Porsche has claimed to be the first automaker to make wireless electric vehicle (EV) charging available to customers, revealing an 11-kW charging system with a one-box base plate at this year’s IAA Mobility show (also known as the Munich Motor Show).
According to the German company, the next-generation, all-electric Cayenne (codenamed E4), which is set to premiere at the end of 2025, will be the first model that can be ordered with the one-box base plate. Officially called the Porsche Wireless Charging floor plate, the 50-kg device doesn’t require an accompanying wallbox or control unit to function. It also occupies a small footprint, measuring 117 cm long, 78 cm wide and six cm tall.
On the vehicle side, the receiver unit is located in the underbody between the front wheels to protect it from stone chips and the effects of the weather. This is part of an optional package that the company calls the ‘Porsche Wireless Charging pre-installation and Porsche Wireless vehicle plate’.
For the charging process to begin, drivers only need to park the Cayenne Electric above the floor plate. At this point, the contactless transfer of energy between the two charging units takes place over a distance of a few cm, with the vehicle lowering itself automatically. A special view in the surround view parking function makes it easy to get the positioning right and customers only need to engage the parking brake after the vehicle is in position to begin the charging process.
Convenience functions from wired AC charging such as timer charging with pre-conditioning are also available with wireless charging. With power delivery at up to 11 kW, this solution matches wired AC charging of the same level – the efficiency of energy transferred wirelessly is said to be up to 90%.
If you happen to have pets that find the floor plate to be a very cozy, albeit expensive, bed, the charging process is automatically interrupted if a living creature gets between the vehicle and floor plate, or if a metallic object lies on the latter and heats up.
The floor plate integrates a LTE and WLAN (Wi-Fi) module as standard, ensuring it receives remote software updates and is able to provide telematics for the My Porsche app. Porsche Wireless Charging will initially launch in Europe in 2026, with other markets worldwide to follow.
The Cayenne Electric that Porsche is using to demo the tech at IAA Mobility is deemed a prototype for now, but the company did go through the effort to dress it up. It sports a dynamic camouflage pattern where individual sections are deliberately left out and remain dark, with five colour tones (from blue to violet) controlled in a targeted manner.
To boast further, the coating is made up of over 25 extremely thin layers. These include conductive primers, electrode and insulating layers as well as the actual electroluminescent material with colour pigments that emit light under alternating voltage. In addition, there are more than 15 layers of clear coats, a total of 100 litres of clear varnish were applied, more than 30 sanding cycles and over 500 meters of cable that make up the show car’s look.
