I took Porche's new electric SUV for a spin and the pricey Macan is just
pure perfection

Date:
Sat, 30 Aug 2025 01:00:00 +0000

Description:
The Porsche Macan Electric is far ahead of the competition when it comes to a refined driving experience but is that enough?

FULL STORY ======================================================================

If theres any one word that describes the Macan EV, its refined. Porsche hit the ground running in 2019 with the release of its first modern electric, the Taycan an expensive sports car that quickly proved legacy automakers could readily compete with Tesla on its own terms. That release also gave Porsche
an advantage over other automakers in the then-burgeoning mainstream EV market, allowing them to refine their electric offering before other major
car companies would even announce plans for electrification.

Conversely, the electric Macan arrived in early 2024 (late 2024 for Australians) to drastically different market conditions interest in Teslas cars was feigning, particularly with challengers from China offering competitive products, with such market conditions carrying through to today. Indeed it feels like Porsche and similarly established automakers are now the ones playing defense, with Chinese rivals like Polestar, Xpeng and IM ready
to snatch up the market of drivers excited about electrification now that the tech has progressed a bit, prices have come down and charging infrastructure is a bit further along.

These brands offer models that are competitively specced and priced to the Macan Electric though they do all lack one key thing: theyre not Porsche. Porsche Macan EV specs

Specs

Porsche Macan Electric

Country of manufacture

Germany

Price

Porsche Macan Electric: $78,000 / 68,500 / AU$128,400

Porsche Macan 4 Electric: $81,600 / 71,200 / AU$134,400

Porsche Macan 4S Electric: $88,000 / 76,900 / AU$149,300

Porsche Macan Turbo Electric: $109,500 / 96,900 / AU$184,400

Range

Porsche Macan Electric: 315mi (EPA) / 333mi 398mi (WLTP) / 536km 641km (WLTP)

Porsche Macan 4 Electric: 308mi (EPA) / 320mi 380mi (WLTP) / 516km 613km (WLTP)

Porsche Macan 4S Electric: 288mi (EPA) / 318mi 376mi (WLTP) / 512km 606km (WLTP)

Porsche Macan Turbo Electric: 288mi (EPA) / 321 mi 233mi (WLTP) / 518km 590km (WLTP)

Battery size

100kWh

Power / torque

Porsche Macan Electric: 250kW / 563Nm

Porsche Macan 4 Electric: 285kW / 650Nm

Porsche Macan 4S Electric: 330kW / 820Nm

Porsche Macan Turbo Electric: 470kW / 1,130Nm

Maximum charging capacity

11kW (AC) / 270kW (DC)

Quoted recharge speed (DC)

10% to 80% in around 21 minutes

Drivetrain

Porsche Macan Electric: RWD

Porsche Macan 4 / 4S / Turbo: AWD

Dimensions

4,784 x 1,938 x 1,623cm (L x W x H)

Boot capacity

540L / 1,348L including rear seating The electric experience, refined (Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

A big touchscreen, heads-up display and minimalist, digital-first user interface arent innovative things in the automotive industry anymore, not
even for a luxury automaker like Porsche. Tech like this has simply become synonymous with EVs, and is now a bit of a heel when done poorly. This is why Im so thrilled with the Porsche Macan EV because its not just utilising all these things, it has mastered them.

The infotainment system in the Macan EV feels thoughtful. Text is rightly sized, icons arent too small for a fingerpress, and indeed there are enough physical controls (for things like air conditioning) for the car to properly be driven without ever needing to tap the screen.

The inbuilt navigation app is well-made and can be relied upon, though with the cars well laid-out interface, its no hassle to connect your phone and
fire up Android Auto or Apple CarPlay though with the former, I found my phone would often be quite laggy when placed on the Macans wireless charging pad. (Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

One of the most impressive parts of the Macans dashboard is its concave instrument cluster. The screen behind the steering wheel is curved, giving it depth and ultimately making it look a lot better than similar digital
clusters from other automakers. The screen can be adjusted to include up to three gauges, or it can simply be switched to portray a speed indication and
a live map, giving you easy, glanceable directions on the road. Its by far my favourite instrument cluster of any EV or even any car Ive tested.

