The Porsche Macan makes up a significant portion of total sales for the brand worldwide. That fact should not be a surprise to anyone who is aware of the current buying trend that leans heavily towards SUVs. The current model (which we drove at its world ride and drive event) was due for replacement some time ago, but Porsche held back as it announced that the Macan would be going all-electric. Now electric Porsche Macan test mules have started real-world evaluation ahead of a 2023 introduction.

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Powertrain options

The next-gen Macan was supposed to be purely electric, but since that model will only be introduced in two years time, the company will give the current version another upgrade. This will be its second revision since introduction in 2014. The electric Porsche Macan will be the first Porsche to be built on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE). This platform will underpin other models from within the VW Group.

“In Europe, the demand for electric vehicles continues to rise, but the pace of change varies considerably across the world. That’s why we’re going to launch another conventionally powered successor to the current Macan in the course of 2021,” says Michael Steiner, member of the executive board, research and development, at Porsche AG. The new combustion-engined Macan models will be offered alongside the all-electric Macan in the future. Until then, however, it still has millions of test kilometres to cover both in real life and virtually.

With this, rather expensive strategy, Porsche will offer pure ICE (internal combustion engine), hybrid and all-electric versions of the Macan, all market dependent. If the disguised test mules are anything to go by the battery powered derivatives will share stylistic cues with the current Porsche Taycan range.

Virtual turns real

Up until now the electric Porsche Macan has been tested purely in the virtual world. Twenty 20 digital prototypes have been used to accelerate development in areas such as aerodynamics, energy management, operation and acoustics. Engineers use these computational models to replicate the properties, systems and power units of a vehicle to a high degree of accuracy. Of course these findings have to be backed up by real-world data.

Today the first physical prototypes of the all-electric Porsche Macan have left the company’s premises for the first time. “Testing in a real-life environment is now getting underway – one of the most important milestones in the development process,” says Michael Steine. By the time the all-electric Macan is launched onto the market in 2023, it will have covered some three million test kilometres worldwide in varying conditions.