I think Chris Harris may currently be the world’s favorite automotive journalist. What I mean is that many automakers enjoy giving him access to their latest and greatest cars because he always gives an honest and well articulated opinion that excites his readers and subscribers. It works out for us here at Flux Auto because we’re now entering an era of hybrid and electric supercars. McLaren just announced the P1 hybrid and Ferrari was not far behind with the LaFerrari. We already have the Mercedes SLS AMG Electric Drive and Porsche has been working on this 918 Spyder since last year. Journalists have been getting unprecedented rides in the 918’s test mules very early on in the development process probably as a demonstration on just how much work has gone into the controls architecture that blends power from the electric motors and the V8.

This video from Chris Harris is the first that I’ve found where Porsche has allowed outside personnel to drive the cars. They also prepared better finalized technical specifications and some technology demonstrations including a new technique where they are skinning carbon fiber with aluminum. Chris also gets a few minutes to pick the brain of the lead engineer and even discuss the merits and market demand for a hybrid supercar. In the end, the 918 Spyder will sell simply because it’s a technological masterpiece of a halo car. The training of engineers on electric and hybrid performance is also necessary even if the end result is a car that performs only equally as well as current technology. That’s the only way we’ll break through to green cars that perform better than gasoline cars.