One combustion model remains: the future of Porsche - usually electric

Porsche under power: The Cayman e-Performance, a possible customer sport vehicle and definitely the next Macan will be electric.

One combustion model remains: the future of Porsche - usually electric

Porsche under power: The Cayman e-Performance, a possible customer sport vehicle and definitely the next Macan will be electric. Only one Porsche model should keep its combustion engine as long as possible.

Porsche does not want to accept that only combustion engines should be emotional. The sports car manufacturer is currently very active in making new battery-electric vehicles market-ready.

Porsche's motorsport department has made the new Formula E racer 99X Electric Gen3 lighter than the previous generation example. The battery has also been modified. The know-how gained in this way flows into series development. The improvement of recuperation, for example. While the previous generation of Formula E cars was able to recuperate with 250 kilowatts, today it is 600. A hard braking process therefore generates as much energy as charging with 600 kilowatts. Not even the strongest charging station currently has that much charging power.

One of the central tasks is to develop electric machines that can deliver as much power as possible. Switching between friction brake and recuperation is also a challenge. While things can get rougher in the sports car sector, the smoothest possible control is required in series production. In order to achieve high continuous performance, knowledge and experience in the field of cooling performance and know-how in battery development are important. Knowledge of cell chemistry plays a major role here.

A first ride in the prototype Cayman GT4 e-Performance shows where the journey is going. The Racer is a small taste of what customers can expect by the middle of this decade. The two e-machines of the racing prototype in the GT4 Clubsport dress, which is largely made of natural fiber composite materials, deliver up to 800 kW/1088 hp and can deliver 450 kW/612 hp for around half an hour.

Before taking the taxi, the first thing to do is squeeze into your racing suit and do a bit of sport - because to get into the racer, you first have to use your full body to clear the hurdle of the complex cage. And then there is the buckle procedure with the five-point belt. Then comes the part of Porsche Cup racing driver Klaus Bachler, who also feels comfortable in the electric prototype. Raise your thumbs, let's get started. And then the racing coupé, which is an all-wheel drive vehicle for the first time in the electric constellation, pushes so impressively that you can no longer think about the missing sound, at least at the moment of the action.

Charging should also be fast here: Thanks to the 900-volt architecture, the battery with a net capacity of 65 kWh can be charged from five to 80 percent within 15 minutes - a thoroughly realistic prospect of future series vehicles.

Porsche has the next BEV in the pipeline for series production. The engineers are currently working with full enthusiasm on the first product to be created on the PPE platform used throughout the group: the future Porsche Macan.

The Porsche squad allows for a small spoiler. Under the sheet metal of the mid-range SUV, which will debut at the end of 2023, will be permanently excited synchronous motors that will deliver up to 450 kW/612 hp and over 1000 torque in the top version. 100 kWh batteries, each consisting of twelve modules, are used to store electricity.

Similar to the current J1 architecture, on which the Porsche Taycan is also based, the PPE (Premium Platform Electric) will also have an 800 volt power supply system. In this way, 270 kilowatts of charging power can be achieved in order to bring the battery from five to 80 percent charge within 25 minutes.

The Macan should also be a real Porsche in terms of its top speed. Speeds far beyond the 200 km/h limit should be on the agenda. The BEV-typical curtailment is dispensed with. Features such as active suspension and all-wheel steering with a rear steering angle of up to five degrees ensure the necessary lateral performance. In addition, the drive remains rear-heavy with 52 percent power on the rear axle.

Macan customers who are not yet ready for this and instead continue to rely on combustion engines can continue to buy the old Macan that is offered at the same time for quite a while. Nevertheless, the group is certain that battery-electric products will account for 80 percent of deliveries by 2030.

Only the classic Porsche 911 will continue to be powered by the Swabians with combustion engines for as long as the legal situation allows. In this segment, the machine sound seems to make the music after all.