Porsche Cayenne Coupe Electric - Large, Luxurious and Fast

Porsche has chosen the Beijing Motor Show today to reveal its new all-electric Cayenne Coupe, where Not A Guru colleague - and The Interface owner - Alex Lowe is currently at.

And Porsche wants its customers to love their Cayenne Coupe, not by style alone, but with actual substance as it produces an engaging and rewarding electric car.
In a way, Porsche is inferring the essence of the car isn’t the engine, but it’s how it performs and feels out on the open road. And this is significant in attracting more customers into electrification in an uncompromising way. More on that later.

For those that shun Coupe SUV’s, just look at it as the car it is - beautifully designed with a familiar Porsche silhouette to it, that Porsche says evokes the 911 roofline.

However, thanks to the shape, it has a very low drag coefficient of just. 0.23 cd. This will help it slice through the air making for a more efficient, faster, and more refined car. And thanks to its aero shape there’s more range available, too, with Porsche claiming up to 415 miles on the WLTP combined test cycle.
This is more than enough range for nearly all drivers and one less compromise Porsche customers need to make.

There are three models available:

• Cayenne Coupé Electric: 408 PS but add overboost power and Launch Control and it takes the Cayenne to 442 PS.
  0 – 62 mph takes 4.8 seconds, top speed is 143 mph

• Cayenne S Coupé Electric: 544 PS with added overboost power and Launch Control produces 666 PS.
  0 – 62 mph goes by in a 3.8 second blur. Top speed is limited to 155 mph. 

• Cayenne Turbo Coupé Electric: 857 PS with overboost power and Launch Control produces a staggering 1,156 PS.
  0 – 62 mph takes a near incomprehensible 2.5 seconds. Top speed 161 mph.

Porsche has re-engineered the adaptive rear spoiler to remove parts, lower complexity and still provide a sleek design that tucks seamlessly into the bit lid.

The Cayenne Coupe is a big car at 4,985 millimetres in length and 1,980 mm wide (excluding mirrors), but it sits 24 mm lower than the standard Cayenne SUV.
However, with that size comes great practicality.The boot is 534 litres extending to 1,347 litres with the rear seats folded. There’s even a frunk that holds an additional 90 litres under the bonnet (like in a 911), so Cayenne EV customers gain more space over the combustion counterpart.

The rear seating can be opted with two captains chairs, or a 2+1 bench that is electrically adjustable.

The Cayenne Coupe has a towing capacity of up to 3.5 tonnes, but if customers need to venture off into the wilderness there’s an off-road package available, too.

Suspension systems are specifically designed for each model. Porsche says “the Coupé features adaptive air suspension with Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) as standard. For the Cayenne S Coupé Electric and Cayenne Turbo Coupé Electric, the Porsche Active Ride active suspension system is optionally available. Rear-axle steering with a steering angle of up to five degrees can be added to all models.”

With 800v architecture the Cayenne can charge at 390 kW. Porsche says a 10% - 80% rapid charge can take less than 16 minutes at a compatible DC rapid charger from the 113 kWh battery. It’s not as fast as pumping petrol, but with home charging it’s more convenient. For those occasional trips -where a rapid charger is needed - combing a comfort break and a quick recharge compromises less than making another pit-stop to refuel.
AC charging is 11 kW standard with optional 22 kW available for those that use a three phase supply regularly. This cuts home charging speed by 66%.

Inside, as with many premium German brands, the dashboard is awash with screens and Porsche has four. Porsche call this the Porsche Driver Experience. It seems overreach, but invariably its retail space to be filled with apps, widgets, music, entertainment and much more that undoubtedly means customers will be charged for adding additional features via its app store.

The nice touch is augmented analogue dials for the drivers display which brings a sense of real performance car credentials in a sea of modern technology.

With a large panoramic roof as standard, there’s a sense of light and space in the cabin, but the Variable Light Control - an electrically switchable liquid crystal film – is an optional extra.

Another option is a lightweight sports package reducing the cars weight by up to 17.6 kg. Porsche says “the package includes a lightweight carbon roof, sporty carbon inserts, package-specific 22-inch wheels and high-performance tyres. Inside, sporty elements feature heavily, such as the seat centre panels trimmed in classic Pepita pattern cloth, the Race-Tex headliner and open-pore carbon surfaces.”

Unlike my intro where I mentioned Porsche is producing a car with substance, this lightweight pack seems more like style over substance given the modest weight savings. I could be wrong, but will shedding 17.6 kg make a noticable difference to how the car performs? Perhaps not, but if it makes for a more emotive experience, then I’m all for it.

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About the Author

Graeme Cobb is a lifelong car enthusiast with a passion for writing about cars, EVs, industry updates and more.

You can find Graeme on 𝕏 at @graeme_cobb or YouTube @REV-EV.