Porsche recently unveiled its first all-electric car, along with a message that performance and sustainability can go hand in hand.
Its new 4-door, 4-seat luxury sedan can go from zero to 60 in 3.5 seconds, Porsche claims, putting it in competition with gas-powered rides like the Lamborghini and other Porsche models. The Porsche all-electric Mission E is expected to hit showrooms within the next five years. This newer, more sustainable model has an 800 volt battery, which is larger than its main competitor, Tesla’s Model S.
The New York Times reports:
Porsche claims the Mission E’s range is well over 300 miles — surpassing the Model S’s 253 miles — even when driving hard, as auto enthusiasts are known to do. Depleted batteries can be recharged to 80 percent in 15 minutes with Porsche’s Turbo Charging system. The charging system’s network will take time to develop properly, and the battery’s durability must be further tested under performance conditions — two reasons Porsche isn’t rushing production. Mission E can also recharge at existing 400-watt charge stations.
And Porsche already has three hybrid models: Cayenne S Hybrid, Panamera S E-Hybrid and 918 Spyder (costing $845,000!).
Again, The New York Times:
Porsche’s head of research and development, Wolfgang Hatz, said in an interview on Monday that the automaker’s engineers had been monitoring the market for a high-end, all-electric car. “When the time is right, we will be prepared,” he said. “We can build a car that is the Porsche of electric cars. The right technology is now available.”
Tesla’s Model S, which starts at $71,000, was introduced in June 2012. Model S scored a perfect 5.0 on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration safety rating and it’s been growing in popularity, especially in California and Norway. Audi recently introduced its crossover, the e-tron quattro, which, according to the article, can go 300 miles and fully recharge in 50 minutes.
Electric cars have yet to grab a meaningful piece of the automobile market. Currently, the U.S. has the largest share of the electric car market, where in 2014, 83,647 electric cars were sold. While it’s still a small piece of the pie, it’s a 26 percent increase in sales compared to 2013. Still, much of these sales, 55 percent in all, are hybrid electric cars. In terms of electric cars, the top sellers appear to be the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt. Though the Porsche and Tesla models are obviously geared toward consumers that want to combine luxury, sustainability, and performance.
While the Mission E is still a concept car, it proves where the electric cars of the future are sure to go. As companies start to compete within this niche market, the cost will most certainly go down while the performance goes up. More and more consumers will trust that these cars are not only reliable, but fast and self indulgent by all standards. Spewing greenhouse gases isn’t going to be sexy in the future.
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