First ride: at speed in the new Porsche 718 Boxster EV

The next-generation Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman will finally launch in 2028 as purely electric models – and Autocar has had a high-speed first ride in a development model. The new 983 generation models had originally been due to launch last year, when the fourth-generation combustion-powered model went out of production, but have been pushed back by Porsche due to delays in battery cell supplies and uncertain customer demand for electric sports cars. The new 718 models will sit on a newly developed bespoke electric architecture, known as PPE Sport, that will also be shared with the production version of the Audi Concept C. Rather than a traditional EV skateboard that features Porsche’s e-core layout, with the batteries stacked up in the middle of the car, where the combustion engine would sit in an ICE Boxster, giving a similar weight distribution and balance. But with doubts over the public appetite for performance EVs, Porsche announced last year that it would continue to offer combustion power in “top” variants of the models. As Autocar previously reported, that would have involved adapting the new architecture to retrofit a combustion engine. But new Porsche boss Michael Leiters, who took over as CEO last year, has now scrapped that plan, and confirmed while laying out his new Sportwagenschmeide 35 strategy that the machines will launch as purely electric models. Leiters said that decision was made in part because of the shifting EV market, but also because of the performance potential the electric machines offered – which he said would win over doubters. “Being very honest, I was very, very sceptical about this vehicle,” said Leiters. “But that only lasted until I drove a development car for validation. Since then I’ve been thrilled: it is an absolutely fantastic sports car.” Riding in the Porsche 718 Boxster EV Leiters isn’t the only sceptic to have driven the 718 Boxster Electric: rally legend Walter Rohrl has previously made clear his doubts about EV technology for performance cars. But having worked on the Boxster EV project in his role as a Porsche development driver he says he’s also been won over by the potential of the technology – which is why he’s behind the wheel of the 718 I’m strapped into for a lap of the firm’s Weissach test track. “I told them they had to put this car into production,” he tells me. “It’s just so much fun to drive.” While Rohrl is clearly biased, I can confirm the new 718 Boxster is fun to be driven in, as well. Time is short, so Rohrl stamps on the throttle and bursts out of the pits at high speed, the pleasingly familiar roar of a boxer engine responding gloriously each time the flicks the steering wheel-mounted gearshift paddle. Engine roar? Gearshift paddles? Before you ask, no, I didn’t clamber into the wrong car: the 718 Boxster EV does a very good impression of a combustion-powered version. From the outside it does look like one, but that’s purely because this is a development car with the EV running gear rammed into an existing Boxster shell. So any exhaust pipes you may see in the pics accompanying this drive – which were taken elsewhere and provided by Porsche, due to the secretive nature of Weissach – are fake news. Porsche has given considerable detail about the new Boxster EV’s packaging, aside from detailing the novel e-core layout that stacks the batteries in the middle of the car, where the combustion engine would sit in an ICE version. But there are few technical details, and no specifics on power, torque, top speed or range. Explaining the philosophy of the car, and its e-core layout, ahead of my ride Robert Meier, Porsche’s vehicle architecture boss, said the challenge was “to preserve the defining character that customers expect from a mid-engined Porsche sports car.” Besides, Meier doesn’t want the focus to be on mere stats: “Batteries are often described through individual key figures such as kilowatt hours, range and charging time. For Porsche, that is not sufficient: what matters is how the battery performs as part of the complete vehicle system. “How low can the driver sit? How consistently can the vehicle deliver its performance under sustained load? And how precisely does the architecture support the intended vehicle character? “Porsche does not only sell kilowatt hours. Porsche delivers repeatable performance, driving dynamics, and emotions. In EVs, true differentiation is created at the limits through the interaction of the entire systems.” In other words, this ride isn’t about trying to judge the specific performance boundaries of the electric technology: it’s all about the feels. And, as Rohrl deftly flicks the Boxster through the Weissach track’s fast chicanes, from the passenger seat it feels… like a Boxster. It helps that I’m sat low to the ground, enabled by not having the batteries under the floor like in a skateboard EV chassis. But the response to his steering inputs is rapid, the chassis is clearly nimble and you can feel an agility that is vanishingly rare in cars weighed down by big batteries. What’s particularly encouraging is that I’m told that, as a development car, our test machine is fitted with about 50kg worth of extra monitoring kit, yet it already feels nimble. Notably, while it’s incredibly fast and responsive, the acceleration feels natural and measured. There’s none of that queasy feeling that you can get from ridiculously high-powered EVs that are tuned for pointlessly quick 0-62mph times; it’s more linear, more natural. It’s still quick, though: we touch at least 130mph on the straight, at which point Rohrl looks over and casually opines that “this sounds and feels just like a race car to me.” It certainly does from the passenger seat: the engine note is remarkably good for an entirely artificial noise, and the gear changes seem on point. A nod of gratitude is clearly owed to Hyundai’s N division here, since Porsche engineers have acknowledged the Ioniq 5 N’s artificial engine note and gearing helped convince them of how much it can add to the driving experience. There’s only a limited amount you can learn about a car from a passenger ride, of course, and I certainly can’t address many of the questions sceptics will continue to raise about an electric 718 Boxster concerning range, performance and so on. But you can see the potential to win over EV sceptics: forget the power source, this feels, sounds and rides like a Porsche Boxster.

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First ride: at speed in the new Porsche 718 Boxster EV

Next-gen 718 twins will now be EV only – again – as Porsche scraps plans to fit combustion engines

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First ride: at speed in the new Porsche 718 Boxster EV

Next-gen 718 twins will now be EV only – again – as Porsche scraps plans to fit combustion engines

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Latest car reviews

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