Porsche will aid VW Group's electrification charge with an even larger investment than it had originally planned. Through 2022, Porsche has $7.5 billion earmarked for electrification, up from $3.7 billion. The investment will focus on plug-in hybrids, pure electric cars, the brand's Turbocharger fast-charging stations, and various other "smart mobility" sectors.
The decision to double the investment was made by the Porsche AG Supervisory Board in its latest meeting. The money will fund additional investments in material assets and development costs.
Noting the success of the Panamera E-Hybrid, Porsche said $1.2 billion of the investment will go toward hybridizing its existing products.
The brand said more than $600 million will be spent on the brand's first battery-electric car, the production version of the Mission E and its associated variants. The Mission E will arrive with 600 horsepower, and with those Turbocharger fast-charging systems, Porsche said drivers can expect around 250 miles of range replenished in just 15 minutes. The electric car's total range should be somewhere around 300 miles.
However, Porsche will likely introduce multiple performances levels of the Mission E. We could see a "base" Mission E with a lower range and less power, while the range-topping car could mimic the show car's stats that Porsche references. Pricing should mimic the Panamera, which means the Mission E will cost around $85,000 to start and go up, possibly significantly, from there.
2020 Porsche ‘Mission E’ electric sedan spy shots - Image via S. Baldauf/SB-Medien
In a separate announcement, the brand also said Mission E production will likely get underway sometime in 2019. We'll likely see the electric car arrive as a 2020 model. Prototypes have already been assembled and the car's initial equipment will be brought into the factory early this year.
Porsche says several hundred million dollars of the investment will be used to expand production facilities, and around $868 million will be used for new technologies, the Turbocharger stations, and smart mobility. Currently, Porsche has plans to construct 400 Turbocharger stations in Europe by 2020. The company has not announced plans for stations in the U.S.