McLaren P1 gets battery swap with triple the capacity and 23 kg less weight

UK-based independent firm V Engineering has developed a replacement for the stock high-voltage battery in the McLaren P1 that extends electric-only range while making the hypercar lighter. Dubbed Project Continuum, the new unit stores 12.4 kWh of energy compared to 4.72 kWh in the original pack, meaning capacity has nearly tripled.

The replacement component also weighs about 23 kilograms less than the unit used by McLaren. The extra energy storage should improve electric driving range, which is handy in urban settings, even though with a combined 903 horsepower the car still feels more at home at high speeds and on the track.

The P1, unveiled in 2013, was the world's first plug-in hybrid hypercar. It is part of the "Holy Trinity" alongside the Porsche 918 Spyder and Ferrari LaFerrari, with the production Porsche featuring a charging port arriving just a couple of months later. Technology has moved on considerably since then, and the first cells used in customer P1s date back to 2010.

Due to age and wear, the factory batteries in many P1 examples no longer deliver the expected performance. V Engineering, a McLaren specialist based in Berkshire, offers a drop-in unit built around high-performance 21700 lithium-ion cells that replaces the original without modifications. The project was developed together with engineers who worked on the original hypercar.