As was announced more than two years ago, the upcoming all-new Porsche Macan will be switching over to a fully-electric drivetrain. Now still two years ahead of its scheduled launch, the lightly-camouflaged fully-electric Macan has already been “spotted” carrying out tests on public roads – in inverted commas because it was actually Porsche who released the images. Since when did this become a trend?
Anyway, Porsche is using these images to announce that road tests for the all-electric Macan is currently underway, and by the time when the car reaches showrooms in 2023, it would’ve already covered some three million test kilometres worldwide in varying conditions.
As is standard, the test mules are camouflaged (to a certain degree) along with heavy application of body claddings to mask its looks until its eventual launch. However, if you look closely enough, you’ll still be able to make out some details.
For example, behind the large headlights decals (designed to look like the current-generation Macan), the actual headlights seem to now take on a slimmer profile, with a shape that’s similar to that of the Taycan. There also seems to be an additional section on the corner air intakes of the front bumper, which we presume will act as the main beam of the headlights assembly.
Just like any other EVs, the main grille on the front also seem to have been removed (despite the decal suggesting otherwise), with the only cold air intakes limited to the bottom of the bumper.
Moving round to the back, the fully-electric Porsche Macan now gets a new steep roofline with a significantly raked rear windscreen, suggesting a new coupe-like profile for the compact SUV. Quite hilariously, Porsche also added a set of exhaust tips on the rear bumper to fool onlookers; if there’s one thing we can be sure of, it’s that this will not make it onto the final product.
Even though Porsche says that real-world testing is “indispensable”, much of the testing of the fully-electric Macan was – and will continue to be – done in a virtual space. The company has already built more than 20 digital prototypes to simulate a myriad of different development categories, from aerodynamics to energy management.
The information obtained from these simulations will be passed on to build and test the physical prototype – which, in return, pass on more data to be simulated and refined on the virtual prototypes, creating a feedback loop.
The fully-electric Porsche Macan will be based on the Premium Platform Electric (PPA) architecture, which is being jointly developed with Audi. Just like the Taycan, it’ll also be built on an 800-volt electrical architecture, with Porsche promising it to be the “sportiest model in its segment.”
Not much information have been provided on the technical aspects of the powertrain, but Porsche says that the new PPE platform and electrical architecture allows for longer ranges (supposedly “significantly more” range than the Taycan), high-performance fast charging of up to 350 kW, and repeatable performance figures.
The fully-electric Porsche Macan will only be introduced earliest in 2023, which is still a long two-year wait from now. To tide us over, Porsche will also be launching a refresh of the first-generation Macan this year, with an internal combustion engine. The ICE Porsche Macan will also stick around for the foreseeable future, to be sold alongside the fully-electric model, providing an alternative to buyers not interested in EVs.
