Image Courtesy of : Car and Driver

A few short years ago, hybrid cars were nothing more than gray bricks of commuter cars, the anti car enthusiast product that threatened all we hold righteous. Powered by small displacement engines and supplemented by weak electric motors connected to CVT transmissions, they relentlessly removed all joy from driving. These left lane roadblocks became the car of choice for people who felt they were single handedly saving the world while we were too wrapped up in our own lives to care. This has since changed with the latest release of Hybrid super cars that transformed how we view the use of electric motors to enhance the combustion engine. The speed at which hybrid technology has advance is astounding. Using the assistance of electric motors for performance rather than efficiency has opened to door for numerous hybrid super cars that challenge the limits of what is possible. Today some of the fastest cars on earth are hybrids but four short years ago an Infiniti M35h sedan held the title of fastest hybrid.



In the year 2012 Infiniti released a video to solidify their claim as fastest hybrid using the most conclusive test in the automotive world, a quarter mile drag race. The video pits a Porsche Panamera Hybrid against the undisputed fastest hybrid at the time, an Infiniti M35h. Today we are lucky enough to view this video and see just how far we have advanced in four short years. The progress of hybrid technology and electric motors is almost unbelievable; it is like going from the original iPhone to an iPhone 6S in four short years.




In 2012 all it took was a 0-60 sprint of 5.2 seconds and a quarter mile time of 13.9 seconds of the M35h to claim the title of fastest Hybrid. However, in 2016 the fastest accelerating hybrid is the Porsche 918 Spyder, which was built to remedy the embarrassing loss of the Panamera Hybrid in 2012 to Infiniti. A 0-60 time of 2.5 seconds and quarter mile time of 10.2 seconds was able to beat the upstart Infiniti and return glory to the Porsche brand. In addition to beating the record setting Infiniti, Porsche was able to half the 0-60 time in 4 short years.

Image Courtesy of : Motor Trend


This type of progress shows the potential of hybrid technology and its application in cars to improve every aspect of performance. As this new tech grows and evolves we will see it touch more and more segments of cars. Hybrids have grown so much in the past 4 years; in this short time frame we have seen a complete shift in how we view electric motors. Instead of bringing on the death of the internal combustion engine they promise to prolong its life and improve performance.

