Bosch and Aston Martin recently teamed up to create a very special hybrid-powered Aston Martin DB9 with the aim of showcasing the driving dynamics capable of being achieved with hybrid sports cars.
Bosch Engineering and Aston Martin have quite a close relationship so when Bosch requested the use of an Aston Martin DB9 to transform into a hybrid-powered British supercar, Aston Martin happily obliged and the following car was created. While the word ‘hybrid’ in an automotive sense is often associated with being slow and unpowerful, the Aston Martin DB9 Hybrid by Bosch promises to produce over 740hp.
To achieve this massive horsepower gain over the regular Aston Martin DB9 which delivers 510hp, two new motors now power the front wheels thus making the Aston Martin DB9 Hybrid the very first all-wheel drive Aston Martin. These two new motors are driven by a 180kW lithium-ion battery mounted just ahead of the rear axle. As a result of these additional systems, the Aston Martin DB9 Hybrid now weighs 300kg more than the standard car lifting the total weight figure up to a hefty 1,785kg.
The Aston Martin DB9 Hybrid is set to begin performance testing now where simulations predict it should slash the 4.6-second sprint to 62mph of the regular DB9 by 20%. However, the Aston Martin DB9 isn’t all about straight line performance, as the car also features advanced torque vectoring for improved handling while also being fitted with Bosch’s advanced ESP system.
It’s been confirmed that this hybrid powertrain is not in the pipline for production and instead just previews a direction hybrids could take in the future.
[Via Auto Express]
