As any Porsche lover knows, the automaker produces an electric sports car, the Taycan, which in GT Weissach form (US$231,995) develops 1,019 peak horsepower and takes just 2.1 seconds to reach 60 miles per hour. But what Porsche doesn’t do is produce an electric version of its absolutely iconic 911.
At the moment, that’s a job for the British company Everrati, which installs electric power into examples of the 911 built between 1988 and 1994 (code named 964). Everatti also transforms Land and Range Rovers, as well as classic Mercedes-Benz SLs, and an interpretation of the Ford GT40. The 911s have carbon-fibre body panels for lightness and are built in California through a partnership with Aria. That company creates concept and pre-production vehicles for global automakers.
Everrati’s latest creation is the Porsche 911 Signature Wide Body. With the hard-to-miss ducktail, it resembles a 1980s Porsche Turbo—but handles better. For a price that starts at £290,000 (US$360,467) customers get a car with 500 horsepower and 368.78 pound-feet of torque. The car has a 62-kilowatt-hour battery pack from LG Chem, yielding in this lightweight configuration approximately 200 miles of range. A single motor is connected to a limited-slip differential.
Also available is a Legacy model with 247 horsepower and 228.64 pound-feet. These cars look like earlier 911s (without the wide body and ducktail, for instance) and are built in a time-consuming restoration process. Given the work required, the price is the same as the Signature.
Features on the Signature include electronically adjustable suspension, regenerative braking, a “Porsche inspired” five-gauge cluster, and DC fast-charging capability. Everrati is also offering a Signature Gulf Edition of the 911, painted in the iconic blue-and-orange livery of the Gulf racing team (as seen at Le Mans and other venues).
The first Everrati 911 to go to a U.S. customer this month is a Mexico Blue Signature model delivered to California resident Matt Rogers, who co-founded the smart thermostat company that eventually became Google Nest. Rogers said in a statement that his car “captures the zeitgeist perfectly, being sustainable and environmentally conscious while also keeping the character of [Porsche’s] air-cooled era.”
Justin Lunny, Everatti co-founder and CEO, tells Penta that the company “doesn’t ‘convert’ cars to electric; instead, we redefine them as electric vehicles, worrying about such factors as driving feel and weight distribution. We hire very-experienced EV engineers and use the highest level of electric components, such as batteries and motors you would see in EVs from OEM manufacturers such as Rimac or Lotus.”
Lunny says that Everrati puts motor and batteries in the back, where Porsche located the engine and transmission on its 911s, with more batteries and power electronics up front, where the original gas tank resided.
U.K. customer cars will still make the trek to California. Lunny explains that right-hand-drive 911s are sourced in Britain and shipped to the U.S., where they’re stripped to the chassis and slowly built up with the new carbon-fibre panels. They then go back to the U.K. for finishing.
“EV is not the only answer, but we do believe it will become the predominate powertrain,” Lunny says.
The company concentrates on a few models, but it’s willing to entertain bespoke one-off commissions, such as an electric Lamborghini for a customer in the Middle East. Such projects require a huge engineering commitment, and the resulting vehicle isn’t by any means inexpensive, costing US$500,000 or more. But it will be fully developed as an EV.
Porsche, too, is mostly going electric, with plans to have EVs make up more than 80% of new car sales by 2030. In 2021, more than 40% of the cars delivered in Europe were at least partly electric, either plug-in hybrids or full EVs. The 911 has no plans for full electrification, though a hybrid version appears likely. Lunny himself drives a battery-powered Porsche Taycan.
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Audible alerts at the gate call out travellers trying to board earlier than they should
TUCSON, Ariz.—Passengers in Boarding Group 1 were filing onto American Airlines Flight 2721 to Dallas Friday when an ominous sound went off at Gate B11: dip-dip-dip-DOOP. The gate agent delivered the bad news. The passenger was in Group 4. She asked him to wait his turn.
The same sound—the last-gasp sound from AirPods running out of juice, or sad “Game Over” music for an old videogame—went off minutes later. Dip-dip-dip-DOOP.
“You’ll be boarding with Group 5, sir,” the agent said. Five more passengers were turned back before Group 2 was called.
American Airlines is cracking down on line jumpers. All major U.S. airlines do their best to maintain boarding order since priority boarding is a perk for frequent fliers , credit-card holders and big spenders, and is often available for purchase. But American is the first to develop an automated system that instantly flags offenders.
