New 1140-bhp Porsche Cayenne Electric combines supercar pace with SUV practicality 

After months of teasers and camo-clad previews, Porsche's first-ever Cayenne EV has finally been revealed. Was it worth the wait? Here’s all we know so far.

The most powerful Porsche road car ever made is… an electric SUV? That’s right, when it comes to sheer firepower there’s been nothing out of Stuttgart before which could match the new electric Cayenne Turbo’s ferocious 1140 bhp and 1106 lb ft of torque. That means despite a kerb weight of over 2.5 tonnes, the Turbo will leap to 60 mph in a supercar-matching 2.5 seconds — though we think the 0-124 mph time of just 7.4 seconds, is even more impressive.  

When it comes to attention-grabbing headlines, those unhinged stats rightly do most of the heavy lifting. But there’s so much more to this e-SUV than simple brute force. According to Porsche, the new electric Cayenne is a ‘technological milestone’ for the firm. And they’re not wrong — so much has changed, we’re not sure where to start. 

The fully electric powertrain is probably a good place to kick off. Sitting on an EV PPE platform, all electric Cayennes get a newly developed 113-kWh high-voltage battery, which benefits from double-sided cooling for optimum thermal management. And, while there’s just two variants to choose from — an entry-level 402-bhp model, and the vicious 1140-bhp Turbo — both benefit from all-wheel drive and 800-volt technology to support rapid charging of 10 to 80% in less than 16 minutes.

Not that you’ll be needing to charge up too often. The base car’s 399-mile range is most impressive, but at 387 miles, the Turbo only concedes 12 miles despite all that extra grunt — provided you don’t try and use all of it at every set of traffic lights. What’s more, as we saw for ourselves at this year’s Munich Motor Show, the Cayenne is to be the first production car to support wireless (inductive) charging. In theory, that means once you’ve got the system fitted to your driveway, there’s no more messing about with cables. Simply park above the floor plate and charging automatically commences at up to 11 kW. 

If that wasn’t enough, the Cayenne is also capable of recovering much of that lost energy through braking. Granted, that’s not new technology in itself, but few EV’s manage to utilise it so effectively. According to Porsche, the energy recovery figures achieve ‘Formula E levels, with up to 600 kW of recuperative power’. That means ‘in everyday life, about 97% of all braking operations can be handled purely by the electric motors.’  The benefits? Fewer trips to the dealership for brakes, and fewer trips to the charging station for top ups.

As for the interior, it’s a myriad of screens and displays. Porsche’s new OLED Flow Display dominates and comprises of 3 separate screens, plus an optional heads-up display with built in AR technology — covering 87-inches in total. Interestingly, there are also newly introduced mood modes which, depending on the selected programme, adjust the seating position, lighting, air conditioning, sound profile and the display appearance, to create the perfect cabin environment for any given moment. Oh, and it’s impressively spacious, too. An enormous 781-litre boot capacity matches the current combustion model, however there’s an additional 90-litre front luggage area to make the electric variant even more practical. 

It's shaping up to be an impressive machine, then, but surely all this performance and practicality won’t come cheap? Well, with prices set to start at £83,200 for the 402-bhp version and £130,900 for the flagship Turbo, it’s no bargain. That said, we can think of few other cars on the market at any price which offer a superior all-round package. 

If you agree, you’ll be interested to know that the electric Macan’s bigger brother is set to land next year. Oh, and there might be a cheaper rear-drive-only option version in the works.  

Has Porsche changed the electric SUV game? Let us know if you’re impressed by the EV Cayenne’s groundbreaking new technology.

Hero image credit:  Porsche