GREAT WHITE HOPE
IT IS A WATERSHED — THE FIRST ELECTRIC RACING PROTOTYPE PORSCHE HAVE SH A RED WITH THE WORLD
HALF A DOZEN ENGINEERS stand there, arms crossed, as the car rolls up to the charger. The 405 freeway rushes by in the background, maybe 100 metres away, six lanes in each direction. Half a mile in the distance, the 110 freeway does the same thing. The racket of combustion-engine traffic is cacophonous — so loud, in fact, that it can be heard inside a helmet, with earplugs, over the soft hum of the electric Porsche at “idle”.
The Porsche Experience Center Los Angeles is located at the intersection of two of the busiest freeways in Southern California. The device we are here to test is neither a racing car nor an actual production prototype, though it does a bit of each job. Porsche say their Mission R is worth nearly €10 million (Rs 85 crore) and that the car’s two electric motors can produce a combined).
