Porsche EV sports car confirmed; 718 Boxster, Cayman to go electric mid-decade

March 21, 2022April 2, 2022 Toby Hagon 4261 Views porsche

Porsche has confirmed its 718 Boxster and Cayman sports cars will be all-electric within a few years.

In its annual press conference delivered by Porsche chairman Oliver Blume the company confirmed it would switch its iconic two-seaters to EV “in the middle of the decade”.

“We want to offer the 718 exclusively as an all-electric model,” Porsche noted in the speech delivered by Blume and published on its Newsroom website. “The all-electric 718 is the progressive evolution of the mid-engine design. Our aim is clear: we want the 718 to be the best all-electric vehicle in the B-segment.”

The announcement comes a couple of years after Porsche confirmed the next Macan SUV – Porsche’s top seller – will also be all-electric.

The push to make its entry-level sports cars electric is a big move for Porsche and reaffirms its commitment to an electric future; currently the Boxster and Cayman use four-cylinder turbo and six-cylinder engines – the latter the classic layout for Porsche sports cars.

There have previously been hints that Porsche is ready to create some serious electric excitement with an EV hypercar.

The company has struggled with how to electrify the 911 sports car that defines the brand; Porsche has experimented with hybrid setups for the 911 (the current 992 generation 911 has space in its engine bay for an electric motor) and is now looking at synthetic fuels to reduce emissions as the intense focus on CO2 continues.

In short, Porsche doesn’t want to reduce the seating capacity and add hundreds of kilograms of weight to the 911 by adding batteries. It’s all about maintaining the character and specialness of the 911.

No doubt the switch to EV for the 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman will be a learning experience for the brand as it continues to embrace electricity.

Unsurprisingly, the electric Boxster and Cayman will be based on the previously-unveiled Mission R electric race car.

“Mission R will be an inspiration for the series of our 718 mid-engined sports car,” said Blume. “In the middle of the decade, we want to electrify this series. We want to make the 718 series exclusively electric.”

The Mission R is designed to deliver the pace and race track thrills of the 911 GT3 Cup car, which is used in race series around the world.

It makes up to 800kW of power – more than a Formula 1 car – and has a 900V electrical system capable of ultra-rapid charging.

There were no details of the upcoming new 718 models, other than to confirm the cars would be fully electric and that no petrol-powered models of the new generation car would be created.

That’s significant because it allows Porsche to develop an all-new platform for the car that maximises the EV opportunities instead of adapting them to an existing ICE architecture.

That bespoke architecture is the route Porsche chose for its first EV, the Taycan.

It’s a strategy that has paid off. The Taycan is brilliant to drive and is already immensely popular, outselling rival go-fast sedans from Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi.

Blume pointed out that almost a quarter of Porsche’s global sales are now electric.

In Australia the figure is closer to 10 percent, which is a higher percentage than any traditional luxury brand.

That success appears to have inspired Porsche to fast-track its electric transformation.

Blume said: “our electric strategy is progressing faster than planned” and said the goal was for at least 80 percent of Porsches being sold in 2030 to be all-electric.

“In 2030, the share of all new vehicles with an all-electric drive should be more than 80 percent.”

And clearly the investment of research-and-development dollars is very different to what it was only a few years ago, with Blume confirming it wants to continue to pioneer with “groundbreaking products with electric powertrains and a high degree of digitalisation”.