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Porsche built an electric Cayman concept that's surprisingly quick

Sadly, it's only a research concept, and its speed isn't even the thing Porsche wants to highlight.

Some of the most interesting cars never leave the concept phase. Porsche's latest EV is one of those.

Porsche unveiled the Cayman E-volution concept at the 2017 Electric Vehicle Symposium. It packs an all-electric drivetrain that sends the car to 62 mph in just 3.3 seconds, more than a second quicker than the current 718 Cayman S. Its battery only lasts about 125 miles between charges, but that's fine, because it's never going into series production.

Porsche Cayman e-volution
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Porsche Cayman e-volution

You know it's a weird time when Porsche builds an awesome Cayman and that's not even the thing it wants you to pay attention to.

Porsche

What will be in production, though, is the Porsche Mission E, the company's first battery-electric vehicle. With a range in excess of 300 miles and a charger that can replenish up to 80 percent of a battery's charge in just 15 minutes, it won't just be a performer in terms of output and acceleration.

Porsche also used the Electric Vehicle Symposium to show off what it calls Porsche Turbo Charging, which has nothing to do with turbochargers. This new type of charging system can replenish batteries in a hurry with a 320-kW charging capacity, more than twice that of Tesla's Supercharger system. The battery-based system was designed to supplement more traditional fast-charger networks hooked up to the grid, one of which will be built in Europe by 2020.

So while this concept will remain exactly that, it's a great hint at things to come. The introduction of battery-electric vehicles doesn't seem to faze Porsche in its mission to build some seriously gnarly sports cars, no matter how they're powered.

Porsche Mission E makes a striking appearance in Frankfurt (pictures)

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Andrew Krok Reviews Editor / Cars
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.
Andrew Krok
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.

Article updated on October 11, 2017 at 10:06 AM PDT

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Andrew Krok Reviews Editor / Cars
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.
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