Super plug-in hybrids prosper during EV revolution

As the world shifts to electric-only, hybrid supercars are a experiencing a golden age of manufacturing.

The McLaren Artura is the latest example of a jaw-dropping hybrid super car.

Billionaire car collectors, and even those who buy just a few super cars now and then, should be smiling even more than they already do because we are currently living through a golden age for these magnificent machines, according to McLaren engineering guru Geoff Grose.

Now is also the time to snap up as many McLarens as you can while they are still making glorious, shouty noises, Grose advised, because the age of silent-running, all-electric super cars is fast approaching.

Speaking to The Australian at the launch of his company’s incredible new plug-in super hybrid, the McLaren Artura, Grose, McLaren’s Head of Vehicle Development, predicted there was “a lot of life in the internal-combustion engine yet”, but admitted that the way engineers were adapting to the electric future – by combining the traditional high-end performance of combustion engines with the low-down, 100 per cent of torque at zero rpm shove of electric motors – was creating some unique machines.

The motoring brand’s new plug-in super hybrid, the McLaren Artura.

“The big challenge for electrification in any context is the weight that the batteries bring, and the impact that has on performance,” Grose explained.

“We really don’t need to worry about full electrification, when it comes, because it will deliver amazing performance, and by then electric cars will be light enough to be fun, but you don’t see that at the moment with a lot of electric cars – they can deliver astonishing performance up to about 60km/h, but then an EV can feel quite different.

“But there are some really appealing things about how these two technologies – the instant torque of electric motors with the turbocharged engines – work together.

“Usually with turbos you have to have some compromise, you have to find a way to get them spinning – so you have twin scrolls and so on – but that problem is instantly solved by the electric motor, which gives you what we call torque infill.

“The motor gives you that instant shove and then the turbos join in and you just have this incredible level of performance.”

Gorgeous, powerful and packed with performance.

By using a smaller battery, one that allows the Artura to be driven in EV-only mode, at speeds of up to 130km/h, for around 30km – and combining it with a twin-turbo V6 engine – McLaren is able to keep its newest super car light enough to feel and handle like an old-school V8. And the figures are impressive, with 500kW, 720Nm (220Nm of which comes from the electric motor), a zero to 100km/h time of 2.9 seconds and 0 to 200km/h in 8.3 seconds.

Super plug-in hybrids like this are all the rage at present, with Ferrari already offering one in the gorgeous shape of its 296 GTB (with 610kW/740Nm) and Lamborghini recently announcing its new HPEV (High Performance Electric Vehicle), which will replace the famous Aventador and will feature a hybrid set up using a V12 engine and three electric motors, making 1000 very loud horsepower (745kW).

Hybrid technology creates unique machines, like the McLaren Artura.

“This really is a golden age of hybrid powertrain technology and we do see hybrid as being gate dominant powertrain out to the end of this decade, at least, because we don’t believe EV technology is mature enough to deliver a fully electric super car that would be true to the DNA of the McLaren brand,” a McLaren spokesman added.

“We don’t believe EV tech is there yet, we believe it will be, but it’s still some way off yet.”