Electric Buzz
Porsche, the German car maker known for creating high performance sports cars, wants petrolheads to know that electrification has lots of advantages over old-school engines
Porsche might be best-known for building some of the most desirable combustion-engined sports cars and SUVs on the planet, but it wants the world to know that the automotive industry’s inevitable switch to electrified motoring is something to be welcomed.
Its message is that this is a ‘powertrain that changes everything’.
The German car manufacturer announced earlier this month that it was doubling its investment in electric mobility – including fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars, the implementation of charging stations and building electric vehicle architecture – to more than £5.3bn.
The number of alternatively-fueled vehicles on the road is small, with the latest official figures indicating they make up only about five per cent of new car registrations. However, with the number of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles rapidly increasing, Porsche clearly thinks now is a good time to explain why it’s investing so heavily in the technology and why motorists have a lot to look forward to.
In an announcement, Porsche says that the current number of miles being driven by motorists worldwide is not sustainable with combustion engines and notes that many major cities are struggling to achieve air quality targets, with traffic projections only rising.
It adds: ‘Anyone who wants to meet this demand in the long term and ensure that comfort, safety and driving pleasure remain at least on a par with current cars will find no way around electrically-driven and emission-free powertrains.’
The UK reached its legal air pollution limit for 2018 by the end of January, and has been summoned to the EU to explain how it intends to comply with EU air pollution laws, which it has breached every year since 2010.
The potential for EVs to excite the driver even in small city cars is also of note, says Porsche, because electric motors can deliver all of their accelerative power instantly.
It adds that any manufacturer that ‘masters the challenge’ of creating fun-to-drive, long-range electric vehicles that provide repeatable performance ‘will create a long-lasting buzz among customers – thanks to the strengths of
the electric powertrain’.
However, infrastructure limitations are key in holding back the uptake of EVs as motorists are concerned about ‘range anxiety’ – the thought of running out of juice with nowhere to recharge.
Porsche points to a study by the Institute of Transport Research in Germany, which said: ‘Even if there are only one million e-vehicles in Germany, approximately 33,000 public and semi-public charging points will be required for everyday traffic, as well as approximately 2,600 public charging points for long-distance traffic.’
To help to achieve these goals, a number of car makers are investing in charging infrastructure. One such endeavor is Ionity, a joint collaboration between BMW, Daimler, Ford and the Volkswagen Group, of which Porsche is a member.
It plans to build 400 ultra-fast charging stations across Europe by 2020, with 40 so far slated for the UK and Ireland. The latest figures for charging point finder Zap Map shows there are currently more than 15,000 charging points at more than 5,000 locations in the UK – but less than 3,000 are considered ‘rapid connectors’.
