Porsche Mission E Concept: Charging for the Tesla P90D
With near-Ludicrous performance and a fast-charging system that leaves Tesla in the dust, Porsche's concept electric sedan clearly draws a bull's-eye on Musk's dream machine.
Porsche’s Mission E may be very explicitly a concept car—its exaggerated lines and ridiculous ride height attest to that. But its mission is abundantly clear: This all-electric performance sedan is out for Tesla blood.
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Porsche Mission E Concept: Charging for the Tesla P90D
Porsche Mission E Concept: Charging for the Tesla P90D
With near-Ludicrous performance and a fast-charging system that leaves Tesla in the dust, Porsche's concept electric sedan clearly draws a bull's-eye on Musk's dream machine.
Porsche’s Mission E may be very explicitly a concept car—its exaggerated lines and ridiculous ride height attest to that. But its mission is abundantly clear: This all-electric performance sedan is out for Tesla blood.
Introduced as a surprise at VW’s Group Night festivities in Frankfurt, the automaker’s 12-brand celebration that precedes almost every major auto show, the Mission E carries some impressive, if imaginary, stats: zero to 62 mph in less than 3.5 seconds, 310 miles of all-electric range, and a platform that vectors 600 horses to all four wheels. While those acceleration and power numbers may fall slightly short of the 762 horses and 2.8-second zero-to-60 sprint claimed by Tesla’s Ludicrous Mode, Porsche also wants to hit Tesla where it hurts: the charging socket.
Specifically, Porsche says this concept will recharge its battery to 80-percent full after just 15 minutes, providing around 250 miles of range. That handily beats Tesla’s Supercharger, which takes 30 minutes to add about 170 miles’ worth of juice. The trick? Porsche’s conceptual system uses 800 volts, versus the 480 that come from a Supercharger plug (or the paltry 120 that powers your flat-screen TV).
Of course, all the fast-charging tech in the world—real or not—would be moot if Porsche’s four-seat electric concept didn’t live up to the crest’s sporting image. Starting with a centrally mounted battery slung low in the chassis and running the length of the wheelbase, Porsche sends the pack’s power to front and rear permanently excited synchronous motors (PSMs) derived from those in this year’s Le Mans–winning Porsche 919 Hybrid racer. The concept rolls on 21-inch wheels up front and 22s out back, and it has four-wheel steering.
Porsche didn’t come right out and say it, but the styling of the Mission E is probably a good indicator of what a next-generation Panamera could look like. The four-seater’s aluminum, steel, and carbon-fiber bodywork is low and lithe, with a roof height of less than 52 inches and the fastback greenhouse and flared fenders that we wish the Porsche Panamera had all along. In profile, it’s decidedly 911-esque—if the 911 had a second, rear-hinged set of doors.
Inside, this concept car gets properly fanciful. Porsche’s traditional five-gauge dashboard is virtually rendered in OLED, with an eye-tracking feature that lets the driver select menus and submenus by looking at the desired option and pressing a steering-wheel-mounted button. The gauge faces also move in parallax to stay visible no matter the driver’s seating position. Touch-free gesture control operates the HVAC and entertainment systems, while side-view mirrors are replaced by cameras that feed displays in the bottom corners of the windshield.
Considering it’s being presented as a concept car, Porsche wasn’t shy about making performance claims for the Mission E. In addition to the acceleration, range, and charging stats mentioned above, Porsche stated matter-of-factly that this concept could cut a sub-eight-minute lap time on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Whether that is high-voltage fantasy remains to be seen, but one thing’s for certain: With this concept, Porsche is charging crest-first into Tesla territory.
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