Porsche Cayenne Electric to come with active chassis, 3.5-tonne towing; sets Shelsley Walsh hill climb record

Porsche has revealed further details of the upcoming Cayenne Electric, the all-electric version of its popular SUV. According to the carmaker, a camouflaged prototype will be on display at this weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed from July 10-13.

Worldwide testing of the new Cayenne Electric, which is set to become the brand’s second electric SUV after the Macan Electric, has already begun, with one of the sites used for demonstrations being the Shelsley Walsh hill climb. The competition has been running since 1905 and sees vehicles drive up the the asphalt hill, which is only 3.5 metres wide in places, has a steep gradient of up to 16.7% and a total length of 1,000 yards (914 metres).

Gabriela Jílkove, simulator and development driver for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, took the Cayenne Electric up the hill to beat the previous record for an SUV by more than four seconds with a time of 31.28 seconds. Another record set is the first measuring point, 60 yards (18.3 metres) beyond the starting line, which was passed after just 1.94 seconds – typically set by purpose-built, single-seat race cars with slick tyres.

Said vehicle was equipped with Porsche Active Ride, an active chassis system that keeps the body level at all times which will be offered for the forthcoming model. Additionally, it ran on conventional summer tyres to match what will be fitted on the production version.

Porsche even roped in Richard Hammond to showcase the Cayenne Electric’s performance, with the former Top Gear and The Grand Tour host using a prototype to tow a classic car more than 100 years old and weighing more than two tonnes from his workshop in Hereford to his garage – the Cayenne Electric will have a towing capacity of up to 3.5 tonnes.

As a recap, the Cayenne Electric will be built on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) with an 800V electrical architecture. While it may mark the fourth generation of the nameplate, the third-generation model will continue to be sold alongside its newer EV stablemate.

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