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Porsche is accelerating toward a greener future with the arrival of its first electric crossover — a battery-powered Macan that will pack a big battery and output.
The more than 600 hp electric Macan will be the “sportiest model in its segment,” Porsche says.
Software supplier-related issues have delayed the compact luxury crossover by about a year. Production of the electric Macan will begin at a plant in Leipzig, Germany, in early fall 2023, analysts say, with U.S. deliveries expected in the first quarter of 2024.
The Macan EV — the sports car maker’s second all-electric model, after the Taycan — is critical to Porsche’s aims to generate more than 80 percent of new-vehicle sales globally from EVs by 2030.
The combustion engine variant is Porsche’s best-selling U.S. model, accounting for nearly a third of sales in the first nine months.
Porsche expects to build as many units of the electric Macan EV compact crossover as the combustion engine version.
“We produce more than 80,000 units per year of the current generation. In the long term, we also plan to produce the all-electric Macan on this scale,” production boss Albrecht Reimold told Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche.
Reimold said Porsche will build the electric Macan alongside the ICE version for about two years.
The dual-motor Macan EV will be the first Porsche model to be launched on Volkswagen Group’s Premium Platform Electric, or PPE, architecture.
Based on European tests, the Macan’s 100-kilowatt-hour battery pack should deliver more than 300 miles of driving range. The battery consists of 12 modules with prismatic cells that contain an 8:1:1 ratio of nickel, cobalt, and manganese.
Like the Taycan electric fastback, the Macan will use 800-volt technology, which can recharge the crossover’s battery from 5 percent to 80 percent in about 25 minutes.
Porsche said the Macan’s two electric motors deliver precise all-wheel control and on-demand torque distribution between the front and rear axles.
The Macan EV will also offer rear-axle steering. At speeds of up to 50 mph, the rear wheels steer in the opposite direction to the front wheels, with a steering angle at the rear axle of up to five degrees. Porsche said the virtual shortening of the wheelbase offers a more dynamic response when cornering while making maneuvering in tight spaces easier.
At higher speeds, the rear wheels steer in the same direction as the front axle, improving stability such as when changing lanes on the highway.
The Macan EV will also feature a “performance rear axle,” with the electric motor positioned far back, resulting in a slightly rear-focused weight balance. Porsche said that the electric motors on the rear axle will ensure greater agility when accelerating out of a bend.
The electric Macan features split headlights, with four horizontal LED strips on top, with additional lighting in the lower fascia, similar to the Taycan. The lower fascia will also feature active grille slats that open to become the primary air intake zone. In the rear, an active spoiler is visible at the base of the window.
According to dealers, the electric Macan could feature hands-free driving technology and a camera-based driver-monitoring system.