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Porsche Mission E Electric Sports Saloon revealed at Frankfurt Motor Show

The concept car is planned to go on sale in 2018

Sam Vallancey
Tuesday 15 September 2015 13:09 BST
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The Porsche Mission E boasts 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds and 600 horsepower
The Porsche Mission E boasts 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds and 600 horsepower

Porsche has unveiled its Tesla competitor: a concept electric car that boasts 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds, 600 horsepower and a top speed of 155 mph plus, all while charging to 80% within 15 minutes.

The car’s speed is made possible by the introduction of an 800-volt charging port delivering power to two permanent magnetic synchronous motors. Porsche have developed the technology in their Le Mans winning 919 car, which uses similar motors and recovers energy used while braking.

This concept is entirely electric, and makes use of new wireless charging technology kept in the floor of driveways and garages. It has a 310 mile range and space for four passengers.

The car has a top speed of 155 mph plus

The interior matches the futuristic concepts in the engineering of the car. Porsche said that “Instruments are intuitively operated by eye-tracking and gesture control, some even via holograms – highly oriented toward the driver by automatically adjusting the displays to the driver’s position”.

The interior matches the car's futuristic engineering concepts

The outside design matches Porsche’s trademark styling. While adapting the design to the lack of a combustion engine, exhaust system or transmission tunnel, exterior has taken inspiration from their modern racing cars as well as the instantly recognisable form of the 911.

However, Tesla won’t be easily outmatched. The Mission-E will have to compete with Elon Musk’s recently announced “Ludicrous Mode” for the Tesla Model S P85D, which beats out serious supercar competition with a 0 to 60 time of 2.8 seconds. With a claimed 762hp, and available as an upgrade on the Model S P85D it is the furthest electric vehicles have been pushed yet.

The exterior matches Porsche’s trademark styling

The Porsche is the first high end purely electric sports car built by a traditional car manufacturer. Previously, Tesla had only to compete with compact cars like the Nissan Leaf.

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