Porsche’s Macan EV comes out in 2024—we drive the prototype
Enlarge / The 2024 Porsche Macan is still months away from going on sale, but Porsche let us drive the prototype in Los Angeles this summer. (credit: Porsche)
Porsche provided flights from Washington, DC, to Los Angeles and two nights in a hotel so we could drive the prototype Macan. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.
MARINA DEL REY, Calif.-Porsche's plans to electrify 80 percent of its product range by 2030 requires the German automaker to offer more than just Taycans. Other than the 911, which probably won't be a battery-electric vehicle (unless and) until solid-state batteries alter the energy-to-mass calculations, that means everything else in the lineup will need to trade engine, exhaust, and fuel tank for a battery pack and an electric motor or two. And it's starting with its second-best-selling model, the Macan crossover.
An all-new Macan arrives in showrooms next year for model year 2024 and will confusingly coexist for some time alongside the current gas-burning Macan, which recently went through its midlife refresh. The new version is entirely electric, however, and will be built on a new 800 V architecture called Premium Platform Electric, being developed by Porsche together with its corporate sibling, Audi.
These were prototype Macans, and Porsche wasn't ready for us to see the rest of the dashboard yet. (credit: Porsche)
Spy shots of barely disguised Macan EVs have been circulating for some time as Porsche puts on its finishing touches. Some of those test cars have even been spotted here in the US; a couple of years ago, it decided to develop local market prototypes. For our market, that means things like making sure the satellite radio works and that the advanced driver assistance system (or ADAS) can read our road signs and knows that on US highways, faster traffic rarely sticks to the leftmost lane.