Porsche’s move to electric goes up a gear: German sports car brand unveils new Macan EV – it’s the first battery SUV

Porsche’s transition to electric vehicles (EVs) kicked into high gear this week with the official unveiling of the new Macan, which will be sold exclusively with battery power.

While the existing Macan with petrol engines will remain in showrooms for the next two years, customers will only be able to buy this second-generation electric model from 2026.

Two versions are already available to order, with the option with the longest range promising up to 600km of non-stop driving pleasure on a single charge – that’s enough to get from London to the Scottish border without having to stop.

Here’s how much they’ll cost at launch…

The all-new electric addition from the Stuttgart sports car manufacturer will compete against other battery-powered luxury compact SUVs, such as the Audi Q4 e-tron, Polestar 4 and Volvo C40.

However, expect the Macan to have the performance edge in the sector, with both powertrains available to purchase from the start, offering all-wheel drive and more than 400 horsepower.

Porsche itself even says that the Macan has been developed to be the raciest of them all, with Jörg Kerner, vice president of the Macan product line, saying: ‘Our aim is to offer the sportiest model in its segment.

‘Thanks to the lower center of gravity and the steering precision, it gives a real sports car feeling.’

However, the battery-powered SUV is about more than quietly blowing the competition out of the water in a drag race.

The Macan will lay the “technical foundation for other future electric models from Porsche,” says Kerner – so consider it a very big deal for the brand.

As one of Porsche’s biggest sellers, the Macan will play a central role in Porsche’s plans to phase out combustion engines and usher in a battery future that will see 80 percent of global sales shift to electric by the end of this decade, it said. he predicts.

Both electric Macans have a 95 kWh battery.

The battery pack can be charged up to 270 kW on an 800V DC system, which should complete a 10 to 80 percent charge in just 21 minutes.

The entry-level model is the Macan 4 and starts from £69,800.

Considering the base price of Macan petrol starts at £53,400, the stereotypical EV premium still lives on in the eyes of the German manufacturer. To put it into perspective, for the £16,400 price difference you could buy a brand new Toyota Aygo X!

The Macan 4 has 402 hp, accelerates from a standstill to 100 km/h in 5.1 seconds and has a limited top speed of 220 km/h.

Thanks to its more modest power, it is the slimmer of the two variants, with a range of up to 600 kilometers.

The Macan Turbo amps things up with a whopping 630 hp for short periods of overboost thanks to a larger e-motor setup.

Priced at £95,000 at launch, it is almost £25,000 more expensive than the range-topping Macan petrol (Macan GTS).

The more powerful electric Macan can reach 100 km/h in 3.3 seconds and the limiter is electronic up to 260 km/h.

It also means the latter has a whopping 196bhp more than the most powerful petrol Macan currently in showrooms, although its range is slightly less than the Macan 4 at just 580km.

Speaking of the internal combustion engine Macan – of which there is no longer a diesel variant sold – it will remain in dealerships through 2024 and 2025, Porsche UK said, but will eventually be replaced by this next-generation car the following year.

At 4,784 mm long, 1,938 mm wide and 1,622 mm high, the new electric SUV is 103 mm longer, 15 mm wider and 2 mm lower than the Macan we’ve come to know over the past decade.

The wheelbase is also 86 mm longer at 2,893 mm, which – in theory – should mean more interior space.

Further back, the luggage compartment – at 540 liters – is 43 liters larger than the petrol Macan offers. And there is also an 84 liter ‘frunk’ (front trunk) in the void left by the combustion engine.

Inside there are three digital displays: a 12.6-inch curved instrument cluster, 10.9-inch infotainment touchscreen and an optional 10.9-inch touchscreen for the other person sitting in the front.

The latter gives a passenger the freedom to stream videos and adjust various controls.

When can you expect your freshly ordered Macan?

Not for a while, it seems.

Production at the Leipzig plant in Germany – where the petrol Macan, Cayenne and Panamera are all built – won’t start until later in the year.

Patience will have to be a virtue for customers, but given the virtually unlimited list of options, it should give buyers plenty of time to tinker with Porsche’s configurator to get the electric Macan to their exact specifications.