The airline is experimenting at gates in Tucson, Albuquerque, N.M., and Washington, D.C., as part of a broader upgrade to American’s boarding technology. The airline has tested the alerts on more than 4,500 flights this month and will expand to several more cities this year, with an eye to taking it systemwide if no major issues, such as slower boarding, arise at larger airports. The airline says early feedback from fliers and gate agents has been encouraging.
The idea for automated policing grew out of complaints from travellers fed up with line jumpers and the employees who feel their wrath. In particular, top-tier frequent fliers gripe about too many passengers in the first boarding group, says Preston Peterson, American’s managing director of customer experience.
Group 1 is reserved for travellers in first class, certain business-class tickets and American’s executive platinum status. Active duty military members with military I.D. are also allowed. Groups 2 and 3 are similarly elite.
“They’ve earned that [priority] boarding group and they want access to it,” Peterson says.
The biggest perks, of course: plenty of overhead bin space and no worries about the dreaded threat of gate-checking your bag.
A clear difference
The new system promises smoother boarding for passengers and gate agents. I flew to Tucson International Airport to try it out. I put the airline’s traditional boarding to the test at my departure gate in Phoenix. Could I slither into an earlier boarding group? I was in Group 4 but breezed right through with Group 2.
Gate agents tell me it’s hard to monitor passengers’ group numbers manually, big plane or small, especially with boarding-pass readers where travellers plunk their phones face down.
American isn’t telling passengers about the test before their flights, and that’s on purpose. It doesn’t want them to change their behaviour simply because they’re being watched.
Chad Vossen, a 46-year-old chief creative officer for a video-marketing company in Virginia, knew nothing of the test until he and a colleague tried to board in Group 6 instead of Group 8 for a flight to Phoenix. They had done it on other American flights and others, in hopes of avoiding gate-checking their camera equipment.
His first thought when the dip-dip-dip-DOOP went off: “Wow, that doesn’t sound good.”
Vossen says it triggered the sounds losers hear on “Hollywood Squares” or “ The Price is Right .” (American says the sound effects are generic videogame clips and is still testing different sounds.)
He stepped out of line and laughed about getting caught. Vossen says he sees the change mainly as a way to get travellers to pay up for priority boarding. He’s unlikely to pay, but says he will probably finally sign up for American’s loyalty program. Members get complimentary Group 6 boarding regardless of status. That’s one group ahead of regular Main Cabin customers without status.
Peterson, the American customer-experience executive, believes most passengers aren’t out to game the system.
“I think most people just see a line and go, ‘Oh, we’re boarding,’” he says.
Toot toot, hey, beep beep
About one in 10 passengers on American’s test flights have boarded out of order, the airline says. Not all want to cheat the system. Some are travel companions of those with better boarding positions. American’s policy allows them to board together if they’re on the same reservation but didn’t assign the same boarding group. (The alert still goes off, but the agent can easily override it.) And the airline says its system doesn’t flag pre-boarders, like those with wheelchairs.
Exceptions excluded, I counted as many as seven passengers on one flight boarding in the wrong group; on another, it was zero. That math no doubt changes at a busy hub like Chicago or Dallas. So does the potential for tension.
The passengers I saw seemed to take the ejection in stride, moving aside and waiting for their group. One even apologised to the gate agent.
The test is already having an impact beyond the walk of shame. Peterson says the airline has noticed some passengers jumping out of line after seeing fellow fliers turned away. He says he witnessed the same thing at a non-U.S. airline that began policing boarding groups.
Peterson’s ultimate goal: zero boarding group alerts. “I don’t want anyone to be dinged,” he says.
For now, passengers should expect a cacophony at American gates employing the new tech. Not all alerts will send you to the back of the line. Hear a slot-machine-like sound when you scan your boarding pass? You’re probably seated in an exit row.
Even if you get the dreaded you’re-in-the wrong-boarding-group alert, it could be a mistake. A passenger in Group 8 was taken aback Friday afternoon when it sounded on her flight to Phoenix.
“That did not sound good at all,” she said to the flight attendant.
“You failed at ‘Pac-Man,’” the agent joked.
She was in the right place. The agent hadn’t yet flipped the switch in the app to her group.
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