Earlier Porsche made their intentions clear about future of mobility, with the launch of 918 Spyder hypercar.
hypercar. That hybrid car was indeed a stepping stone for the leap jump this manufacturer is about to take from conventional fossil fuel based technology towards an all electric future of mobility – the Porsche Concept Study Mission E, as manufacturers loves to call it. Yesterday during Frankfurt Motor show, company bombed the automotive world by introducing this four door, four seater future sports car. The Porsche Mission E currently lives more on hard drives than on some tarmac, as it’s a study concept. But company projects to turn this concept into production ready car in a time span of less than three and half years, if all developments on technological front goes as per their plan.
First of all, the car stays true to Porsche’s design philosophy and doesn’t seem like one landed from the red planet. It’s quite easy to connect this car with 918 Spyder visually and the roofline very closely matches with that of iconic Porsche 911. In order to reduce aerodynamic drag and induce signature Porsche dynamic character in the car, the overall height is kept very low at about 1300 mm. This is an remarkable achievement considering the fact that it’s a four seater car and also has houses battery pack worth driving range of over 500 km. Body of the car is built using wise interplay of aluminum, steel and carbon fiber reinforced polymer. By now, you surely are accustomed with benefits of using a carbon fiber in body structure. This Mission E concept is gifted with 3D lights powered by Matrix technology, which we have seen on Audi A6 Matrix. The tail-end houses overhanging sharp taillights and a back-lit Porsche letters. Functional, efficient yet electrifying design will be the key highlight of this product after the technology propelling it.
Flip open the counter opening doors to get access to ultra-modern cabin of this car. Company says this future car follows the original principles of design, like lightness, openness, purism, clear architecture, driver orientation and day to day usability, which are laid down with the launch of their first car – the Porsche 356. Absence of B-pillar and drivetrain tunnel acts as boon and free up the space inside. As we have said earlier, the car might not look like the one from red planet but its dash surely does. The floating, curved OLED display serves as a home to five informative dials – Porsche Connect, Performance, Drive, Energy and Sports Chrono. To impart driver-centric character to the cluster, a camera tracks the position of driver and his/her eyes. The display adapts to that dynamic position and ensures the best view at driver’s disposal. The instrument menu gets activated with just one glance and hand gesture driven confirmation. The floating display extends till the passenger seat and show information regarding entertainment, temperature and navigation.
The most significant element on-board of this Porsche, or can we say on-board of every single Porsche, has been its powerhouse. This time the drive system is nothing close to what Porsche was known for – the petrol engines. This all-electric drive is composed of PSM high performance drives, which stands for Permanently-excited Synchronous Machine. This PSM drive is characterized by extremely high power density, consistent performance over wide range of speed and distance and also high efficiency. For the first time on any electric car, the system voltage of 800 V has been employed which is double of what we have seen on current breed of cars. One such PSM drive have been deployed on each of the axle, which equates to total power of more than 600 hp. This total setup enables Mission E to run for more than 500 km in single charge. The sprinting performance is impressive too, as it can accelerate from 0 – 100 kmph in less than 3.5 sec and from 0 – 200 in less than 12 sec. Mission E’s drive can take this beast to speeds exceeding 250 kmph. Last but not at all least thing about an electric car is its charging cycle. Thanks to high voltage circuit, 15 mins of charging time can replenish the batteries to 80%. There are options to charge this car by conventional 400 V charger as well as through contact less induction charger. Let the time roll and wait for Concept Study Mission E to turn more realistic and production ready. What’s more exciting for us in this car is its technology, as it will surely trickle down to other day to day cars in near future, landing us and the mother earth in profit.