Porsche talks Mission E, Audi partnership and more in exec interview
Albrecht Reimold waxes at length about Mission E development, new Zero Impact factory design and more in an interview with industry mag Automobil Produktion.
Porsche is a company that always does things its own way, whether that means tossing the engine into the rear of a sports car and developing it over the next 50 years or releasing information about upcoming models in the form of an extended, dry interview with a random executive. Unfortunately, it's the latter tendency that concerns us today. However, Porsche dropped some fascinating nuggets about the Mission E in an interview with Albrecht Reimold, member of the Executive Board for Production, and we'll break those down for you.
To start with, Mr. Reimold gave us a date for the Mission E to go into production: 2019. Porsche apparently has no capacity left right now for manufacturing the Mission E at its Zuffenhausen facility, so it is building a new factory and an all-new assembly line just for its much-anticipated electric car. The factory, also in the Zuffenhausen neighborhood of Stuttgart, is being conceived as a "Zero Impact Factory" which goes beyond merely being carbon neutral and starts to consider the sources for the materials used to build cars.
Albrecht Reimold breaks down some of Porsche's plans for the Mission E's production timeline.
Porsche is also apparently working on something called Premium Platform Electromobility with Audi that will serve as the underpinning for a bulk of Porsche and Audi models in the future that will allow both companies to bake in electric and hybrid drivetrains more holistically than they are currently able. Reimold states that this new platform architecture is separate from Mission E development.
The other huge announcement is that Porsche plans to offer Mission E drivetrain components for sale to other manufacturers. This is interesting in that allowing smaller companies to buy in rather than having to develop their own tech could cause a much more rapid proliferation of electric vehicles in the near future. Couple that with Porsche's planned use of an 800-volt system architecture for the Mission E, and that could spell significant changes in infrastructure as well.
Porsche's Zuffenhausen factory is at maximum capacity, so the automaker is expanding with a new Zero Impact facility nearby.
We're incredibly excited about the Mission E, as it promises to be a different take on electric powertrain design, and with any luck, it could be the most engaging EV to hit the market. We'll continue to keep you updated as more information trickles out.
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