As much as we love raspy V6s and thumping V8s, the future of automobile will be a quiet one. Electric vehicles will be the future of commuting, be it sooner or later. As boring noble as the cause is for a cleaner environment for us all, what about the petrolheads? What about us who enjoy blasting up a twisty B-road on quiet weekend? Porsche is here to reassure you that the future is not only electric, but an electrifying one.
Unveiled at the 2017 Electric Vehicle Symposium in Stuttgart is the Porsche Cayman e-volution. Mitsubishi has an e-Evolution concept but that is an (God forbid) SUV, Porsche’s e-volution is a proper sportscar. The e-volution will not go into production per se but instead teases what the upcoming Mission E, Porsche’s first pure electric sports car, will have in store for us in the future.
According to AutoCar UK, the e-volution gets its juice from a 38 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, sending drive to all-four wheels via a PDK double-clutch gearbox. Sprinting from 0 to 100 km/h takes just 3.3 seconds, one-tenth of a second quicker than the 4.0-litre 493 hp 911 GT3, let that sink in for a moment.
On a single charge, the e-volution is said to offer a driving range of 200 km. Not impressive to say the least considering the new Nissan Leaf has an EV range of 400 km; but then again, this research vehicle is not slated for the production floor. However, Porsche has promised that when the Mission E arrives, it will offer a real-world driving range of over 500 km.
Porsche is also redefining the term “Turbo Charging” as we know it. Porsche Turbo Charging as they call it, is the company’s first ever accumulator-based fast charging system that offers 320 kW of charging capacity per vehicle, allowing areas with medium voltage connection to offer high-speed charging facilities. The system will be deployed on major European traffic routes by 2020 in a joint venture between Porsche, Audi, BMW, Daimler and Ford.
