Purists, Looks Away: Electric Porsche 911 Combines 1975 Targa Frame With 993 Carrera Body

The 993 generation of the Porsche 911 is one of the most sought after versions of the German sports car, with the best-preserved examples being valued at almost $1 million.

This one, though, which has been built by members of the MIT Electric Vehicle Team and PhenomenArts, is far from original, as it has the body of the 993 and a 1975 911 Targa frame.

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A pet project of the famous American composer, artist and architect Christopher Janney, it has been converted to run solely on electricity. Power is supplied by 64 200 Ah batteries, half of which are positioned at the front and the other half at the rear for optimum weight distribution, with a 660V Elcon charger and four mid-frame Agni 95R electric motors hooked up to two 1:3.2 fixed-ratio gearboxes.

Besides the custom drivetrain, which required a lot of work, the electric 911 features other mods, such as a unique interior with an iPad Mini in the steering wheel and a 15-inch portrait-oriented tablet in the middle of the dashboard positioned above the third screen that displays the battery info.

The car is fully functional and has made a few official appearances, at a music festival and at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum’s ‘Porsche Day’, where it won the ‘Best Modified’ category.

It’s not exactly our cup of tea, and by the looks of it, a lot of things have to be sorted out, starting with the roof panels that are mounted on the custom T-top frame and that don’t align properly, to the cockpit that looks cheap. But hey, to each his own, right?

Note: We received a message from Restore Porsche’s Paul Vaughn, in which he states that the company built the original electric 911 (apparently before MIT got its hands on it for further development). Mr. Vaughn says that Christopher Janney had them build it as a hybrid at first and then change it to full electric. He also says that Restore Porsche built the 993 body and fit it to the 911 Targa’s frame. They also fitted four individual motors in the rear seat area and covered it with glass, then put bulletproof glass on the floor and a translucent roof. Finally, Mr. Vaughn states that Porsche Restore also built the dash to hold that screen in the center and the symmetrical ones left and right.