CARS OF THE WORLD

Porsche Macan EV 2023.

The electric Porsche Macan will charge faster than the Tycan.

The all-electric equivalent of the Porsche Macan will be released in 2023.

Its prototypes are already being tested on public roads and have 2 million miles (3.2 million kilometers) to cover before the premiere, German company’s technical director Michael Steiner told Top Gear.

According to the engineer, the novelty will look like a Porsche, ride like a Porsche, feel like a Porsche and generally remain true to the spirit of the brand, but it will be much more modern and sporty than the gasoline Macan.

Like the first electric car of the brand, Taycan, the all-vehicle will get 800-volt system, but at that it will be charged even faster, that is it will be able to take current of more than 270 kilowatts.

Electrocrossover is constructed on the architecture developed together with Audi Premium Platform Electric (PPE), which «Four Rings» has already demonstrated recently on the example of the Audi A6 e-tron concept.

Then it was reported that the PPE involves installing a battery pack for about 100 kilowatt-hours, and now Michael Steiner has confirmed that his team is focused on this battery capacity.

He noted that several modifications are planned, including a particularly powerful version.

According to the board member, the company does not strive for a record range, because adding extra kilograms for the sake of extra kilometers is not the way of Porsche. So, the available range will be increased, but gradually.

By the way, «electric Macan» is only a working title. This will be a model of comparable size and with a slightly higher price tag, but under what name to sell it — the manufacturer has not decided.

The car will be introduced to the markets gradually, depending on demand, while continuing to invest in the Macan with an internal combustion engine.

The latter still has at least one update, while the plugin-hybrid version it absolutely will not get: according to Steiner, such a system is designed only for the Cayenne and Panamera.

The Porsche Macan EV crossover will hit the market in 2023.

Michael Steiner, a member of Porsche’s executive board for research and development, assures that the electric Macan will be the sportiest model in its segment.

The Germans have revealed the start of road tests of the electric Porsche Macan, whose market launch is scheduled for 2023 (rather than 2021 or 2022, as we previously predicted).

After the first tests on the test track at the Porsche Development Center in Weissach, a pair of «physical prototypes» were sent outside the company’s premises for the first time.

By the time the new Macan hits the market, its prototypes will have logged about three million kilometers around the world in a variety of conditions, the company says.

Porsche uses the word «physical» for a reason: more than 20 detailed digital models of the Macan have been created in parallel, with engineers honing aerodynamics, acoustics, ergonomics and a new virtual cockpit, power management, temperature control of the battery, motors and onboard charger.

The data obtained from digital models and mock-ups allows you to adjust the parameters of physical prototypes. And vice versa: data from road tests helps make adjustments to digital models.

The new Macan (de-facto generation two, although the manufacturer considers it the third) is built on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) platform developed together with Audi.

«The bogie will be very flexible, allowing to create both usual passenger cars (sedans and liftbacks), and crossovers with rear and all-wheel drive.

And the same plant in Leipzig that produces the current ordinary Macan will produce the electric parkettes.

While we know only one car on the PPE platform — a concept Audi A6 e-tron that heralds the family Audi A6 of the sixth generation.

It has a 100 kWh battery and two electric motors (one in front and one in rear) with a total output of 350 kW (476 hp) and 800 Nm. Audi calls the front suspension a five-lever, and the rear suspension is multi-lever.

However, this year the company will present the successor to the current model Macan with a traditional power plant. Germans do not tell much about it. Apparently, we are talking about a redesigned modern Macan.

It will live in the brand’s catalog for some years in parallel with pure electric counterpart.

The car expects not just technical update but appreciable restyling after which gasoline Macan will look in the same style as the future electric one (we can assume similar body lines and similar optics).