Electric Porsche Macan: extremely strong and long-lasting

Highlights Porsche Macan

• Macan now fully electric
• As Macan 4 and as Macan Turbo
• Up to 639 hp and up to 613 kilometers of range
• This year in the Netherlands
• From less than 90 grand

After ten years, Porsche is launching a completely new generation of the Macan. This breaks with the model you have known since 2014 in a very important way. Unlike the outgoing generation of the Porsche Macan, the new one is purely electric. If it had been up to Porsche, the Macan, which will soon disappear from the market, would not have had to be replaced at all. Initially, the Macan with combustion engines would be delivered side by side with the new electric model for a few years. Don’t blame Porsche. Even though the Macan is already ten years old and has already been facelifted several times, Porsche still sold 87,355 copies of it worldwide last year. This makes it still by far the brand’s most popular car after the Cayenne. Unfortunately for Porsche, the outgoing Macan is not allowed due to new requirements that the European Union will impose from the middle of this year cybersecurity states that it will soon no longer be sold. The new electric Porsche Macan has big shoes to fill.

Unfortunately, the outgoing Macan has to make way for Porsche.

Same design, yet completely new

The new Porsche Macan is always an EV and therefore differs enormously from its predecessor. Yet a large part of the design remains unchanged. While the first generation was a technical sister model of the (previous) Audi Q5 and shared its MLB platform with that car, the new electric Porsche Macan also has a sister model from Audi. This is based on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) jointly developed by Porsche and Audi, a modular basis that Audi will soon use under the Q6 e-tron and which will also be under the A6 e-tron.

A lot is also changing in terms of format. With a length of 4.78 meters, the electric Macan is 10 centimeters longer than the model it replaces. In addition, it is about two centimeters wider (1.94 meters) while the height has decreased by – hold on – 2 mm. The electric Porsche Macan therefore looks less stocky than its predecessor.

You can store 540 liters of stuff in the back of the Macan, a generous 40 liters more than in the outgoing model. If you fold the back seat down, you can take up to 1,348 liters of stuff with you. Purely in the back, that is, because the electric Macan also has a luggage compartment under the front hatch. The so-called frunk offers 84 liters of storage space. More than enough for your charging cable in any case.

The new electric Porsche Macan.

Macan 4: 408 hp and 613 kilometers of range

The Macan with combustion engines has had many engine versions during its ten-year existence and is even now available (for a while) in four flavors. The electric Porsche Macan will undoubtedly also have a colorful selection of engine versions, but for the time being Porsche is introducing two. They are not called Macan T, S or GTS like the current Macan flavors, but Macan 4 and Macan Turbo.

The Porsche Macan 4 has – with overboost – has 408 hp and 650 Nm at its disposal. This means the Porsche reaches a speed of 100 km/h in 5.2 seconds. Its top speed is – it is an EV after all – less impressive at 220 km/h.

The bottom of the Porsche Macan 4 contains a 100 kWh battery, a package of which 95 kWh is actually usable. It gives the Macan 4 an electric range of up to 613 kilometers. Thanks to the 800v architecture, every Porsche Macan can charge with up to 270 kW – depending on the charging station of course. The car therefore records that charging capacity after its name at 800v chargers. At 400v charging stations you can charge with up to 135 kW. The Macan virtually cuts its battery pack into two parts, each charged with 135 kW of electricity.

Macan Turbo: 639 hp and 591 kilometers of range

Porsche also dares to put the Turbo designation on the Macan, just like with the electric Taycan. The Porsche Macan Turbo produces no less than 639 hp and 1,130 Nm. The Macan has never been this strong before. The Macan Turbo reaches 100 km/h from a standstill in an almost crazy 3.3 seconds. Its top speed: 260 km/h.

The Macan Turbo has the same battery pack as the Macan 4, although it gets slightly fewer kilometers out of it. However, with an electric range of 591 kilometers, you have little to complain about. The fast charging capacity of the Macan Turbo is the same as that of the Macan 4. The electric Macan can tow up to 2,000 kilos.

The Porsche Macan 4 (left) and the thicker-looking and stronger Macan Turbo (right).

Design

Porsche has managed to keep the outgoing Macan relatively up-to-date throughout its lifespan by facelifting the model several times. The car was thoroughly overhauled, especially in 2019. The new Macan looks different, but – partly due to its optical family ties with the Cayenne and Taycan – does not cause a shock wave.

The electric Porsche Macan has Taycan-like light units high in the front that are filled with four LED modules. The actual headlights are located one floor lower in the nose. They are housed in elements that should somewhat resemble cooling vents. The electric Macan will have a fairly steeply sloping roofline and the rear window is also much flatter than that of the Macan it replaces. The whole ends in a buttock with an LED bar running across the entire width. The model name Macan – and not ‘Macan EV’ – is written out in a fairly subtle format on the tailgate. However, with the Porsche Macan you only read ‘Turbo’ here.

That is not the only element that distinguishes the Porsche Macan Turbo from its milder motorized alternative. For example, the Macan Turbo has slightly different bumper work, complete with slots under the rear lights. The brand name Porsche is written out for each engine version under the LED strip that runs across the entire width of the buttocks.

The electric Porsche Macan has a drag coefficient of 0.25, partly thanks to the necessary active aerodynamics. The electric SUV has – whether standard or not – an adaptive rear spoiler, active flaps in the front and, Porsche writes, flexible cooling flaps at the bottom of the car.

Porsche Macan: also on the inside, clear family ties with the Cayenne, Taycan and Panamera.

Interior

The fact that the battery pack is in the bottom does not mean that you sit higher in the electric Macan than in the model that it pushes out of the showrooms. On the contrary. Depending on the chosen version and furniture, you sit up to 2.8 centimeters lower in the new Porsche Macan. The rear passengers also sit lower (-1.5 cm) and should have more legroom.

Porsche’s electric Benjamin has an interior that unsurprisingly follows the style of the cockpits of the Panamera, Cayenne and Taycan. Behind the steering wheel is a 12.6-inch digital instrument cluster and an almost 11-inch infotainment screen is printed in the center of the dashboard. You get a third display for an additional charge. This is located in front of the co-driver’s seat and has the same diagonal as the infotainment screen. For safety reasons, the driver cannot enjoy the video images that are conjured up on that screen. Also interesting: the electric Macan is the first Porsche to be available with a head-up display that uses augmented reality. More interior facts? Do we have. For example, the electric Porsche Macan will have a light strip consisting of 56 LEDs that should provide a nice ambiance.

Prices Porsche Macan

The 408 hp Porsche Macan 4 is available from €88,900. For the stronger and faster Macan Turbo you pay €121,000. In absolute terms, that’s a lot of money, but if you put the outgoing Macan next to it, it’s not that bad. The outgoing Macan is available from €125,700. For that money you get the ‘regular’ Macan with a 265 hp 2.0 four-cylinder turbo engine. The considerably more powerful electric Porsche Macan 4 is almost €37,000 below that. Even the electric Macan Turbo is €4,700 less expensive than the entry-level Macan with a petrol engine. Count your winnings.

Porsche Macan and the Netherlands

The brand new electric Porsche Macan will come to our country in the second half of this year. Since the introduction of the previous Macan, more than 2,700 copies have been sold in the Netherlands. That is almost as many as the Panamera, although the Panamera has had many more years to reach its 2,770 units sold in our country. Porsche has already sold more than 800,000 Macans worldwide. It is therefore not surprising that the brand is making a big splash with the now fully electric next chapter in the Macan book.