EVs will be cheaper to race and maintain!

The electric car revolution will be helpful to the hip pockets of those who have their own Porsche race car.

That might seem trite, but according to Björn Förster, Porsche’s GT4 e-Performance vehicle project manager, costs will conceivably be considerably lower for EV customer race vehicles than for ICE models – namely due to fuel and maintenance costs.

“I would say the regular combustion engine race car with about 75 hours of racing costs about 70,000 to 100,000 euros,” said Mr Förster, before explaining that the durability of the battery system and electric motors employed in the GT4e-Performance is, in theory, significantly more sound than a combustion engine model.

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“So as long as you can keep it at 45 degrees, there won’t be any damage,” Mr Förster said of the battery system, which is cooled by a novel oil-cycling system developed in conjunction with Mobil 1.

Mr Förster admitted that this project car - which essentially frankensteins a Taycan EV together with a previous-gen 718 Cayman along with about 6000 unique parts - was not the perfect way to put together a fully electric sports car, but said lessons learned in the development of this racer will flow through to future production EV sports cars.

“The biggest challenge was placing 80kWh of battery capacity into a small chassis vehicle,” he said. “That’s the reason this setup of batteries is really a compromise to get the same capacity from a Taycan, a four-door sedan, into a coupe.”

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The battery isn’t a traditional ‘bank’ or ‘skateboard’ platform - instead, there are three separate battery casings in the car - one under the bonnet, one in the passenger’s footwell, and a third behind the seats.

Mr Förster said that while this is a prototype, the target cost for a production model is around 300,000 euros. For a little further context, the most recent Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car had a list price of 225,000 euros… and then you need to consider that, if Mr Förster’s assertion is correct, there will be far less maintenance needed, and no hefty fuel bills, either.

“To offer it with a good price of 300,000 euros, maybe, for a race car, we need a proper street car, which is already electric, which is a two-door, to build an electric race car out of that.

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That’s the main point we’re waiting for to start with the development of the next version,” he said of the future-gen 718 Cayman and 718 Boxster models which are due in the next couple of years.

Time on track is another cost consideration: EVs are still far slower to ‘refuel’ than conventional vehicles: on 350kW charging – if present in the pit lane – it’s still at least 15 minutes of charging before only getting 25-30 minutes of drive time.

However, the GT4 e-Performance prototype’s oil-cooled battery system will cool itself while you recharge, essentially lessening the potential downtime once you’re back on track.

But don’t expect an oil-cooled system in the production model, as Mr Förster suggested that this car’s tech is “five years ahead” of what has potential for mainstream production.