*NOW UPDATED WITH VIDEO* Porsche unveils Mission-E, its all-electric vision of sports cars of the future
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Throughout the day we’d been promised something really special from Porsche at Frankfurt (“and no, not just another hybrid Panamera…”). And boy, they weren’t kidding…
Alongside the first ever turbocharged 911 Carrera, also set to headline Porsche’s stand at Frankfurt, the company has also unveiled the brand new Mission-E concept. Inspired, and heavily influenced technologically by, both the 918 Spyder it will presumably at some point replace and the 919 Hybrid that entered the record books this year with victory at Le Mans, Mission-E is a four-door, Panamera-esque saloon set to rival Tesla’ Model S and Porsche’s future of ‘the future of the electric sports car’.
For propulsion, a new 800-volt drive system, which includes two electric motors and a powerful battery, drives all four wheels to develop a combined 582bhp. Porsche Torque Vectoring – which can also be found on the new turbo 911 Carrera – steers all four wheels, with 0-100kph completed in 3.5 seconds en-route to 0-200kph in 12.5 seconds. As well as offering a full 500km electric range, the ‘Porsche Turbo Charging’ system allows 80- percent of the battery to be topped up in just under 15 minutes from a standard 800-volt port. Even the Jetsons didn’t have that…
In terms of looks, Mission-E sits uber low to the ground, the body above (all 1300mm of it) is constructed mainly from aluminium, steel and carbon fibre-reinforced polymer for added lightness. The carbon wheels measure 21in at the front and 22mm at the rear, while the four-point matrix LED headlamps are a reinterpretation of the cluster design seen on the facelifted 911. Also, yay! Suicide doors.
Inside, eye-tracking and gesture control technology control most of the major instruments, while a floating, 3D digital display sits alongside a standard driver information system.
The new saloon, if production is green lit, could arrive as early at 2017.
