Frankfurt show: Porsche charges up Mission E

PORSCHE has fired back at the electric supercar brigade with its Mission E concept that features four doors, four-wheel drive, four-wheel steering and over 400 kilowattsGiven its four-door body style, the Mission E couls point to a possible all-electric next-generation Panamera, and it is no doubt designed to give Tesla’s Model S P85D some opposition.

The first all-electric four-seat sportscar in the brand's history also boasts a first in its use of an 800-volt drive system that generates 440kW of power and offers an electric driving range of more than 500km.

A sprint time in the realm of the current 911 Turbo – “under 3.5 seconds” – as well as a fast-charge to 80 per cent capacity in around 15 minutes are among the other claims for the four-door concept car.

Porsche’s introduction of an 800-volt system claims a single full charge range of 500km but up to an extra 400km from a 15-minute quick charge, as well as having the ability for inductive-loop charging.

The latest lithium-ion battery system has been mounted low and throughout the floorpan between the front and rear axles, delivering even weight balance and a low centre of gravity.

The impetus comes from two permanent magnet synchronous motors taken from the Le Mans 919 hybrid, which can recover energy as well as teaming up produce 440kW – over 600hp – enough to hit 200km/h in less than 12 seconds.

The all-wheel-drive system is an on-demand set-up that also offers torque vectoring to automatically distributes torque to the individual wheels as required.

According to Porsche, all that combines for a Nurburgring Nordschleife lap time of less than eight minutes, which seems pessimistic given the 6:57s lap in its 918 Spyder and low seven-minute laps for many of its Porsche siblings.

Built from a mix of aluminium, steel and carbon-fibre reinforced polymer, the Mission E sits low (just 1300mm) on carbon wheels – 21-inch wheels in front and 22-inch wheels at the rear.

Subtle aerodynamics abound, with air inlets and outlets adorning all of the car’s surfaces, giving the Mission E improved airflow and keeping lift to a minimum.

Four individual racing bucket seats keep all occupants well located during “dynamic driving” and cabin space benefits from the absence of a transmission tunnel.

A camera-based eye-tracking system detects where the driver is looking, which givers them (with the use of steering wheel mounted buttons) the ability to select menus and functions by looking at them.

The display also has the ability to follow the seat position and body attitude of the driver – Porsche says it’s called the “parallax effect” – and the 3D display of the round instruments “move” with the driver.

The Mission E also boasts a holographic display that extends far into the passenger's side, allowing front occupants to use the integrated apps to control the car’s main cabin functions by the use of gestures – grasping to select and pulling to control.

The exterior aero package does not have to accommodate for exterior mirrors, where instead the “virtual” exterior mirrors (located on the lower corners of the windscreen) display images from the exterior cameras.