The Macan EV will be one of Porsche’s most important cars between now and the end of the decade, by which point the automaker wants electric cars to account for 80 percent of sales.
That push was meant to start this year, but software problems meant Porsche was forced to push back the Macan EV’s launch by 12 months until 2024. So to keep the anticipation high, Porsche is drip-feeding technical details and has just released a video of the SUV testing in multiple locations around the world.
Though it will look broadly like the gas-powered Macan that will be sold alongside it, the electric version will ride on the VW Group’s new PPE platform for upmarket EVs that will also find its way under cars like the Audi Q6 e-tron SUV.
Porsche hasn’t revealed how the lower end of the Macan EV range will look, but we do know that the top-spec bi-motor, all-wheel drive cars at launch will have 603 hp (612 PS) and more than 738 lb-ft (1,000 Nm), with even more extreme models likely to follow later. The hot Macans will feature a rear-biased 48:52 percent weight distribution, rear-axle steering, and a Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus electronically controlled rear differential.
Related: Porsche Macan EV Set To Be The Sportiest SUV Of Its Class With 603 HP
But all models will feature 800-volt technology, like the Taycan, but Porsche says the Macan can charge at an even faster (though unspecified) rate than its 270 kW sedan brother. Topping the SUV’s battery up from five to 80 percent takes less than 25 minutes, which is actually slower than the 22.5 minutes needed for a Taycan, but that has a 93.4 kWh battery and every Macan will get a 100 kWh power pack.
Porsche says the speedy fills are down to bank charging, which effectively turns the 800-volt battery into two 400-volt batteries that can be charged in parallel. It also claims to have developed an innovative way of combining the onboard AC charger, high-voltage heater, and DC converter that saves space, weight, and cost.
With at least a year to wait until Porsche fully unveils the Macan EV, we can expect to hear plenty more tasty technical details in the coming months and to see more of the prototypes’ disguise being stripped away.
