The Kalmar 7-97 E-Volt is your new favourite 911 restomod
The look is unmistakeable, even at a glance. A modern classic Porsche 911, ready to fire up that distinctive flat-six that’s perched out back. Except what you hear when you start up the Kalmar 7-97 E-Volt is the sound of silence. A gentle purring maybe. Because this electric conversion is nothing less than a bespoke rebuild, a 911 restomod with power courtesy of Tesla’s Model S. Expect fast progress, but that’s only part of the story.
Danish design ensures a form-follows-function approach, so there is nothing here that is extraneous. Construction is from flax-fibre panels, chosen for sustainability and weight-saving. The result is that weight is roughly that of the base car, hard in the world of super-heavy electric vehicles. Details count: bonded glass, using Kalmar’s own process, reduces drag and wind noise, which you’ll notice more because there’s not that distinctive rumble from somewhere behind you. You’re in experienced hands, too with the 7-97 E-Volt.
Kalmar is the brainchild of self-professed Danish petrolhead Jan Kalmar. “His vision,” says the company, "is to create the ultimate cars built to excite and explore in." The result has been a series of custom-made sports cars, each with that familiar rear-engined silhouette, based on 993 and 964 generations of Porsche 911, roughly those made between 1989 and 1998. Age doesn’t mean you’ll make any compromise.
What's inside?
The interior, with its digitally achieved five-dial dash neatly mimicking the original, is a triumph of analogue look over digital reality – a surprisingly hard trick to pull off. Soft-grain leather (sustainably sourced, naturally) covers every available surface. A concealed sound system uses Bluetooth to communicate with a floor-mounted sub-woofer. ‘Born To Run’ will have never sounded so good, or so completely pollution-free.
You’ll be wanting to know just how fast the 7-97 E-Volt is, and whether you should put your order in? If you do, you might want to think about lead times, because just 12 of all iterations of the 7-97 are made annually. When yours is delivered, and when you’ve managed to stop admiring the exterior and your good taste in specifying the unlimited extras that Kalmar offer, you’ll find that your 7-97 E-Volt can reach 60 mph in less than four seconds. They’re coy about top speed, but you’ll be fine on the autobahn, we’d confidently predict.
By now you’re either convinced of this radical re-versioning of a 911, or have already started looking up what a naturally-aspirated original 911 of the same generation would cost you. Clue: worryingly attainable. Don’t be concerned about flat-six envy with your 7-97 E-Volt, though, because Kalmar can put an internal combustion engine back in, should you require it. Pricing of Kalmar restmods is strictly on application, but is reported to be - before your particular unlimited extras - £380,000. A bit steep, but then you’ll be saving on road tax and of course ULEZ in London or equivalent where you live. Bargain, then.
