“It is very close to what you saw two years ago at Frankfurt,” Porsche CEO Oliver Blume says of the forthcoming production version of 2015’s stunning Mission E Concept.
“It will be exciting but a bit different from the concept,” Blume told CAR Magazine at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
That’s for beholders to gauge once the production version of the Mission E is pictured in 2019, when the model arrives exclusively with electric powertrains. Oliver Blume did, however, make clearer commitments relative to the Mission E that will delight Porschephiles and — perhaps — convert Tesla fans.
Right from launch, the Porsche Mission E — likely a 2020 model year vehicle — will be marketed with a 350 kW charge rate that “will be enough for a 400-kilometer range on an 80 percent charge,” Blume says. That’s 250 miles of range from a 15-minute charge. All of this in a car that Porsche claims accelerates from rest to 60 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds and tops 155 mph, a car Porsche couldn’t have developed “so quickly without the 919” — the automaker’s Le Mans-winning hybrid endurance racer.
Porsche’s CEO says the company is in the final engineering phases for the Mission E, a car the company sees as filling the void in between the Panamera and 911. At least to start, the production Mission E — which Porsche calls a “fascinating sports car” — will be positioned alongside its sports car and sedan bookends. It will, says Porsche, be “priced like entry-level Panamera.”
Including delivery, Porsche USA’s entry-level Panamera starts at $86,050. The basic Porsche 911 Carrera is a $92,150 car.
Porsche says the Mission E’s fully charged range will be 300 miles, but the company is considering different power outputs — expect S and GTS models, for example — which will presumably alter the range. The dual-motor format promises all-wheel drive. Different bodystyles are also under consideration.
Presently, the least costly Tesla Model S is the $69,500 rear-wheel drive 75 with 249 miles of range and a 4.3-second 0-60 time. Tesla also markets the $74,500 75D (with slightly more range and all-wheel drive), the $94,000 100D (335-mile range, 0-60 in 4.1), and the $135,000 P100D, which drops range by 20 miles but cuts the 0-60 time to a claimed 2.5 seconds.
At launch, however, faithfulness to 2015’s concept could end up as just as strong a selling point as the Porsche badge or Model S-baiting acceleration figures. Few and far between are cars with enough drama to match the Mission E’s eye-catching design.
[Images: Porsche]
Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars and Instagram.
Since Porsche has experience designing good looking cars that don’t require big ugly grill openings for the radiator this is one electric car that looks good.
Trying to work out the math on this but I keep coming up with numbers that make a 350 kW charge rate seem ludicrous.
The average US household uses 901 kWh in a month. (https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3)
That’s something like 1.23 kWh per day.
This thing will deliver 350 kW of power for 15 minutes, roughly the equivalent of 87.5 kWh.
To put it another way, 80% charge will take roughly the equivalent of 71 days of normal residential electrical usage. In 15 minutes. Even in a commercial/industrial setting, how can the infrastructure handle this?
I’ve got to be missing something here.
Chargepoint is deploying 400kW charging stations, so there are already improvements over 350kW charging.
I guess they are banking the fact that very, VERY few people will be charging their expensive electric cars at any given moment.
A gasoline pump in the US that outputs 10 gallons per minute is moving energy at the rate of 20 megawatts – about 60 times more powerful than a 350 kilowatt charger.
I think what you’re missing is just how energy dense gasoline is.
Well that’s just a non sequitur. You aren’t going to fill up an electric car with gasoline.
Clearly you aren’t going to fill an electric car with gasoline. =)
I’m just pointing out that 350 kW, although it is a lot of power, is a lot less power than people are used to wielding for their transportation needs.
Sure is. High speed electric trains like the TGV draw something in the region of 20MW under acceleration.
@bryanc: what you’re not considering is the rate of flow of the stream of urine that I will put into a urinal after driving for 4 hours. EV charging is unattended and you can do other things in parallel. The net result is that quick charging can be just as quick as making gas stop after 4 hours of driving.
BTW, both my cars are plug-ins & we do 100% of our daily driving in EV mode. (On long trips, we use range extended mode).
I know how EVs work, and I’ve got my reservation in for a Model 3. No need to convince me that EVs are great or that charging at home works or that quick charging on road trips makes long EV travel possible.
