Porsche Macan Electric 2024: EV SUV to use brand’s new PPE platform

---

Porsche’s all-electric Taycan has just crossed the 100,000 mark for vehicles produced and, on the day that figure was reached, the company took the opportunity to show off some more details about its next battery-powered machine.

It’ll be the Macan Electric midsize SUV, it’s hitting production in 2024, and we have some early details.

That SUV will be built on a new all-electric platform that Porsche is calling PPE: Premium Platform Electric.

Like the J1 platform that underpins the Taycan and the E-Tron GT, PPE development has been shared with Audi and will also see use in a sporty SUV from Porsche’s corporate cousins.

But the Macan Electric looks to be the premiere implementation of this new foundation, and based on the early details we were given, it should be great.

The PPE platform will be dual-motor initially, one electric motor driving each axle to give all-wheel-drive. However, with a larger motor at the back, the Macan Electric will have a rearward power bias. Its weight balance will be skewed rearward to match, to the tune of 48:52 percent. 

Maximum power will be somewhere in the 450kW ballpark, with torque a whopping 1000Nm, easily vectored front to rear thanks to that motor layout.

Side-to-side torque vectoring will be possible as well thanks to an active, locking rear differential that will be standard on the higher, performance models at least. The front axle will use a simpler, open differential.

That should help the thing turn, while a new, rear-steering system will add even more agility to Porsche’s sportier SUV. But it has to be comfortable, too, and to that end a new, two-valve suspension system will allow greater range of damping rates as well as variable ride height.

The rear subframe, containing the suspension and rear motor, is mounted on bushings, another way to help keep things smooth. 

But all that would be useless without a big battery, and while Porsche was coy on details, it is targeting a capacity of 100kW. That, Porsche said, is the right blend of range and weight to enable a practical, performance-oriented SUV.

That battery will be mounted in the floor, as is the norm in modern EVs. What we don’t know is the range, but Porsche promised a substantial improvement over the Taycan, which in its maximum-range 4S trim is rated for 366 km. 

No details on when the new Macan Electric will be coming to Australian shores, but Porsche said it will be in production by early 2024, so we can at least expect a full unveiling before 2023 is over.