New Macan E prompts infrastructure expansion
BY NATHAN PONCHARD | 15th Jul 2024
IN PREPARATION for the introduction of the all-electric Macan in the fourth quarter of 2024, along with the arrival of a facelifted Taycan range in August, Porsche Cars Australia (PCA) is completing an expansion of the charging capability at its 14-strong dealer network to ensure there are enough on-site charge points to meet growing customer needs.
“Our dealers are now undergoing projects to significantly enhance their charging capability in preparation of Macan Electric,” a PCA spokesperson told GoAuto at the new Macan’s local debut in Sydney.
“This will ensure that our operations will deliver the same seamless and luxurious customer experience as Porsche transitions into the electrified future.”
PCA confirmed there are currently 187 Porsche Destination Chargers across 92 locations in Australia, and that this number is steadily growing to support the increasing fleet of Porsche battery electric and plug-in hybrid models on local roads.
“As part of the Porsche dealership network, all 14 official Porsche Centres around Australia are installed with charging infrastructure for customer’s convenience.”
Porsche Centre Melbourne, temporarily located at Porsche Haus in Port Melbourne, will re-open at its former Collinwood location in late-2024 as a new Destination Porsche Centre, and will have two ultra-fast 350kW DC chargers available for Porsche customers, as well as “significant” charging infrastructure for service customers within the dealership.
Porsche Centre Sydney South has the same setup as the comprehensively refurbished Melbourne Destination Centre, with scope for further electric-vehicle infrastructure expansion should this be required.
PCA told GoAuto that approximately 90 percent of charging for Porsche electric-vehicle owners is currently completed at home.
PCA told GoAuto that approximately 90 percent of charging for Porsche electric-vehicle owners is currently completed at home.
“Residential charging solutions are very important in the overall EV ownership experience and Porsche offers a very comprehensive service to ensure customer satisfaction in this area,” said the PCA spokesperson.
This ultra-fast 350kW charging-network expansion falls in line with the launch of the extensively updated 2025 Taycan, which arrives in Porsche dealerships on August 10.
Maximum DC charging capacity of the new Taycan is expanded by 50kW to 320kW, enabling it to handle ultra-fast charging for more sustained periods. Porsche says the new Taycan can accept charge at a rate of 300kW for up to five minutes.
Compared to the original J1 Taycan, launched internationally in 2019, the latest Taycan can go from 10 to 80-per cent charge in just 18 minutes (compared to 37 minutes for the original Taycan), despite its battery size increasing from 93kWh to 105kWh. Driving range has also been improved, now spanning 597km to 698km WLTP, depending on variant.
The Taycan will soon be joined by the all-electric Macan, also featuring 800-volt electrical architecture and cutting-edge charging speeds.
Both the Macan 4 and flagship Macan Turbo are capable of handling up to 270kW of DC charge and take 21 minutes to go from 10 to 80-percent charge. Driving range for the new Macan spans 591km (Macan Turbo) to 613km WLTP (Macan 4).
