It took four years for Porsche to move from the Mission E to the production version of the Taycan electric sports sedan. Now, three years after the launch of that car, Porsche is giving us a look at its next EV. This time it will be an SUV, the Macan Electric, and it is 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 in a Doubletree, and made me sit through 12 hours of product updates, most of it German.) Photo: Porsche The Macan Electric (yes, that’s the official name) will be built on a new platform that Porsche calls PPE: Premium Platform Electric. This setup, while broadly similar to the Taycan’s J1 platform, offers a number of small but significant improvements. According to Porsche, these modifications will mean more power, better handling and longer range. And yes, as with the Taycan, this new EV platform will be shared with Porsche’s corporate cousin, Audi. It all starts with a new battery, worth around 100 kWh, divided into 12 units. Porsche is yet to confirm the exact size of the pack, but it will be slightly larger than the Taycan’s largest pack of 93.4 kWh. Porsche says this size was chosen as it is the right balance of range and performance. Interestingly, this pack lacks the so-called “foot garages” that allow the Taycan’s body to sit so low on the skateboard’s battery platform. G/O Media may receive a commission The PPE electric platform that underpins the new Macan Electric. Illustration: Porsche The PPE’s pack will be powered by the same 800-volt architecture found in the Taycan, allowing charging from 5 percent of the battery to 80 percent in just 25 minutes. When the electrons flow in the opposite direction, they’ll power a dual-motor setup rated somewhere north of 600 horsepower and 740 lb-ft of torque. Under normal conditions, most of that power will be sent through the rear wheels, so the Macan will roll on a staggered set of tires, wider at the rear, with wheels up to 22 inches in diameter. That said, thanks to the engine duo, torque will be infinitely variable front to rear, meaning the new Macan will put the power where it can be best used. At the rear, the Macan will be capable of lateral torque, at least in top performance Macan Electric. A clutch-type rear differential will do the job there, while the front axle will have a simpler open differential, using a brake to contain wheelspin. Photo: Porsche All this, plus rear-wheel drive, means the new Macan Electric should feel nimble and nimble, even taking a very heavy weight. Twin-valve air suspension will allow for both dynamic ride height adjustment and a wider range of damping settings, while a bushing-mounted rear subframe is said to improve handling dynamics and reduce noise, vibration and harshness. Interestingly, Porsche has placed the rear electric motor “particularly far back” in that rear subframe, resulting in a slight rearward weight bias of 48:52 percent. Rear-engine electric 911 platform confirmed? Don’t get your hopes up, but it’s an interesting engineering choice. And what about the all-important range question? Porsche isn’t quoting a number yet, but I’m told it will be “a lot more” than the Taycan, which gets just under 250 miles on the EPA test cycle. Again, no specific numbers, but when I asked if it could match the Mercedes-Benz EQS range, after some thought I was told yes. That could mean something north of 300 miles in the EPA test cycle. Beyond that, the Macan Electric will face another, rather smaller problem with the Taycan: unlike the sedan, the new SUV will have a useful advantage. However, it won’t offer additional regenerative braking or anything close to one-pedal driving. Porsche continues to insist that this is part of their EV design “philosophy,” which is still a terrible excuse for giving up a simple feature that a significant percentage of EV buyers actually want. Photo: Tim Stevens Journalists were given a quick look at a camouflaged Macan Electric prototype, nicknamed ‘Ludmilla’, at an event in Italy last week. With all the details hiding the gaffer tape and fake exhaust tips glued to the rear bumper, it’s a little hard to know exactly what the finished product will look like. That said, the narrow headlights hidden under the fakes certainly seem to follow the pattern set by the Taycan, while the aggressively sculpted front fascia is 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, although Porsche representatives were reluctant to provide details on that front. The platform does support multiple axles, so larger or smaller products are likely. Whether that framework 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 what the Macan Electric will look like without all that camouflage. Porsche promises that the crossover will see its first customer deliveries by early 2024, with an unveiling sometime in 2023. In other words: just around the corner.
