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Porsche's first all-electric two-seaters won't be 911s

The 718 line-up — including the Boxster and Cayman — will come in rear-wheel and all-wheel EV configurations in 2025

Driving
Sep 24, 2021  •  September 24, 2021  •  2 minute read  •  Join the conversation
Strip off the aero package on this Porsche Mission R concept and you get a sense of the Porsche 718 EVs will look like in 2025.
Strip off the aero package on this Porsche Mission R concept and you get a sense of the Porsche 718 EVs will look like in 2025. Photo by Porsche

For all those Porsche 911 fans waiting for an electrified version, you’re in for a long wait. (For those that think it’s sacrilege, you can breathe a little bit easier for a while longer.) According to Car and Drive r, the German automaker is working on a two-seater EV, one that will be based on the 718 lineup and be badged a 2025 model. That means both the Boxster and the Cayman will become EV models, and will be available in an all-wheel-drive configuration, a first for a 718 model. Further speculation is that the Boxster will retain its fabric top rather than a hard roof, and the respective body styles will remain close to the current models, apart from Porsche’s new “electric front” with wider headlights, as on the Taycan.

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At the recent IAA Mobility show in Munich, Porsche revealed the Mission R concept car . Strip off the race-inspired aero package and we might have some idea of what the 718 EVs will look like. As to the cabin, no insight yet, but expect it to take the Taycan’s futuristic design a step further.

The base models will be priced in the neighbourhood of their gas-powered stablemates, and under the 911 cost structure. Base models will be rear-wheel drive, and according to Car and Driver the internal target weight is under 3,650 pounds (1,655 kg). And unlike the Taycan , the next 718 will get a single-speed drive.

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As to range, word is that Porsche engineers have been tasked with squeezing a bare minimum of 400 kilometres out of the shortened PPE architecture (though one suspects that is on the very liberal WLTP rating).

The next generation 718 is scheduled for 2024, meaning most likely a 2025 model for North America, and while there will probably be gas versions of the Boxster and Cayman alongside the new EVs, expect those to be short runs before the 718 lineup goes 100 per cent electric.

Finally, on the subject of the beloved 911, Car and Driver suggests it will keep its combustion engine beyond 2030 and may not even become hybridized, let alone electrified.

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