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EVs still burning aboard ship carrying luxury cars near Azores

LISBON — Heavy tug boats on Tuesday sprayed water on a burning ship carrying thousands of Porsches and Bentleys adrift off the coast of Portugal's Azores islands, the ship's manager said in a statement. The Felicity Ace, carrying around 4,000 vehicles including Porsches, Audis and Bentleys, some with lithium-ion batteries, caught fire on Wednesday last week. The 22 crew members on board were evacuated the same day. Ship manager Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd (MOL) said in a statement the vessel was still on fire but stable, and that no oil leak had been reported so far. It also said the ship was drifting further from the Azores islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Two large tug boats equipped with firefighting gear arrived from Gibraltar on Monday, and were working with another patrol boat to spray water at the Felicity Ace and cool it down, MOL said. The arrival of two other tug boats with more firefighting equipment is scheduled for Feb. 23 and Feb. 26. "Together with the all relevant parties, MOL is making every effort to contain the damage and resolve the situation as soon as possible," MOL said. Joao Mendes Cabecas, the captain of the nearest port on the Azorean island of Faial, said on Sunday the fire had lost its intensity, probably because there was little left to burn. Cabecas said as the fire subsides and the structure cools down, firefighting teams and technicians might be able to board the vessel to prepare to tow it either to Europe or the Bahamas. "When conditions are safe the salvage team will board the Felicity Ace for an initial assessment," MOL added. Cabecas told Reuters over the weekend the lithium-ion batteries in the electric vehicles were "keeping the fire alive." It was not clear whether the batteries had caused the fire. MOL did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the cause of the fire. Volkswagen, which owns the car brands, said on Monday it did not have any further information to share. Green Bentley Porsche Volkswagen Electric Luxury ev fire

Harry Metcalfe shows off his GT2-inspired Porsche 993 Turbo

There have been many versions of the Porsche 911, and the GT2 is among the greats. The hardcore variant of the iconic sports car packs the twin turbochargers from the 911 Turbo, but strips out the creature comforts and all-wheel drive. The 993 was the first generation to get the GT2 treatment, and that's just what Harry Metcalfe appears to have here. Only it isn't actually a GT2. This member of Harry's Garage is a 993 911 Turbo made to look like a GT2. That means it still has the all-wheel drive system from the Turbo model. And it also means that Harry didn't have to pay anywhere near as much as you would for a factory GT2, even on the used market. The founding editor of Evo traded in his 930 – the first 911 to go Turbo – and got this one instead.It may not be as original as his immaculate old 930, but as you can see from the video above, that doesn't make it any less of a thrill to drive. If anything, just the opposite. Related Video:

2017 Porsche Panamera caught testing without camo

One of these days, Porsche is going to introduce the 2017 Panamera. That day is not today, though, so we've got yet another round of spy photos showing the new sedan undergoing winter testing. This is easily the closest we've seen to a production body on the new Panamera – it's completely free of camouflage aside from the unconvincing stickers over the headlights and taillights. They're not very good, though. We can see the taillights will adopt a similar look to the new 911 – they'll be slim LEDs that occupy a lot less space than on the current car. The headlights are slimmer too, but there's no light being shown through the stickers, so we can't discuss actual changes as easily as we can on the tail. As we've said before, the Sport Turismo Concept styling has been plainly converted to create an evolved version of the Panamera's existing design language. According to our spies, the next Panamera will ride on a new MSB platform that aims to slash 200 pounds of fat from the next-gen model. Aluminum and high-strength steel play a big roll in that weight loss. Underhood, there should be the usual range of six- and eight-cylinder engines with a plug-in-hybrid option. As we reported previously, expect the Panamera to show up at a European show, likely Paris or possibly Geneva in 2017. Related Video: