Porsche Announces Mission E Tesla Fighter at Frankfurt, Drops Mic

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

Porsche announced its all-electric four-door concept sedan at the Frankfurt Auto Show, complete with 15-minute charging (to 80 percent) and 310-mile overall range. There’s also some holographic and emoticon blather, but we’ll get to that later.

According to Porsche, the Mission E will use two electric motors with a combined output of 600 horsepower to power the car up to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds. The car’s 800-volt charger would be a first for electric cars, and would help the car charge up to 80 percent in 15 minutes. According to Tesla, the Model S takes about 30 minutes to charge up to 80 percent for similar range.

Porsche didn’t say when (or even if) the car would make it into production, but it’s likely that something very much like it will be heading our way soon. Maybe this will be a new Panamera?

The concept car is full of concept-car goodies, according to Porsche. Four captains chairs? Check. A holo-deck information screen? Check. Emoticons and comically large (and two different sized) wheels? Check and check.

Porsche said its car would be capable of a sub-8 minute run at the Nurburgring Nordschleife and that its batteries could handle multiple, full-power runs. Wonderful.

Although much of the car is conceptual, it’s clear that Porsche is firing a shot across up Tesla’s nose with their battery tech. The Mission E’s 15-minute charge time is depending on the power source, of course, using a high-voltage draw that is roughly double what Tesla’s Supercharger network provides.

The quoted time to 80 percent — and not a full charge — is not uncommon for EVs. According to Chelsea Sexton, an EV expert who appeared in “Who Killed The Electric Car?” and who writes about EVs, Porsche’s claims for battery tech aren’t wholly out of left field — although the infrastructure to make it all work may not yet exist.

Batteries usually charge at their normal rate from 0 percent to 80 percent, she said, but automakers usually turn down the voltage, and consequently the rate of charge, between 80 percent to 100 percent to keep batteries from degrading. Increased heat due to high-voltage charging, especially when batteries are almost already fully charged, has been commonly thought to degrade Li-Ion batteries, although automakers say they’ve seen little degradation so far.

“At the moment, there are three DC fast charging connectors: Tesla, CHAdeMO (the Japanese/Korean manufacturers, generally speaking), and the SAE Combo (or “CCS”) connector, which the Americans and Germans all use. (It’s) worth noting that Ulrich Hackenberg of VW Group chairs the SAE committee, so no real chance that Porsche is going to deviate from that connector,” Sexton said. There’s no real chance that Porsche could partner with Tesla anytime soon, she added.

Porsche’s 800-volt charger may take a charge in 15 minutes, Sexton said, but the infrastructure needed to deliver that kind of power doesn’t yet exist. Current DC chargers operate between 50 and 100 kW, nowhere near potent enough to charge Porsche’s car in 15 minutes.

Porsche said its car could be charged at home, or on available public chargers, but didn’t say how long it would take to fully charge.




Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

More by Aaron Cole

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 35 comments
  • VenomV12 VenomV12 on Sep 15, 2015

    This car looks incredible.

  • Probert Probert on Sep 16, 2015

    If you could only drive computer mock-ups - wowsers!! And when it's done are they going to sign up for the super charging/sharing network, or are you going to search for a 110 outlet in the potted palms? Show me a car - otherwise it's a joke.

  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
Next