I’m just pointing out that quick charge infrastructure has to be really quick to start competing with gasoline directly. 350 kW is serious electrical power, to be sure, but it’s still far removed from the convenience of gasoline.
It’s a little crazy how good gasoline is at transporting energy. 20 MW is no joke. It’s amazing how we take that kind of power for granted (and that we don’t have more big accidents at fueling stations!)
@brianC
As energy-dense as gasoline is, you can do better with electric. What’s the calculation on a 90-second Tesla battery swap? That feature hasn’t really caught on, though.
@mcs
Your urine output may be impressive, but still has near zero energy density. Might be useful for diesel though.
If it takes you 15 minutes to pee, you really, really need to get at least a prostate exam. I drove almost 17 hours last Friday fleeing a hurricane, and the total time we spent out of the car was <30 minutes. And that was with my aged bladder, the 30yo girl with me probably could have gone once in all that time (I'm pretty sure she is part camel). The cat had a litter box in the car. :-)
Would have been entertaining to see you do that trip in your Leaf. Even more entertaining getting BACK with 3/4 of the state having no power.
@krhodes: If it takes you 15 minutes to pee…
It takes me that long to walk back to the bathrooms and I usually stop and buy a drink and pick up some food. When I get back to the car, it’s usually 15 to 20 minutes into the charge. Yeah, I based that number on actual experience.
As far as Florida goes, that’s what NetJets is for. I don’t drive long distances. I don’t drive long distances. I fly.
As far as the electric power goes, if it’s out, exactly how do you get the gas pumps going without power? I would have just stayed away anyway.
As far as infrastructure goes, that’s why Musk has been pushing the whole PowerWall battery storage thing. Batteries store off-peak power, then when someone needs a quick charge, the batteries take the hit.
As an EV owner (and probable Mission E owner) I can tell you it’s not often that you’d suck down that much power at once. Most of my driving consumes less than 1 kW between charges. Longer trips maybe about 12kW at a charge.The Mission E will probably be a bit worse, but not much. Given the distances I drive, my worst case might be 30 or 40 kW at once. To be honest, with a 320 mile range car I probably wouldn’t even bother with quick charging. At home would be fine.
I have been in industrial plants that haul down 350KW out of 50,000 sqft or so. It is quite a bit but most industrial commercial areas have enough power for at least a few charge points at that power.
> To be honest, with a 320 mile range car I probably wouldn’t even bother with
> quick charging. At home would be fine.
Of course, Quick charging will only be necessary on long trips. Which is the weakest link here, since Porsche lacks the charging intrastructure Tesla has. That 15 for 80% is complete and utter vaporware and marketing BS. How many 350kW QC stations are installed along highways around the world? Total vaporware.
@vvk: The first 350kW ABB charger from EvGO is being installed in Baker CA. ChargePoint just started shipping their 400kW charger in July. There should be several stations going up over the next year. There are no cars on the road yet that support yet. They’ve got a couple of years to install them.
BTW, Tesla is going to be installing 350+kW superchargers as well. Yeah, you can’t beat the SuperCharger network. It’s a huge asset for Tesla.
I’ll have a Model S next to the Mission E since I don’t think the E will have a lot of space. It looks like a 2+2. I’ll get the S this winter and the E in a couple of years when they shake the bugs out of it. Based on my driving, the S and the E will get me by without public charging. More than 150 miles and I fly. The long road trip just ain’t happening anymore. I think it’s been 10 years since I’ve taken a 200+ mile road trip in a car.
Not sure I follow your math: 901 / 30 = 30.033 kWh/day? = 1.25 kWh/hour? Our solar panels often GENERATE on the order of 18-20 kWh/day – we have approx 4.2 kW in panels.
Assume a 200 amp main panel. 240Vac, or roughly 200 * 240 * 0.001 = 48 kW? So in theory, a reasonable house COULD use up to 48 kW at once, if everything was optimized/wired properly/etc. You’d need roughly double that, 400 amp service == 96 kW to properly handle 87.5 kW and not black out the rest of the house.
On the other hand, you’ll probably do just fine charging at 25 kWh for 3 hours at home overnight, and the “max charge rate” is for supercharger stations. I don’t think 400 or 600 amp service is hard to get for a property zoned “commercial”, nor should a few of those unduly burden a reasonable power grid..
