#Plug-in911

Rumors of an electrified Porsche 911 have been circulating for months — and were eventually confirmed when CEO Oliver Blume claimed the forthcoming plug-in would be the “most powerful” version of the sports coupe the company has ever built. This, of course, stoked new rumors that automaker might decide to make the 911 a fully electric model.

Porsche wants to put those ideas down before they get out of hand. At the company’s annual results conference in Stuttgart, Blume clarified that the 911 would eventually yield a plug-in variant but would never be purely electric. While we advise all automakers to never say never, Porsche does seem to feel as if a battery only edition of the 911 is preposterous. The CEO even warned that the high-performance hybrid wouldn’t appear until some time after the 922 generation had already been in production. “We are waiting for the further evolution in battery technology so you should not expect a plug-in version in the coming years. It’s currently planned when the 992 is refreshed,” he said.

Last year, Porsche paraded out its 911 GT2 RS at the Electronic Entertainment Expo and dubbed it the most powerful 911 in history. However, its 640 horsepower will seem tepid when the next-generation 911 debuts. Referred to internally as the 922 series, the model will continue to host turbocharged flat-six engines in conjunction with rear- or all-wheel drive. But Porsche is also working on a plug-in hybrid variant of the car that’s scheduled for 2021.

While the 911 Turbo S is rumored to make around 630 horsepower, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume suggests the PHEV should be able to surpass it by a wide margin when it rolls off the assembly line a few years after the internal combustion cars. Assuming it’s using the same electrical system as the Panamera 4 E-Hybrid, that could tack on another 136 bhp to whatever six the company chooses to install.