- The electric Porsche Cayenne can be recharged wirelessly.
- Porsche’s inductive charger sends juice directly to the high-voltage battery, circumventing the on-board AC charger.
- It can output up to 11 kW, which is on par with traditional wired chargers, but you’ll have to pay up for the convenience.
Porsche made a usable wireless car charger that can be used to top up the batteries of the upcoming electric Cayenne. It’s not the first inductive car charger in the world, but Porsche claims it’s the first 11-kilowatt pad widely available to the public.
It’s really cool and convenient, but it will cost you. A representative of the German brand who spoke with Kyle Conner from Out of Spec Reviews at the IAA Mobility Show in Munich said that the wireless charging pad will cost abut 5,000 Euros ($5,885) in Germany when it goes on sale next year.
Granted, that includes VAT, but it’s still a lot more expensive than your average wired Level 2 EV charger. In fact, it’s almost ten times more expensive than the popular Tesla Wall Connector, which retails for 535 Euros ($630) in Germany. (In the United States, Tesla’s charger is listed at $420.)
That’s not all, though. The Cayenne EV also needs to be fitted with the necessary hardware to accept inductive charging, bringing the grand total of the system to just a smidge under 7,000 Euros ($8,240). That’s a lot of money for a system that allows Cayenne EV owners to just park their cars without worrying about forgetting to plug in. It’s expensive, but in Porsche world, it’s just another option among dozens of others.
For what it’s worth, a wireless charging system eliminates the risk of damaging the connectors on the charging port, which could lead to a hefty repair bill. Moreover, as the technology progresses, the price is bound to decrease over time.
On the technology side, what Porsche did is quite impressive, so credit where it’s due. The floor-mounted charging pad, which weighs around 110 pounds (50 kilograms), doesn’t require an external box, so it can be plugged straight into the main electrical panel. Two versions will be available, both of which can output a maximum of 11 kW: single-phase at 48 amps and three-phase at 16 amps.
The pad itself is waterproof, despite having a service hatch, and it has embedded radar sensors that automatically stop the charging session if they detect metals, animals or humans on the pad.
Gallery: Porsche Wireless Charging
On the vehicle side, the receiver is liquid-cooled and sends DC power directly to the high-voltage battery, circumventing the on-board AC charger. Meanwhile, the floor-mounted transmitter is air-cooled. The efficiency of the system is 90%, according to Porsche, which is not as good as a conductive charger, which usually tops at 94%, but it’s still impressive for a wireless setup.
Pricing for the U.S. is not yet available, but the system will make it here. "We do not have any U.S. pricing information for either the car, or its options at this time," a Porsche Cars North America spokesperson told InsideEVs. "We expect to finalize that shortly before the reveal later this year."
It’s just a question of how much it will cost and whether or not the vehicle hardware will be standard.
