Porsche has confirmed the 718 Boxster and Cayman will receive pure-electric power for their next-generation. We’ve spotted the Boxster EV testing multiple times and we can already see that it’ll continue evolving the established design traits of Porsche’s mid-engined sports car.
Porsche CEO, Oliver Blume, has previously spoken on the firm’s aspirations to create an electric version of the Boxster and Cayman. “In the middle of the decade, we want to electrify this series. We want to make the 718 series exclusively electric.” He said in a business update in early 2022.
The electric Boxster and Cayman have already been previewed in part by the Mission R concept revealed last year. “Mission R will be an inspiration for the series of our 718 mid-engined sports car”, Blume added.
These latest spy shots don’t reveal anything new over our last sighting, we can still see the elongated wheelbase featuring surprisingly long overhangs front and rear. The rear bumper is clad in camouflage and the fake exhaust tip protruding from it is just a red herring. Slimmer, more horizontally positioned headlights and a taller rear bumper feeding into a new full-width LED lighting bar will appear on the Boxster EV.
The additional bodywork running from behind the door to the rear axle reveals the longer wheelbase necessary to fit a battery pack similar in size and layout to the Mission R’s 82kWh unit.
When it comes to the 718 model line’s new architecture, Blume added: “We’re going to have one platform for our two-door sports cars and the platform for our four-door sports cars.” He also confirmed that production of the Boxster and Cayman will continue at the Zuffenhausen plant in Germany.
Both the Mission R and the subsequent Cayman GT4 ePerformance feature an 82kWh battery pack supported by a dual electric motor setup developing 1,073bhp. This setup enables 0-62mph in just 2.5 seconds, and a top speed of 180mph. The electric Cayman and Boxster aren’t likely to replicate this level of performance (that’ll be left to the GT 911 models), but we can expect figures that improve upon the current 718 Boxtser’s 4.5-second 0-62mph time to compete with Lotus’ electric sports car.
Unlike many contemporary EVs – which utilise an underfloor battery – the Mission R has been developed with a battery stack behind the passenger cell, creating a similar layout and weight distribution to a mid-engined sports car using an internal combustion engine. This also means that the seating position remains low-slung, as is traditional in the class.
Just as it’s done with the GT4 and GT4 RS versions of the current car, Porsche could look to offer a high-performance, track-honed version of the new Cayman with a similar power output and dual-motor setup to the Mission R, but single-motor variants driving the rear axle only, and providing fast road car levels of performance with decent usable range will be the priority for engineers.
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