Porsche Mission E project based electric sports car launch by 2020

Porsche’s board has approved building an electric car based on the Mission E project, which was showcased at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show. The new fully-electric sports car will be built with an investment of around USD 1.1 billion (approx. Rs 7,000 crore) and will be launched by the end of the decade.

Porsche has been toying with electric technology for a while, producing hybrid cars, but this will be the first time that the company will build an all-electric vehicle. The unnamed car will be designed to undertake long distance journeys with a range of 500km. It houses an 800-Volt Turbo Charging system on board which will recharge 80 per cent of the batteries in 15 minutes – that is much quicker than the Tesla Supercharger for the Model S that replenishes 50 per cent of the juice in 20 minutes. Also on the cards is a wireless charger with a coil that can be integrated into the garage floor. The power output of the four-door car will be 600bhp and getting to 100kmph from standstill will take 3.5 seconds. 

The project will be operated from Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, where the company is expected to create around 1,000 new jobs. The initial investment is around USD 760 million (approx. Rs 5,000 crore) in the main manufacturing facility, while the rest will be for the new assembly line and the paint shop.

The announcement comes at a strategic time for the Volkswagen group, which is reeling under the controversy around the EA 189 diesel engines. The commitment to the green technology and substantial investment should bring some respite with it. In terms of competition, the new model will, without doubt, compete with the Tesla cars. But 2020 is still far away and Porsche might have to slug it out with a few more electric cars at the time of the launch.