Porsche Cayenne Electric Is a $111,000 EV That Can Charge Wirelessly

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Porsche’s third EV is finally here, and it’s been a good while coming. Enter the Cayenne Electric. It’s not only Porsche’s biggest EV yet, but also its most powerful production car ever, with the range-topping Cayenne Turbo Electric sending a maximum of 1,139 horsepower to the ground through all four wheels. And it can even charge wirelessly.

There’s so much to talk about here, it’s difficult even to know where to begin. Let’s start with the battery, since Porsche considers it the “heart” of the Cayenne Electric, and it’s present in all trims. This is a new 113-kWh pack with double-sided cooling for better thermal management, and DC charging speeds up to 400 kW. In “ideal conditions,” it can recharge from 10% to 80% in less than 16 minutes. That’s an official figure, by the way—not quite 15 or 16 minutes, in true Porsche specificity.

The Cayenne Electric will come with two charge ports—a NACS one for DC charging only on the driver-side rear fender, and a J1772 one for AC charging only on the passenger side. If you want to charge wirelessly, though, you’ll of course need the proper floor plate. Porsche didn’t share much detail on its wireless charging system, like how to buy one or how much it’ll cost, but the automaker did say it charges at a peak of 11 kW, and all you’d need to do is park the car above it to start the charging process.

The normal Cayenne Electric will offer 402 hp during normal driving, and 435 hp with 615 lb-ft of torque when Launch Control is activated. The Turbo more than doubles that to 844 hp during regular operation; 1,017 hp for 10 seconds when Push-to-Pass is used; and the full 1,139 hp and 1,106 lb-ft for Launch Control. Naturally, they’re both all-wheel drive and feature adaptive air suspension with Porsche’s traction and active suspension management systems, which is good. You’d certainly want them on the Turbo.

Perhaps more impressive than the power output, though, is how the Cayenne Electric can recapture so much energy during braking. Porsche compares its 600 kW recuperative power to Formula E race cars, and says that 97 percent of all braking during normal driving can be handled by the electric motors alone, without use of the mechanical brakes. Of course, ceramic composite brakes are still available for the Turbo.

At this point, I suppose it’s time to note the Cayenne Electric’s design, and I really don’t have much to say about it. It looks more like a traditional SUV than the more egg-shaped Macan Electric, but it still retains some of the Taycan’s flow in its low, long nose.

The lower grille situation is certainly interesting, with all those active flaps. I don’t hate it, though, and Porsche’s done a decent job of drawing attention to that aspect of the vehicle’s design and technology without making it obnoxious. The Turbo naturally goes more extreme with the aero treatments, adding movable blades in the cheeks of its rear bumper.

It should be said that all these components, plus the curvy body, allow the Cayenne Electric to achieve a drag coefficient of merely 0.25 Cd. That’s pretty low for an SUV. The Tesla Model X is one of the few that’s a bit more slippery, at 0.24 Cd, though I reckon this looks plenty better for that negligible hit to aero efficiency.

The Cayenne Electric is only about 2.1 inches longer than the gas-burning model, but has a five-inch-longer wheelbase, significantly improving rear legroom. Up front, yep—there are many screens, all OLED, but what makes the Cayenne Electric’s dash situation a bit different is that the primary, central infotainment panel is curved toward the bottom. Still, there are rocker switches for temperature and fan speed for each front passenger, an example of what Porsche terms “a careful balance between tactile functionality and digital touchscreens.”

Porsche expects to begin Cayenne Electric deliveries in the U.S. next summer. Typically, when a new model is that far out, automakers don’t talk about price until maybe the very day you’re actually allowed to buy one. Not so for the Cayenne EV, as today we’ve also been told that the standard model will start at $111,350 while the Turbo will run $165,350, both including delivery. Based on the number of times the car’s press release mentions a choice of powertrains on offer for the Cayenne line, it seems Porsche definitely wants the world to know that the EV’s existence means nothing for the gas version’s, which starts at $91,150.