I guess I’m an outlier. My electric averages 105 kW-hr/month and 6 ccf of NG for hot water. Of course rather than spend on solar I’ve spent on efficiency.
Your arithmetic is wrong. 900/30 = 30. Not 1.23.
Also, the 350kW charging is not for home use. You only need about 6kW to charge overnight to cover the longest day of driving. And then you repeat the process each night so that your car is always ready in the morning. 350kW is only needed on long trips to minimize the stops this type of car will require every 2-3 hours.
An average EV owner spends more electricity on heating water than on driving. I spend about $70 per month on electricity to charge my car, which is about $400 less than what I was spending on gasoline for an equivalent ICE car.
So if your Chevy Bolt car loan is $400/month ($30k @ 2% over 72 months, $3k down) and you drive as much as I do, your fuel savings cover the loan completely.
“So if your Chevy Bolt car loan is $400/month ($30k @ 2% over 72 months, $3k down) and you drive as much as I do, your fuel savings cover the loan completely.”
An ICE car the size of a Bolt should get about 35 MPG. You’d have to drive 5000 miles a month to spend $400/month on gasoline, not even accounting for the cost of electricity.
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“The average US household uses 901 kWh in a month.
That’s something like 1.23 kWh per day.
I’ve got to be missing something here.”
Math. You’re missing the math.
Likely Panamera buyer here.
I’m pretty psyched, because I might hold out for a mission e…
Of course most will be delivered for about $185,000 (Porsche is amazing with add on features… I somehow have automatic windshield wipers, UPGRADED headlights, but not automatic headlights, which comes standard in a $15k hyundai)
But yes, Yes, yes, YES and YEEESSS!
This one gets me REALLY excited, more so than just about anything else we have seen in the past 3-4 years.
Tesla-competitive acceleration and range performance, but with Porsche handling, styling, interior design, and likely superior fit and finish! It’s also price competitive with the most comparably performing Tesla model, and an established dealer/service infrastructure already exists.
I simply don’t see any glaring negatives, and almost all other comparably priced vehicles now seem a little less interesting. It’s the type of “fantasy” vehicle that’s actually somewhat attainable, and it doesn’t require the kind of “faith” in the company that Tesla ownership seems to demand.
My current vehicle (’16 A7) is probably the best overall car I’ve ever had, and there’s really no other comparable 4-door ICE-powered car currently on the market that would pry me out of another Audi when its lease ends, but this Porsche will definitely warrant serious consideration.
Oh yeah, take away the weakest links in a Porsche, reliability wise (the engine and the gearbox) and throw in electric motors and batteries. Winning combination.
This will stay at the top of J.D. Power Dependability Ratings & Awards forever.
RIP Tesla. No hyperbole.
I do not believe that starting price for one second. It is much too low.
My thoughts exactly.
And where will this car charge up?
@SCE: It can use any CCS charger. I’m assuming the VW network will have 350kW and ChargePoint is deploying 400kW. I might get one, but that’s because I’ll probably never have to charge it at a public charging station with that range. My home charger is 14.4kW, so it should be able to give me a decent charging time at home when I push the range limits.
That’s one huge thing Tesla has going for it – that massive supercharger network. And guess what, they announced they’re upgrading to 350kW. If I had to deal with charging, I’d definitely go all Tesla. I am planning on adding a Model S to the fleet before I even think about the Mission E, so I’ll have a supercharging network capable car if I do need to make a long trip.
The Germans are not happy about Tesla and taking it seriously (even though many here do not)
Comparisons between this car and Teslas assume the Tesla will not be improved in the next two years.
If that car ends up selling for $85K, I’ll eat my hat.
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Well I am impressed with that charge rate, not sure who’s supplying the battery cells for Porsche but if they can really charge that quickly it’s going to be impressive.
Of course, being able to charge that quickly is mostly helpful if there’s really that many high speed charging stations. So that’s the part they’re really going to have to work on-make sure that high speed CCS chargers get installed along important routes like Tesla’s done.
I do wonder what Tesla is going to do in response though, they’ve hinted at a next gen charge rate that would exceed this but I don’t think it’ll be out by 2019.