Yes, you could get an electric Porsche for less. You could get a fabulous, modern-tech, four-seater Taycan straight from the factory for $101,395 and that would go from 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds and go as many as 318 miles on a charge if you get the Performance Battery Plus. You can even get a 1,019-hp Taycan Turbo GT that’ll get to 60 in 2.1 seconds. I spent a day lapping the Porsche Experience Center in a Taycan GTS and had a pretty good time, I can tell you that.
But what would be missing from a modern technological wunder like the Taycan? Maybe a bit of character?
If you want all the above plus character—say, the character of an original 964 911—and if money’s no object, consider the Everatti 964 911.
Everrati is an international company headquartered in Oxfordshire, UK, that takes original 964 911s, those made from 1989 to 1994, sought-after and beloved by Porschephiles the world over, and converts them to electric power.
Is this blasphemy or just a blast? Depends on your perspective.
We recently got to drive an Everrtti 911, but not just any Everrati 911; this one belonged to DirtFish Rally School founder Steve Rimmer, a man who understands performance.
“I’ve always appreciated the era of the 964, but I’ve always been aware that we must have an eye to tomorrow—to build a bridge to the cars and motorsport for the future,” Rimmer said. “This is a way of doing that. This is a car I know my children will be using well into the next generation.”
Lucky children.
The Rimmer 911 was a 1991 Porsche 964 911 redefined by Everrati to a 500-hp electric. It’s sporting the company’s 964 carbon-widebody RSR homage. It came with a 62-kWh battery (24x CALB 3P4S 355 VDA modules in series, controlled by Orion BMS, for you battery experts) that makes 500 hp.
The day we had it, power output was down to 85% of that 500 hp due to new BMS (battery management system) profile testing. When in full performance trim, that’s good for 0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds in this car. It weighed 3,230 pounds in this specification, which compares favorably to the 3,241 pounds for a 964 Turbo. You save 40 pounds by going to the composite body.
Balance is close to that of the flat-six-powered car at 61/39 rear/front weight distribution. Power comes from a Tesla LDU (Large Drive Unit) with a Quaife ATB (Automatic Torque Biasing) limited-slip differential. Both batteries and motor are liquid-cooled. Charging comes via 6.6-kW AC charging, with 70-kW DC fast charge available.
The suspension is a TracTive Touring line kit with ACE (Active Controlled Electronics) control system, Eibach Springs, and uprated bushings on all suspension joints. Brakes are the Everrati Performance Pack featuring uprated brake calipers and discs, Textar pads, and upgraded turbo brake lines.
Inside is Bridge of Weir leather throughout, an RS Pack half roll cage, and custom Everrati gauges and air conditioning along with an Everrati gateway VCU (vehicle control unit).
Explaining all that to me was my host for the drive, Everrati founder Justin Lunny, a tech industry veteran who also happens to love sports cars.
“This is more than a passion for me. It’s kind of my very being.”
“My background is tech. I love tech. I love cars. I love design. So really, this is more than a passion for me. It’s kind of my very being right now,” he said.
So I was going to be very careful not to scratch it.
Everrati has clients like Matt Rogers, the founder of Nest, and Dr. Andy Palmer, the former CEO of Aston Martin, who is not only an investor but sits on the board, in addition to being a customer.
Guys like that typically spend between $250,000 and $600,000 on their Everratis, Lunny said.
“So this is not for everybody. It’s an expensive hobby. These are handbuilt. This is all carbon fiber.”
The team at Everrati is likewise impressive. Lunny lists previous employers of the staff as, “ex-Rimac, McLaren, Lotus, JLR, Bentley. We’re all high-end automotive engineers.”
Even more incentive to not scratch this car.
My drive started at Pelican Hills Resort in Newport Beach, California. The plan was to go up to O’Neill Regional Park in Trabuco Canyon and back, a little over 50 miles.
“That has some good roads,” I told Lunny.
Or as good as you’re going to get in the OC. We started out on PCH, on a section that was away from town, five lanes wide and, if you timed it right, free of traffic. There I punched it. Because the car was undergoing tuning, it offered only 425 hp. Launching it was not like launching some other electric supercars or motorcycles. It was not the terrifying hyperspace blast of a Rimac Nevara, Pininfarina Battista, Tesla Model S Plaid, Lucid Air Sapphire, or an Energica EsseEsse9+ RS, or even a Livewire S2 Del Mar, all of which have you hanging on for dear life and screaming like a teenage fan of a K-Pop boy band.
The Everrati had a calmer demeanor. It was quick, but not terrifyingly quick. In suburban driving it was easy to use, an everyday sports car. I was sitting lower in the car than a stock 964 but vision outside was still good.
When we got through the tract homes to Orange County’s small handful of curves, it performed well, too. It wasn’t as crazy-direct in its feel, a little more like a GT than a sports car or supercar. It didn’t feel like a McLaren. You could drive this all day every day and be comfortable doing so.
“The car drives beautifully, with the weight distribution balanced to match the original car, but it does so with zero emissions,” said Rimmer. “It’s a totally usable daily drive—it even comes with Apple CarPlay, so the family can still tell me what music I should be listening to!”
It would have been better to drive it on a longer, faster mountain road, or maybe a race track, but I only had a couple hours that had to start and finish in Newport Beach, so I can’t say exactly how well it might have turned in on a better road.
This one had the adjustable electronic dampers, HRE wheels, upgraded brakes and brake lines, and Eibach springs. You can have your Everrati set up however you like it; I would have chosen quicker steering, more bite at turn-in, and a firmer suspension, whatever it took to feel more like a McLaren. But such is the cost of personalization. If you have a half million bucks, they’ll set it up however you want it set up.
You can order yours at everrati.com. The company also makes electric versions of the Superformance GT40, original Land Rover Series IIa and Series III, as well as the Mercedes-Benz 280 SL Pagoda. They’re even converting five Lamborghini LM002s for a client in Dubai, and providing electric drivetrains to other clients around the world.
It’s an interesting company doing unique work on some of the coolest cars in automotive history at a time when the industry itself is in the middle of its biggest transition ever. It’s also hope that an electric future might still be fun.
“The whole hot purpose of the company is keeping cool cars on the road for as long as possible,” said Lunny.
Which is an admirable goal.
Source: Autoweek by Mark Vaughn
