Porsche Debuts the Hotly Anticipated Macan EV. Here’s Everything We Know.
Porsche’s move to EVs will shift up a gear in 2024 with the launch of the all-new, all-electric Macan. But the electrified Macan doesn’t mean Porsche is going all in on EVs just yet. While insisting the marque is committed to 80 percent of its range being battery powered by 2030, Stuttgart insiders have confirmed the current internal-combustion-engine Macan will stay in production for the foreseeable future.
There’s good reason for that: With more than 800,000 examples on the road, the Macan has easily been Porsche’s best-seller since 2015, and, as one executive put it, continuing that level of success with an electric version very much depends on customer demand for EVs and rollout of the charging network. Yes, Porsche is hedging its bets. But even so, the electric Macan is an impressive piece of work.
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Only Porsche’s second EV after the Taycan, the zero-emissions Macan is built on Volkswagen Group’s PPE platform, a new architecture codeveloped by Porsche and Audi to underpin EVs from VW’s premium brands. Though Porsche has yet to release exact dimensions, the model is about the same size as the current Macan and looks similar. Despite that—and the fact it will be built on the same production line as the internal-combustion-engine model—the electric Macan features a body that’s all new.
Also new is an interior featuring Porsche’s latest infotainment technology. In front of the driver is a 12.6-inch, free-standing curved screen with a configurable instrument-panel display. In the center of the dash is a customizable 10.9-inch HD touchscreen. A second 10.9-inch screen for the front seat passenger is available as an option and can be used to browse through media apps or stream video content, even while the car is being driven. A special film on this screen prevents the content from being seen by the driver. A new augmented-reality head-up display is also available as an option.
Underpinning the car’s user interface is new software built on the Android Automotive OS operating system, which allows the use of third-party apps. The operating system also enables more powerful voice-activation functionality and monthly map-data updates, along with enabling Porsche to offer market-specific software.
The vehicle is all-wheel drive, and entry-level models will be powered by a pair of new permanently excited synchronous (PSM) e-motors that will be shared with the forthcoming Audi Q6 e-tron. Under normal driving, 100 percent of the output is sent from the rear e-motor—the more powerful of the two—to the rear wheels. However, the power train’s control system can instantly bring the otherwise passive front e-motor into action and infinitely vary the rear-to-front torque split depending on traction. The front e-motor is also used to recuperate up to 240 kW of energy under braking. And the rear e-motor has a silicon-carbide inverter to boost performance.
The top-tier Macan Turbo boasts a unique, more powerful Porsche-developed e-motor mounted directly to the rear subframe. Porsche has yet to confirm power and torque numbers for the various electric Macan models, but the Turbo will boast at least 603 hp and more than 738 ft lbs of torque.
“Power is easy,” says Antoon Janssen, the Macan EV’s drivetrain manager. “To make it durable—that’s the challenge.” For that reason, all the e-motors are water-cooled and drive through a one-speed transmission that allows them to be decoupled from the wheels to enable energy-saving coasting, or lift-off deceleration roughly equivalent to that of an internal-combustion-engine car with an automatic transmission.
The 100 kWh battery pack is mounted under the floor and protected from underside damage by a fiberglass-composite skid plate. The battery comprises 12 modules, each with 15 prismatic cells connected in series, and has a cooling plate in its housing. The PPE platform’s 800-volt electrical architecture means the battery can accept charge rates of up to 270 kW when connected to a fast charger, allowing its state of charge to be boosted from 10 percent to 80 percent in 22 minutes. Adding 62 miles of range can be done in as little as four minutes. The battery’s modular construction allows it to be repaired—individual modules can be replaced if necessary—and even updated as newer, higher-performance battery chemistries are developed.
The electric Macan rolls on multi-link suspension front and rear. Entry-level models get steel springs, with air springs standard on the Turbo. Air springs make it possible for the ride height to be varied according to which of the Macan’s four drive modes—Normal, Sport, Sport+, and Off-Road—is selected. The standard ride height is 7.1 inches, but selecting Sport+ drops it to 5.9 inches, while Off-Road mode raises it to 8.7 inches.
Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) is standard with air springs but can be added as an option on steel-spring cars. A new element of the PASM package is two-valve shocks that allow compression and rebound damping rates to be individually controlled. According to Porsche, these provide a greater spread in damping rates across the Macan’s drive modes. As for wheels, there’s the option for 20-inch, 21-inch, and 22-inch setups, with staggered front-to-rear tire widths.
Rear-wheel steering will be available on the new Macan. It’s standard on the Turbo—along with a mechanical limited-slip rear differential—and turns the rear wheels up to five degrees in the opposite direction to the fronts at speeds up to 50 mph to improve agility before switching to same-phase steering for better high-speed stability. Macans with rear-wheel steering are also equipped with a front-steering rack that is 15 percent quicker than the standard item.
How does it all work? Porsche was not offering drives of the electric Macan at the preview event we attended, but we did get to ride along with test drivers on the track and on a mild off-road loop. On track, the Macan Turbo prototype feels instantly fast, the speed building very quickly. Impressive acceleration is easy in an electric vehicle, though: Where the electric Macan Turbo really impressed was through the corners, changing direction crisply, gripping hard past the apex, and allowing power oversteer on demand at corner exit.
The Turbo’s air suspension, two-valve shocks, limited-slip rear diff and rear-wheel steering all conspire to artfully disguise its mass—though mounted low in the chassis the battery alone weighs 1,260 pounds. You could feel the little Porsche leaning hard on the outside front tire on initial turn in, but the transitions from understeer to neutral balance or oversteer happened smoothly as the power train and chassis computers analyzed the yaw rate, accelerator-pedal angle, and steering-wheel angle.
Our off-road ride was in a Macan 4S prototype with the height-adjustable air suspension. It handles mild off-roading with ease, thanks to the ability to precisely control the abundant instant-on torque from the two e-motors to ensure optimal traction. The Porsche silently cruised up a 40-degree climb, and having the battery low in the chassis helped it confidently negotiate a 36-degree transverse slope.
The Taycan is one of the most significant cars in Porsche’s history because it showed that the company could build a fast and luxurious electric vehicle with unmistakable Porsche character. But the electric Macan is arguably a far more important car because it will introduce Porsche’s take on an electric vehicle to a more mainstream audience.
Click here for more photos of the all-electric 2024 Porsche Macan.
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