‘The electrification of Porsche’s product portfolio’: The car maker reveals a part of its electric propulsion strategy at the E-Performance Nights in Sepang

By Brian M. Afuang

BY 2025 Porsche intends to have half of its global sales be composed of electric-powered cars, in turn divided equally between full EVs and plug-in hybrids. The company aims to lead all other German automakers in this shift toward electromobility. Porsche says its future rests on electric power.
The reason behind this is clear. According to the brand, the number of EVs (full electrics and plug-ins combined) worldwide has reached around 3.2 million cars this year. This is 55% more than the total at the end of 2017. China accounts for a chunk of these EVs with some 1.2 million cars, 579,000 of which were added in 2017 alone. The US comes in at second, adding 195,000 cars in 2017 to bring the country’s total EV population to 750,000. Porsche estimates that at this rate, there could be 25 million EVs by 2025.
This development, the automaker says, explains “the electrification of Porsche’s product portfolio.” And it is this same focus on electric propulsion which supplied the backdrop against which Porsche Asia Pacific’s E-Performance Nights event was mounted.
“E-Performance is a core tenet of our future strategy,” confirmed Arthur Willmann, managing director of Porsche Asia Pacific, during the event’s opening.
Held on Oct. 8-9 at the Porsche Experience Center at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, the activity combined classroom presentations with racetrack sessions, including taxi rides in Porsche’s 887-hp 918 Spyder hybrid hypercar. While the presentations focused on Porsche’s electrification programs (new models and technologies, production plant expansion, investments), the lapping sessions aboard the 918 Spyder succinctly declared Porsches will remain performance-oriented no matter the method by which they will be propelled.
MISSION E
Certainly, any discussion over Porsche’s thrust into electric-powered mobility will center around the automaker’s upcoming Taycan — which started out in life as the Mission E concept car. The Taycan is Porsche’s first fully electric model that will go into mass production. It forms part of a six-billion-euro (more than P375 billion) investment the brand has committed to electromobility initiatives until 2022. The car is set to roll off the production line in late 2019.
By then, the Taycan will expand Porsche’s EV portfolio which it began building in 2010 via the hybrid versions of the Porsche Cayenne and, later on, the Porsche Panamera. In 2013 Porsche followed these up with the plug-in hybrid variants. In second-generation form, this plug-in lineup can travel as much as 50 kilometers on electric power alone.
Such capability, according to Mayk Wienkoetter, Porsche’s spokesman for electric mobility, is the reason why the use of Porsche’s plug-in hybrids — and, eventually, the Taycan — will not pose any challenge to consumers who live in markets where power charging infrastructure is inadequate, like in some parts of Southeast Asia. Mr. Wienkoetter said recharging the cars can be done overnight at home, or at the office during daytime, and the range this would allow for is ample for daily commuting needs. Think around 50 kilometers and a top speed as fast as 135 kph.
“Driving them should not really be a problem. [And] advances in battery technology will increase the cars’ range in the future,” he said in an interview that preceded the racetrack activities.
The executive added the different sound (if there would be any at all) future Porsche EVs or hybrids will produce would not likely be an issue with consumers — who are presumed drawn to Porsches for the cars’ performance. “This won’t even be asked [for] in five years’ time,” Mr. Wienkoetter said.
At the same time he clarified Porsche will not exclusively focus on electromobility, but instead will rely on the “three pillars” supporting its car-making business.
“We will continue to improve the internal combustion engine whenever this can be applied. We will develop hybrids. [And] we will also do electrics,” he said.
E-PERFORMANCE
At the Sepang circuit, Porsche lined up (along with the 918 Spyder) the Panamera 4 E-Hybrid, Panamera 4 E-Hybrid Sport Turismo, Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid, Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo and Cayenne E-Hybrid. Porsche Asia Pacific explained it opted to hold the presentations and racetrack activities at night because this gave participants a taste of nocturnal motor sport action not far removed from that which can be experienced at Le Mans.
“The E-Performance Nights event is the perfect way for us to demonstrate our plug-in hybrid models that embody the Porsche DNA, whether it is urban driving in Kuala Lumpur or driving on the racetrack at Sepang,” said Mr. Wilmann.
The Cayenne E-Hybrid, which marked its debut in the region, was used in an exercise in which the goal was to demonstrate how a large SUV could still be agile even if it is operated in full EV mode. It figured in a drive across a typical slalom course where its rear-wheel steering proved quick at instantly changing the car’s directions. It also showed how nimble — and unnervingly quiet — it could be even if it relied solely on its 14.1-kWh battery and electric motor. When this is combined with a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6, the hybrid power plant puts out 462 hp and 700 Nm of torque — ratings which when fused with a capable chassis ensure the portly Cayenne is still athletic.
The case is not much different with the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid — this isn’t exactly a diminutive car either. But a chassis that strikes a balance between performance and comfort, a steering that despite being electrically boosted remains “natural,” and ample grunt (680 hp and 850 Nm, courtesy of the combined 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V8 and an electric motor juiced by a 14.1-kWh battery) let this limousine be driven around Sepang like it were a small sports car. At speed, the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid delivered a level of performance far beyond what could be reasonably expected from a mass-produced hybrid model.
Porsche says the Cayenne and Panamera plug-in hybrid variants are “part of the company’s strategy to offer efficient vehicles that are also everyday sports cars.” Such an approach, according to the company, “paves the way” for the arrival of the Taycan. And the Taycan, Porsche promises, “won’t be just an electric vehicle,” but a true Porsche.