When Porsche announces an electric car you expect it to be at the very least intriguing – and with the company desperate to make sure that the Mission E arrives in showrooms on schedule by 2020, they are certainly putting the pressure on themselves to get it right.
Aside from good looks, Porsche are striving to make sure that the technology to enable fast charging (just 15 minutes to achieve an 80% full battery) is in place too.
After all, good looks mean much less after the initial excitement and a car’s day-to-day practicalities start to mean much more – and in our ever more hectic lifestyles, such claims are sure to impress. As too will a decent range in the region of around 310 miles.
The 4-seater Mission E, which has recently been spotted undergoing testing in Scandinavia, will feature 800v charging of the floor-mounted lithium ion batteries which in turn will power a pair of electric motors.
Porsche claim that the technology being used (J1 structure) should future-proof the Mission for a good few years to come.
The Mission E enters production in 2019 and production models will reach 62mph from zero in less than 3.5 seconds.
Top speed will be over 155mph (no exact figures yet of course) with 125mph attainable in less than 12 seconds. While Porsche are still tweaking the handling, the Mission E’s ground hugging low centre of gravity should ensure a confident ride.
The Mission E should also arrive equipped with level-4 autonomy, which is classed as ‘high automation’ (on the scale from 0 – 5) and just one level away from full automation.
Mission E CUV Concept
Porsche must be rather happy at the moment, as the recent Geneva Motor Show saw huge praise heaped on the surprising inclusion of the Mission E CUV ‘Cross Turismo’ Concept, with chief designer Michael Mauer saying that it was important to “…see how the public responds to the vehicle and then we can draw the right conclusions…” when pressed as to whether the concept would see actual production or not.
The Compact Utility Vehicle forgoes the Mission E’s low ground hugging sports car look and sits on raised suspension with off-road tyres as well as some protective body cladding.
One can presume that the concept was meant to garner some attention for a Mission E that is perhaps still too young to fully reveal. Whether Porsche expected it to be greeted with such enthusiasm is another matter entirely.
Porsche had already made sure the door was left open by previously stating that it was ‘working on’ the possibility of being able to build variants on the original Mission E theme – the CUV Concept being one such example. The company have updated this with the announcement that they will now be setting aside £444m to develop such derivatives.
So all in all, there’s much to be excited and intrigued about in the Porsche camp at the moment.
Images: topgear.com, electrek.co, autocar.co.uk
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