Porsche’s upcoming Cayenne Electric is a massive machine on the scale, but the company insists drivers won’t actually feel its bulk on the road. The electric SUV weighs 5,831 pounds, making it the heaviest production Porsche ever built, and a big part of that mass comes from its enormous 113-kWh battery pack. The battery alone comes in at 1,322 pounds, which is wild when you consider that early Porsche race cars from the 1950s were barely heavier than this battery on their own.
Still, Porsche says none of that should scare buyers away. According to Michael Schaetzle, the Vice President of the Cayenne lineup, the EV’s weight is positioned so low in the chassis that it actually helps the SUV feel more planted, more balanced, and surprisingly agile. The car sits on new axles, new tires, and Porsche’s Active Ride System, all of which work together to hide the weight and make the electric model feel even lighter than the gas-powered version. And honestly, that comparison isn’t too far off — the Cayenne Turbo with its V8 is only about 165 pounds lighter than the electric one.
Porsche has no plans to abandon combustion engines anytime soon. The company has already confirmed that its V8 engines will stick around well into the 2030s, even in Europe, thanks to updates that will meet the new Euro 7 emissions rules. So for now, the gas and electric Cayenne models will continue to exist side by side.
Schaetzle also mentioned that the electric version is shockingly good off-road. With instant torque from the electric motors and the ability to precisely control power delivery, the Cayenne Electric outperforms the ICE version on rough terrain. Ironically, most Cayenne buyers probably won’t take their SUVs off the pavement anyway — especially since Porsche removed the hardcore off-road hardware from the lineup years ago, and nobody has really complained since.
Meanwhile, Porsche is already working on something even bigger. The upcoming three-row SUV, known internally as the K1, was originally supposed to be an EV-only model. But with EV demand slowing worldwide, Porsche has changed direction and will launch the K1 with combustion engines first. Outgoing Porsche CEO Oliver Blume says the shift simply reflects today’s market reality and what customers are actually asking for.
