Editor’s Note: Here’s our review of Porsche’s new Taycan 4-seater.
High-performance electric cars like the Tesla Model S are far from the norm right now, but Porsche clearly sees a future where they are, if its Mission E concept is any indication.
Six hundred horsepower and 500 km of driving range are impressive stats, but we’re more intrigued by this one: a charging time of just 15 minutes to get a spent battery up to 80 percent, or enough for 400 km, according to Porsche.
That’s with an 800-volt charging system, mind you, which to our knowledge doesn’t exist yet, and the Mission E is also designed to use inductive charging: park over the (as yet nonexistent) charging pad in your garage, and the car will charge without plugging in.
Porsche mounts the Mission E’s battery pack in the undercarriage to keep the majority of the car’s weight down low, and bodywork made of aluminum and carbon fibre keeps its weight low, period. The wheels (21 inches up front, 22s at the rear) are made of lightweight carbon as well.
Organic LEDs (OLEDs), like the ones that make your flat computer and TV screen work, make up the instrument panel. Porsche’s trick here, though, is the use of cameras that track the driver’s position behind the wheel and move the instruments so that they’re never blocked from view behind the steering wheel.
A front passenger tasked with managing the car’s navigation and entertainment systems does so with holographic technology that responds to gestures, and the car’s computer systems can be updated via smartphone or tablet.
If you’re having a good time driving your favourite twisty bit of road, a camera in the rearview mirror is programmed to notice the grin creeping across your face, and will save information about your trip (route map and speed, for example) that you can later share via social media.
Whether the Mission E ever reaches the dealership floor in its own right, it’s an easy guess that at least some of its technology will make it into future production Porsches. At the very least, we hope this razor-sharp concept’s design is a hint at what future models— the Panamera in particular— will look like.
