Porsche Boxster, Cayman EVs use race tech for "real sports car" handling

A requisite of that design is to minimise the size of the battery to optimise the packaging benefits, which in turn puts a key focus on efficiency and energy regeneration. 

Sports car twins to harness motorsport tech

In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with Autocar, Porsche R&D chief Michael Steiner detailed how learnings from the company’s title-winning Formula E programme will directly influence the forthcoming 718 Boxster and Cayman EVs.

Highlighting that “motorsport has always been within our brand core”, Steiner said the key to its success in Formula E has been that it is “an efficiency formula”. 

This is because Formula E teams have the freedom to develop their own powertrains but are required to use spec batteries, which puts an emphasis on making the most use of that power.

“Importantly, on-the-road e-mobility is also an efficiency formula, because when you save on energy, you can win in weight, win in range or win in material cost,” said Steiner. “There’s a wide variety of things we can do with better efficiency.”

Crucially, Steiner noted that efficiency isn’t just related to the design of the motor but also puts a focus on software and braking – and in the case of the latter, merging the regeneration systems with the traditional brakes.

Unlike some rivals, Porsche’s existing electric models such as the Taycan and Macan Electric offer only limited regeneration control and Steiner said: “Our strategy is not one pedal drive.”

He added: “ If you ask any race driver, none would choose a one-pedal system because you should have control of recuperation and braking on the same pedal as seamlessly as possible. In cornering, if you don’t have the right feeling on the pedal, you don’t have trust in the stability of the car. You don’t see it by watching the cars, but if you ask drivers, you feel the difference on the brake pedal.”

Steiner said this brake feel – a key element of Porsche’s trademark handling – is “what makes a car superior ”. 

He said: “Fast straight-line acceleration could be done by more or less anybody. But the brake pedal – the feel on the brakes and good handling in corners – that’s something we’ve learned in Formula E. We still see room for improvement on the road, including with efficiency.”

Steiner added that the emphasis on integrated braking is about “physics” because it is always more efficient to use the car ’s kinetic energy to slow it , with the aim of avoiding the use of the brake discs as much as possible.

He said: “With a one-pedal system, you sometimes start to regenerate earlier than you should do, so you’re already decelerating when the brake discs kick in , so as a driver, you have no influence at all .”

By contrast, “if you have all the braking on the brake pedal, then you as the driver can do the modulation you need – and also feel the reaction of the Tarmac, steering and things like that ”, he said. “So you can control the car with the brakes as well as the throttle and, in our view, this is superior to a system that does something you can’t control.” 

Core platform will aid sports car handling

While the 718 twins will feature integrated regen and braking systems, there will be a focus, as in Formula E, on maximising the amount of energy recaptured to optimise efficiency. That, in turn, will allow the cars to be fitted with smaller batteries, aiding packaging and reducing the cost and, most crucially, weight.

That ties in with Porsche’s e-core platform, which features the battery behind the seats. Steiner said: “ It’s putting the centre of gravity as close to the driver as possible so the car around them is really flexible and agile. Then you can really handle and control the car nicely and it’s really well balanced.

“You sit close to the road, so it’s a huge advantage over [a platform where] you sit on top of the battery. It ’s a real sports car feeling.”

Steiner said he has driven a prototype Boxster EV and “it’s really great” in two specific respects. The first is that “you are close to the centre of gravity of the car, so the handling is great”.

The second is the experience of driving an electric drop-top. “Driving with the roof down in a quiet way – it’s not silent, but there’s no engine noise – through the landscape, hearing and smelling everything, is a new experience,” he said. “In addition to the experience of electric driving, it ’s something new just to drive with the roof down.”

Asked if someone would recognise the lineage from a combustion Boxster to the EV, Steiner said: “Even with the best technology you could have in an ICE, the electric car will be faster on the gas. The big disadvantage is weight, but we’ve done a lot to keep that in control. Weight-wise, you should not expect a package with weight in the area of a four-door car: we’re significantly better.