Porsche Cayenne Electric Wicks Heat Away from Batteries with the Cooling Power of 100 Fridges

Ahead of its launch, Porsche handed a pre-production version of its new, all-electric Cayenne over to some American journalists. At highway speeds, the drivers were able to travel over 560 km on a single charge.

That range figure would be impressive in any electric vehicle (EV), but it’s even more surprising for one travelling at highway speeds, where wind-resistance tends to shrink range. Although North American governmental organizations have yet to test the Cayenne Electric, it is rated to go more than 600 km per charge on the (more optimistic) European WLTP test cycle in combined driving.

The secret to that range, beyond the 113 kWh battery pack, is efficiency, according to Porsche. Firstly, the automaker has eked out packaging improvements by better integrating the pack into the structure of the vehicle, improving the ratio between the cells and the battery housing by 12 per cent as compared to the second-generation Taycan.

The automaker is also boasting chemical efficiencies. The lithium-ion battery pack gets a graphite-silicon anode and a nickel-manganese-cobalt-aluminum cathode. That’s all a little complicated, but the result is high energy density (thanks to the high nickel content), and improved fast-charging ability, thanks to the silicon in the anode.

Perhaps the biggest improvement is the introduction of a cooling system that sandwiches the battery from above and below. With a cooling capacity equivalent to around 100 domestic refrigerators, the system can keep battery temperatures within a specific temperature band, to help keep things as efficient as possible.

The result isn’t just big range, though. Thanks to its powerful cooling system, the Cayenne Electric will also be able to charge remarkably quickly. By the automaker’s estimates, drivers will be able to recoup 300 km of range in just 10 minutes at 400 kW fast-charging stations. Put another way, the Cayenne Electric can go from 10 to 80 per cent state of charge in just 16 minutes. For reference, the Macan Electric’s smaller 100 kWh battery takes 21 minutes to charge from 10 to 80 per cent.

As noted previously, the Cayenne Electric is full of fun charging tricks. It will be the first production vehicle available to Canadian consumers with inductive charging. Indeed, buyers who get a charging pad (just like the one you park your phone on at night), will be able to charge their Cayenne Electric wirelessly in their garage. That capability is expected to arrive in 2026 for European buyers, and after that for North American consumers.