homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Porsche is doubling its investment in electric and hybrid vehicles

A move in the right direction by Porche and its parent company Volkswagen.

Alexandru Micu
February 5, 2018 @ 6:43 pm

share Share

High-end car sports car manufacturer Porsche announced on Monday that it will double investments in electrifying its entire range of products by 2022.

Mission E.

Porsche’s Mission E concept unveiled at IAA 2015.
Image credits youkeys / Flickr.

Stuttgart-based Porsche says it will pour over six billion euros ($7.5 billion) into developing battery-powered and hybrid cars over the next five years — double what it was originally planning to shell out. Although the decision is certainly encouraging for our current struggles with climate change, it is undeniably muddied by the ‘dieselgate’ scandal parent company Volkswagen (which owns Porsche) was recently involved in.

Still, it’s one that VW’s new CEO is desperately trying to rinse the company of. Porsche’s announced doubling-down of the investments come as part of a group-wide push to hasten the launch of electric vehicles.

Of the extra three billion euros that the company is investing, some 500 million are earmarked for the Mission E, Porsche’s flagship app electric vehicle, which is expected for release in 2019. Announced specs include an impressive 600 horsepower and 500 kilometers (310 miles) range — which would make it a direct competitor of the Tesla designs.

One billion euros will be diverted to the design and development of hybrid and full-electric versions of models that Porsche is already producing. Furthermore, the company announced that it will spend 700 million euros to build up a network of fast recharging stations for these vehicles, and the remainder “several hundred million euros” on expanding its production sites to fit these models.

However, Porsche says it is by no means abandoning the traditional combustion engine completely.

Between the proposed electric highway and charging station network, rapidly approaching bans on petrol engines, and growing support for a phase-out of coal, Europe is looking greener by the minute.

share Share

Neanderthals Turned Cave Lion Bone into a 130,000-Year-Old 'Swiss Army Knife'

130,000-year-old discovery reveals a new side to our ancient cousins.

This Bionic Knee Plugs Into Your Bones and Nerves, and Feels Just Like A Real Body Part

No straps, no sockets: MIT team created a true bionic knee and successfully tested it on humans.

This New Bioplastic Is Clear Flexible and Stronger Than Oil-Based Plastic. And It’s Made by Microbes

New material mimics plastic’s versatility but biodegrades like a leaf.

Researchers Recreate the Quintessentially Roman Fish Sauce

Would you like some garum with that?

Why Warmer Countries Have Louder Languages

Language families in hotter regions evolved with more resonant, sonorous words, researchers find.

What Happens When You Throw a Paper Plane From Space? These Physicists Found Out

A simulated A4 paper plane takes a death dive from the ISS for science.

A New Vaccine Could Stop One of the Deadliest Forms of Breast Cancer Before It Starts

A phase 1 trial hints at a new era in cancer prevention

After 700 Years Underwater Divers Recovered 80-Ton Blocks from the Long-Lost Lighthouse of Alexandria

Divered recover 22 colossal blocks from one of the ancient world's greatest marvels.

Scientists Discover 9,000 Miles of Ancient Riverbeds on Mars. The Red Planet May Have Been Wet for Millions of Years

A new look at Mars makes you wonder just how wet it really was.

This Is Why Human Faces Look So Different From Neanderthals

Your face stops growing in a way that neanderthals' never did.