Each year, the Volkswagen group holds a conference to come up to speed with happenings in the automobile world. This year, it was held in Stuttgart, Germany, and was a more ‘future plans’ conference, as opposed to a briefing. Ulrich Hackenberg, the VW Group’s head of R&D revealed Porsche might be getting into hydrogen-fuel-cell car design (along with Volkswagen, Audi- to be released later in this decade), along with designs for an electric one.
Cayenne S E-Hybrid and the Panamera S E- Hybrid were shown as the models for the battery EV and a fuel-cell EV. Currently, both Volkswagen and Audi have EVs in their dossiers- the Volkswagen e-Golf and the Audi R8 e-tron. Not much was revealed and the news was not remarked over in the presentation slides, although the Chairman of Board, Dr Heinz-Jacob Neusser did confirm a complete electric Porsche is in the making.
Porsche chief Matthias Mueller said- “Tesla has built an exceptional car”, adding “They have a very pragmatic approach and set the standard, where we have to follow up now.”
Porsche models have been called the stuff of the legends, and have garnered appreciation in all facets of car making. The 918 Spyder was a testament to the fact that partial electrification could help the car reach epic performance gains. What remains to be seen now is, if it will adopt standard designs for its electric, which won’t set hearts racing because, well, it is Porsche.
They will have to comply with the severe restrictions and regulations that accompany the designing of an electric. They are reportedly targeting a range of more 500 kilometers (310 miles) before needing to recharge- that equals a normal highway stop. At any rate, the massive amounts of profit they have earned should serve as cushion for their fuel cell EVs, if they encounter losses, which has a pretty high probability.