The heads-up display is the icing on the cake. In cruise control, the display will demonstrate the lines of distance you have between the car in front of you and yourself, which it will maintain like any other car with adaptive cruise. Itll also visualise the lines it can currently see on the sides of
the road helpful for making sure lane assistance is enabled on a poorly-marked road. (Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

Driving dynamics of the Porsche Macan are, as youd expect, brilliant, with
the car offering punchy acceleration and great road handling. Its quite a big car and its turning circle suffers as a result, but its a brilliant vehicle regardless for comfortable travel in and out of town. Its quite wide and has big 22-inch wheels, so if your idea of a Porsche is a low-to-the-ground track toy, I think youll be mostly disappointed with the electric Macan though you wont mind its exceptional handling, and with a lot of boot and rear seating space, itd definitely be a comfortable car for holidaying.

Range and recharging speed are also a non-issue, with the gigantic 100kWh battery capable of facilitating a weekend-aways worth of driving. A 270kW DC recharging capacity is also right for the price, though considering rivalling Chinese EVs in the luxury segment are besting this (or even EVs well below
the luxury segment the Xpeng G6 is half the Macans price and capable of 280kW) Id note that this may seem unimpressive at some point in the near future. Not too near, though, as public DC chargers tend to max out at 350kW, and any greater capacities would require major infrastructure changes.

One last thing worthy of note. Thanks to having smaller motors, many electric cars are able to provide additional storage space under the bonnet. The Macan has a useful amount of under-bonnet space, but it outdoes other automakers by having a dedicated bonnet-open button on the keyfob. This gives the space actual utility, showing up other automakers that offer the space but lack an easy way to pop the hood. Cool! But is it enough? (Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

A starting cost of $78,000 / 68,500 / AU$128,400 is going to be unreachable for most people and will no doubt keep many buyers away from the Macan
though I think it's unlikely that Porsche will change this any time soon. Porsche has earned the right to price the Macan like this: every aspect of
the car is luxurious although there are aspects that some potential purchasers may think are a bit much.

Similar to the preceding Taycan, there are charging ports on both sides of
the car with only one equipped for fast DC charging. These ports open with
the most overdesigned doors Ive ever seen via rolling motors that slide the ports open and closed. I think this is just unnecessary, even for a luxury car: it adds mechanical complexity to open the doors, which could break one day. A pop-open door will do.

Additionally, some of the more expensive Macan trims feature a third touchscreen display positioned in front of the front passenger seat for its occupant. Its a cool idea, I guess, to give your passenger control over stuff like music playback from a convenient screen in front of them, but I dont really see the point, especially with music streaming apps able to play music in groups, with multiple phones controlling the current song it just seems excessive. (Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

Moving onto the unexpected, I encountered a critical operating system freeze when starting the car one morning. The infotainment system locked up on the Porsche logo and I couldnt interact with it, and needed to manually reset it. Ive encountered this with cars in the past and its never not annoying, but I was kind of shocked to have dealt with it in such an expensive car.

Apart from these things, I dont really think theres much to dislike about the Porsche Macan Electric. The company has worked really hard to polish this car to a point of undeniable quality. Should you buy the Porsche Macan Electric? (Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

Its easy for me to recommend something as expensive as the Porsche Macan Electric, but obviously its not for everyone. It has an unrivaled level of quality, and among luxury electric SUVs, it very much deserves to be at the upper-end of the market. My colleague Leon Poultney went hands-on with the Macan electric a bit before me and argued that it would be a shame if Porsche scaled back its EV ambitions when cars like the Macan feel so mastered and I very much agree: Porsche has nailed the assignment and I think it offers some really special cars in the electric space.

If youre chasing a similar level of quality, Id recommend to you both the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 , Audi Q6 e-tron or the BMW iX. Generally speaking, these cars each compete with the Macan Electric while also undercutting it on price. You might also like The Zeekr X EV offers a premium driving experience without the high cost but too many little problems undermine its appeal Ive driven the new electric Mercedes G-Wagen and the rough-and-ready EV makes very little sense, which is why its perfect The Lucid Air just broke the
world record for the longest EV journey on a single charge across three countries without stopping



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/vehicle-tech/hybrid-electric-vehicles/i-took-porches -new-electric-suv-for-a-spin-and-the-pricey-macan-is-just-pure-perfection


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