Porsche's head of EV development dishes on the progress of the Mission E.
Porsche’s Mission E electric-car development
has reached singularity, it seems. The automaker claims that “the
entire company is working towards a single goal” of offering, as its
head of battery-electric vehicles, Stefan Weckbach, says in remarks
released by the company, “a fully electric Porsche which is a perfect
fit for [the] brand.”
For a brand known for creating emotive man-machine connections—built
in no small part on a signature flat-six engine sound—it would seem an
electric car would present a challenge to its designers and engineers.
Weckbach agrees, and he lays out some of the ways his team is tackling
that potential snafu in a broad-reaching update on all things electric
Porsche.
First, the Mission E: It is a concept car that previews a
very similar-looking, yet-to-be-formally-named production vehicle.
Porsche plans to put the four-door EV on sale before the end of this
decade and promises that the sedan’s 800-volt electrical architecture
will support recharging to 250 miles of driving range in just 20
minutes. Overall driving range, on a full charge, will be over 300
miles.
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So will it be fun to drive? Porsche thinks so, stressing that the car’s
in-floor battery pack keeps the center of gravity low, aiding handling.
While the company won’t “lower itself” to mimicking a gas engine’s sound
using the interior speakers, it will deploy a sound of some kind that
is “a clear reference to the [electric] technology.” Loud whirring,
perhaps? In the remarks, Weckbach scoffs at Tesla models’ mind-bending
acceleration, referencing that the quicker Model S and Model X
cars can only attempt a few acceleration runs at a time before needing
to cool down. He stresses that the electric Porsche’s performance will
be repeatable—though we note he didn’t offer a commitment that the
Porsche will outaccelerate Teslas—and even enable long periods of high-speed travel without cooling-dictated throttling of battery output.
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| © Provided by Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Porsche's head of EV development dishes on the progress of the Mission E. Yes, it'll have a frunk. Read his take at Car and Driver. |
Weckbach stresses that accelerative quickness isn’t the only metric
customers will seek—charging times need to be rapid as well. Enter the
car’s electrical architecture, which can play nice with 800-volt, 320-kW
DC fast chargers. Porsche plans to install these at every one of its
189 dealerships in the United States, giving it the fastest chargers in
America. For locations in between, the automaker is relying on the
Volkswagen Group’s broader efforts to facilitate lower-voltage Level 2
charger installation along highways and in public areas throughout the
nation to support long-distance travel.
Looks will also play a role in Porsche’s plan for seducing buyers.
Weckbach says the production car will look nearly the same as the
low-slung, futuristic Mission E concept. The show car’s camera-based
side-view-mirror solution won’t carry over, but that’ll be the biggest
deviation. Porsche was able to keep the Mission E’s ground-hugging
roofline by carving footwells into the battery pack, ensuring the
battery-as-floor setup didn’t infringe on passenger space or force a
tall roof. The car will fit “up to” five passengers, and it will have a
frunk—front trunk—with 3.5 cubic feet of cargo space in addition to a
regular trunk. So it’ll be fast, charge fast, and hold you and a few
friends—and it can’t arrive soon enough for Porsche.
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