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ROBERTO BALDWIN:
Imagine you want

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to add another 150
horsepower and another 150

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foot pounds of torque.

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Well, what do you do?

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Do you add a turbocharger, a
supercharger, a new exhaust?

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Actually, you turn
it into a hybrid.

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And Vonnen, with their Shadow
Drive, they can do that.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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A hybrid 911 might
turn off purists,

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but the technology doesn't
turn the historic sports

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car into a Prius.

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Quite the opposite.

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It adds an incredible
150 horsepower

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and 150 pounds of torque.

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And the result is impressive.

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To really demonstrate the
system's capabilities,

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automobile aftermarket
component maker Vonnen

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put it in the Porsche 911
Carrera, the least powerful

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of the model lineup,
with only 350 horsepower.

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It's magnificently fast,
and it's hard to go back

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to just the regular powertrain.

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It just kicks in as you
depress the throttle

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and adds an extra boost that
throws you back in your seat.

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But what's even more
impressive is how Vonnen is

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able to accomplish this feat.

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All that power comes from an
EV motor placed between the gas

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engine and the transmission,
where the stock

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flywheel typically resides.

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Instead, now, there's
a thin EV power plant.

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Vonnen has a custom
flywheel that

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sits between it and
the transmission,

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but the starter is gone.

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The electric motor
handles that task now.

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To accommodate the extra 25
millimeters the EV motor adds

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between the
transmission and engine,

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the team created a custom
mount for the gearbox.

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But that's only about
an inch of space

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added for an extra
150 horsepower, which

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is a pretty good tradeoff.

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Meanwhile, the
battery pack is placed

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beneath the forward
trunk and the controller

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is placed behind the back seat.

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If you'd rather
have a sleeper 911--

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as if that's a thing--

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the company says they can mount
it somewhere else out of sight.

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All of this is controlled
by a companion app

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with four settings--

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Off, Street, Sport,
and Overboost.

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Each mode adjusts when the
Shadow Drive is enabled

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and how much power it pushes.

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The drive itself
uses the accelerator

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position to determine when to
spin itself up for a boost.

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Street mode uses less
power, but appear sooner.

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Sport mode, on the other
hand, adds more power,

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but doesn't get going
until the accelerator has

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been depressed about 60% down.

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Overboost is a bit
like ludicrous mode.

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[CAR ENGINE ROARING]

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It's fun for short,
insanely quick takeoffs,

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but the company is
guessing most drivers

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will use sport while they're
driving aggressively.

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The version of the app I
use while driving isn't

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what the customer will get.

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Instead of a series of
indicators determining

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if the system is
ready to go, they'll

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get a red, yellow, or
green single notification.

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Also the motor will
be 30% more thermally

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efficient than what I drove.

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So it'll be able to
do more overboost

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launches before the
system needs to cool down.

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Of course, this tech
comes at a price, a rather

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steep one for regular folks.

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The turnkey solution is $75,000.

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While they used the
Carrera as their test car,

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Vonnen sees GT2 and GT3 911
owners as their core customers,

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folks that are totally
fine shelling out big bucks

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for a huge power increase.

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A bonus is that the Shadow Drive
works with air cooled 911s,

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so old school cars will
get a high tech burst

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of power that should
impress everyone

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at the local Porsche club.

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The Shadow Drive will work
on stock or modified engines

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and doesn't require any
fiddling with the vehicle's CPU.

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The car essentially
thinks the power

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is coming from going downhill.

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The reality is that it's
the technology we typically

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associate with gas
savings, tuned to make

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a fast car go even faster.

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That updated motor is
in production right now

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and will be part of the
$75,000 turnkey package

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if you decide to
upgrade your 911.

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You just drop it off here,
and about a week later,

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you pick it up, and it's ready
to, well, snap your neck.

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For more exciting
automotive coverage,

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be sure to subscribe
to "Engadget."

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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