Porsche has gone from the so-called Mission E, which was just a concept, to reality. Betting on the elimination of its diesel engines, Porsche puts all its effort into having its entire range with the hybrid option and in the case of the Taycan, fully electric.

In addition, Porsche executives in 2016 commented that they were considering entering 2018 in F1, since the technology used thanks to the FIA ​​(Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) regulations are hybrid V6 engines. Even so, Porsche opted for Formula E. For those who do not understand, it is a type of racing very similar to F1 but in which only the use of 100% electric motors is allowed.

That gives us a clue that Porsche wants a total transformation to electric motors, and we get to wonder if, as rumors say, the sports models entering the brand (718 Boxter and Cayman) are going to be electric about 2021- 2022. Like the successor of the 918 Spyder, which is expected in 100% electric version

Other models such as the legendary 911 may remain «pure», but it is also said that its more sporty variants will have hybrid engines and the Carrera models will be gradually plug-in hybrids.

«Change is easy, improvement is far more difficult»

Dr. Ferdinand Porsche.

Since Tesla and other brands, such as Toyota and BMW, opted for fully electric models, a movement has emerged against cars in this new category powered by those who want to be called «purists» of the motor world and those interested in protecting The German automotive industry.

They have all asked themselves the same question: is the electric car really an aid to the environment as they are selling us? Does it pollute less than an internal combustion car?

In this debate the German economist Hans-Werner Sinn enters, who through the collaboration of German scientists Christoph Buchal and Hans-Dieter Karl compared the emission of CO₂ into the atmosphere of the Mercedes-Benz C220d Bluetech and the young son of the brand of the T, the Model 3.

In this study we try to show that the car of the brand of the star comes to consume between 11-28% less in its useful life than the Model 3. It should be noted that in this study only CO2 emissions were taken into account, forgetting the remains of other particles such as NOx that also help the formation of the ozone layer.

In response to this study, the voice of Auke Hoekstra, Senior Advisor Electric Mobility of Eindhoven University, was raised.

Hoekstra’s response criticized the non-consideration of other gases emitted by diesel engines, as we discussed earlier.

To this discrepancy of opinions, we must add if really the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere is based only on vehicles. To manufacture an electric vehicle and a diesel one, basically the same amount of CO2 is emitted, although in the case of Tesla the figure is minimized thanks to its Gigafactory that uses renewable energy sources. In the same way that in the manufacture of internal combustion engines and lithium batteries have a very similar effect.