It took four years for Porsche to go from the Mission E concept to the production version of the Taycan electric sport sedan. Now, three years after that car’s release, Porsche is giving us a peek at its next EV. It’ll be an SUV this time, the Macan Electric, and it’s less than two years away from full production. We got a sneak peek.
(Full disclosure: Porsche wanted me to learn about the platform that underpins the new Macan Electric so badly, the company flew me to Italy, put me up in a Doubletree, and made me sit through 12 hours of product briefings, most of them in German.)
The Macan Electric (yes, that’s the official name) will be built on a new platform that Porsche is calling PPE: Premium Platform Electric. This setup, though broadly similar to the Taycan’s J1 platform, offers a number of minor but significant improvements. According to Porsche, these tweaks will mean more power, better handling, and greater range. And yes, just like with the Taycan, this new EV platform will be shared with Porsche’s corporate cousin Audi.
It all starts with a new battery pack, roughly 100 kWh worth, split over 12 modules. Porsche’s not confirming the exact pack size yet, but it’ll be slightly larger than the Taycan’s biggest, 93.4-kWh pack. Porsche says this size was chosen as it’s the right balance of range vs. performance. Interestingly, this pack lacks the so-called “foot garages” that allow the Taycan’s body to sit so low on its skateboard battery platform.
The PPE’s pack will be bolstered by the same 800-volt architecture found in the Taycan, enabling charging from 5 percent battery to 80 percent in just 25 minutes. When the electrons are flowing the other way, they’ll power a dual-motor setup with somewhere north of 600 horsepower and 740 lb-ft of torque. Under normal conditions, most of that power will be delivered through the rear wheels, so the Macan will roll on a staggered tire setup, wider at the back, with wheels measuring up to 22 inches in diameter.
That said, thanks to the duo of motors, torque will be infinitely variable front to rear, meaning the new Macan will put the power where it can best be used. At the rear, the Macan will be capable of side-to-side torque vectoring, at least on high-end performance trims of the Macan Electric. A clutch-type rear differential will handle duties there, while the front-axle will get a simpler open differential, using braking to contain wheelspin.
All that, plus rear-steering, means the new Macan Electric should feel nimble and agile, even accounting for what will presumably be a considerably hefty curb weight. Two-valve air suspension will allow for both dynamic ride height adjustment plus a wider range of damping settings, while a rear subframe mounted via bushings is said to both improve handling dynamics and reduce noise, vibration, and harshness.
Interestingly, Porsche has mounted the rear electric motor “particularly far back” on that rear subframe, resulting in a slightly rearward weight bias of 48:52 percent. Rear-motored electric 911 platform confirmed? Don’t get your hopes up, but it is an interesting engineering choice.
And what about the all-important range question? Porsche’s not quoting a figure yet, but I was told it will be “a lot more” than the Taycan, which tops out at just under 250 miles on the EPA test cycle. Again, no specific numbers, but when I asked whether it might match the range of the Mercedes-Benz EQS, after a bit of pondering I was given an answer in the affirmative. That could mean something north of 300 miles on the EPA test cycle.
Beyond that, the Macan Electric will address another, rather more minor quibble with the Taycan: unlike the sedan, the new SUV will have a usable frunk. It won’t, however, offer additional regenerative braking or anything close to one-pedal driving. Porsche continues to insist this is part of their “philosophy” of EV design, which continues to be a terrible excuse for leaving off a simple feature that a considerable percentage of EV buyers really want.
Journalists were given a quick look at a camouflaged prototype of the Macan Electric, nicknamed “Ludmilla,” at an event in Italy this past week. With all the gaffer tape hiding details, and the fake exhaust tips stuck on the rear bumper, it’s a little hard to know exactly what the final product will look like. That said, the narrow headlights hiding under the fake ones definitely seem to be in keeping with the template set forth by the Taycan, while the aggressively scalloped front facia looks quite similar to that found on the current Macan.
The PPE platform will underpin the new Macan Electric as well as a number of other vehicles to come, though Porsche representatives were coy about providing any details on that front. The platform does support multiple wheelbases, so larger or smaller products are a possibility. Whether this chassis could be applied to something low and sporty, like an eventual Taycan successor, remains to be seen.
At least we won’t have to wait long to see just what the Macan Electric will look like without all that camouflage. Porsche promises the crossover will see its first deliveries to customers by early 2024, with an unveiling sometime in 2023. In other words: right around the corner.