New details surrounding Porsche’s Mission E electric supercar was revealed this week at the Paris Motor Show. The German-based manufacturer of high performance cars confirmed that it will be going into production with its 600hp all-electric, all-wheel drive electric sports car by the end of the decade. Taking a cue from Tesla, the Volkswagen-owned automaker will also be building out its own fast-charging network which the company says will be able to deliver 248 miles of range (400 km) in as little as 15 minutes, or 80% of the vehicle’s expected 310 miles of range per single charge. Being able to charge this quickly would require at least 150 kW of power, topping Tesla’s fast-charging Supercharger which outputs 135 kW of power.
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume tells TopGear that the company is working with other organizations to create a fast charging network which will also be made available to Tesla owners through the use of an adapter. “We are in contact with other manufacturers and suppliers around the world to build a fast-charging network. Everybody has the same need. It sounds easy but getting the details agreed is hard. We already have the clear technical concept. It can even work with Teslas, with an adapter.”, says Blume.
Aside from the announcement of a Porsche-led fast-charging network, Blume also revealed that the company has no immediate plans to produce a self-driving Mission E. The sentiment is inline with Ferrari CEO’s stance on never producing a self-driving car calling Tesla Autopilot an ‘obscene concept’. Porsche is, however, open to the idea of using autonomous features to enhance a vehicle. Blume tells publication AutoExpress that a driver may choose to read a newspaper during a traffic jam or have the vehicle self park using autonomous features, but the experience of driving will be left to that of the driver.
There’s no word on who Porsche is working with on building out its electric vehicle charging network, though TopGear reports Mercedes-Benz chief said, “We are in talks with them [Porsche],” when asked about any collaboration between the two companies.
