Porsche Macan EV offers whopping 630 hp, 500+ km range
We expect big numbers from Porsche. Whether it be horsepower (too much being never enough) or charging speed (ditto) Porsche's station in the automotive hierarchy demands the most and the best, even as it broadens its horizon beyond turbochargers and flat-six Boxer motors.
The second of its battery-powered speedsters, the mid-sized Macan SUV, would seem determinedly outsized. There is, should you order the top-of-the-line “Turbo” version, some 630 horsepower on board (402 hp for the not-hardly lesser “Macan 4”). Torque-wise, there's up to 833 pound-feet available — or 479 lb-ft for the 4 — which should be enough to challenge the tractive abilities of even the ultra-gummy 22-inch tires at all four corners of the top-of-theline Turbo.
And under the floor, there's 100 kilowatt-hours of lithium-ion — a creditable 95 kwh of which are usable — running on a state-ofthe-art 800-volt architecture and offering an impressive 270-kilowatt-peak charging.
All those horses and torques result in a turbo that can accelerate to 100 kilometres an hour (62 m.p.h.) from rest in just 3.3 seconds — 5.2 secs for the Macan 4 — which is exactly 1.2 seconds faster than the gas-fed Macan GTS. The Turbo's top speed is likewise supercar-ish, the twice-motored electric topping out at a heady 260 kilometres an hour (that's 220 km/h in 4 guise). And, thanks to those 800 volts, 70 per cent of the Macan's expected 500-plus kilometres of range can be recharged in just 21 minutes. Impressive numbers all, just what we expect from Porsche.
What is new — or at least different — is some of the technology behind these big numbers. For instance, Porsche's new Premium Platform Electric (PPE) system — seen for the first time on the Macan — offers a boost of 23 per cent in energy density compared with Porsche's previous NMC batteries, important for the company to be able to cram those 100 kwh into the Macan's relatively small platform. As well, though the PPE system may offer the very same peak charging rate — 270 kw — as the similarly 800V Taycan, it holds a more consistent 190-kw average charging.
Perhaps more importantly — because 800V 350-kilowatt DC fast-chargers are still rare finds here in Canada — the Macan's PPE system uses a novel “bank charging” system when hooked up to the 400V 150-kw units more common to Canadian DC fast-charging points.
In this new strategy, the PPE divides the battery modules into two parallel “banks,” each charging at 400 volts. By doing so, the Porsche can soak up as much as 135 kilowatts of the charge points' 150-kw peak power.
Porsche has not given any performance details as to how effective this “emulation” system is, but, by splitting the battery into two units, the current being applied — and the ensuing heat that high amperage causes — may be better cooled, which should make charging more effective. We await details of exactly how this system performs.
We should also note a few final details.
For one, Porsche has found a way to combine the on-board 11-kw AC charger, the high-voltage battery heater, and the AC/DC converter into one Integrated Power Box compact enough to be placed beneath the rear seat, thereby maximizing cargo space. For another, the amount of cobalt used — a material too often sourced from nonesg sources — has been reduced by some 60 per cent.
More practically — especially for insurers and autobody shops — Porsche says individual battery modules can be replaced and their casings repaired in the case of an accident, an important distinction from some current EVS that are sometimes scrapped as the result of even slight damage to their high-voltage batteries.
As for more mundane attributes, the change to battery power has, if anything, improved the Macan's macho good looks.