The Porsche Cayenne Electric Is a Phenomenal SUV, but Is That Enough?

8/10 WIRED Great handling. Luxe comfort. Top-notch interior tech and quality. Premium feel. TIRED Lacks proper one-pedal driving. Some bland styling. Unnecessarily powerful in Turbo guise. Porsche’s first all-electric Cayenne SUV lands in the face of significant headwinds for the German carmaker, which recently saw operating profit collapse by 92.7 percent owing partly to a rethink of its electrification strategy. Instead of pursuing an all-electric future driven by its Taycan and Macan vehicles, then bolstered by battery-powered variants of the Cayman, Boxster, and Cayenne—plus, presumably, an eventual electric 911—Porsche is taking an eye-wateringly expensive detour. As fellow embattled carmakers pressure the European Union into relaxing rules designed to end the production of new internal-combustion cars by 2035, Porsche is instead hedging its bets. Whereas the new Macan launched in 2024 is offered only as a full-EV, Porsche will follow up the new electric Cayenne with plug-in hybrid and gasoline variants, too—a move it says will ensure engine production well into the next decade. Those will be facelifts to the current Cayenne, but the electric model is all-new. It sits atop an updated version of the 800-volt Premium Platform Electric (PPE) used by the Macan. Charge speed is up, and so too is power, battery capacity, and range. Wireless charging is also in the works, complete with a charge pad for your garage floor, though it's not available at launch. By every metric, the Cayenne delivers improvement over the smaller Macan—and so it should, given the price difference and Porsche’s vehicle hierarchy—but on paper, its range and charge speed are already behind what Chinese giant BYD has coming down the tracks. But cars from performance brands like Porsche, even fully electric SUVs, are about more than just the spec sheet. An electric Cayenne needs to drive like a Porsche, feel like a Porsche, and remind its owner why they’ve paid handsomely for that badge on the steering wheel. Curved Screen In that regard, the new Cayenne is up to the job. The styling is sharper and cleaner than before, thanks in part to reduced cooling requirements and a focus instead on a slipperier, more aerodynamic body. The front end is recognizably Porsche, and the active aero blades that protrude from the rear corners of the flagship Turbo variant are also on-brand, smoothing airflow and improving efficiency at speed. The rear is otherwise bland, and since the only Porsche branding is an illuminated motif part of the light bar, when parked and turned off, the Cayenne is visually forgettable. That said, buyers bored by the Tesla trend of limiting paint options to the bare minimum will welcome the Cayenne’s 13 exterior color options and 11 wheel designs. Inside, it’s recognizably Porsche but with a new curved display that cascades down the center of the dashboard. It’s an arched OLED panel that’ll remind you of the first time you saw a folding smartphone —thankfully without the crease. Discard it as a gimmick if you want, but I like Porsche’s approach here, since it allows the user interface to expand or split into two across the two planes of the curved screen. It also helps reduce glare, while a thoughtful panel below the screen acts as a rest to steady your hand while tapping the display. Physical switchgear controls the basics like temperature, fan speed, and media volume, and mercifully, there are proper buttons on the steering wheel, too, instead of hit-and-miss haptics. Porsche’s infotainment system is one of the best I’ve used in recent years, and with the Cayenne, it’s been further refined to make menu navigation simpler and more intuitive. The navigation is also a delight compared to many other systems, but naturally, you’re likely to hook up Apple CarPlay or Android Auto instead. Porsche still hasn’t made the jump to CarPlay Ultra , despite stating its intention to do so back in 2022 and again a year later. That means your phone apps don’t appear on the Cayenne’s driver display, and CarPlay can’t handle the temperature or radio. Since this is a full-size SUV, there’s plenty of space for four tall adults, plus a fifth if needed, and the trunk stretches from 27.6 to 56 cubic feet depending on the position of the rear seats. A frunk under the hood adds 3.2 cubic feet, handy for storing the charging cable. Speed Demon At launch, there are three variants of Cayenne Electric to choose from. The base model costs from $109,000 and has 435 horsepower, the midrange Cayenne S Electric starts at $126,300 and produces 657 horsepower, and the flagship Cayenne Turbo Electric is $163,000 and has 1,139 horsepower with 1,106 lb-ft (1,500 Nm) of torque. Yes, that last stat is absolutely enormous for any car, let alone a big SUV. It gives the Turbo more power than a Bugatti Veyron , and with double the torque of a V12-engined Ferrari Purosangue. Zero-to-sixty times for the Cayenne family are 4.5, 3.6, and 2.4 seconds, respectively. Again, the Turbo is in a league of its own, and if anything, the zero to 124 mph (200 km/h) is even more absurd, at 7.4 seconds. That matches a Veyron and is about on par with a Tesla Model S Plaid . But honestly, comparing tenths of a second here is meaningless. Switch the Cayenne Electric Turbo to Sport Plus mode, engage Launch Control, and the result is genuinely unpleasant. As ever, my advice is to save tens of thousands of dollars and buy the one that goes furthest. Porsche didn't state an EPA range for the US market at the time of writing, but in the UK, that figure (using the WLTP standard ) is 399 miles for the base model, 405 miles for the S, and 387 miles for the Turbo. The more conservative EPA figure is likely to land around 360 to 380 miles, compared to 308 miles for the smaller Macan. All models of Cayenne use a 113-kWh battery (108 kWh usable) that can charge at up to 400 kW—matching the BMW iX3 and Lucid Gravity , currently the fastest-charging EVs in the US. And since most public chargers tap out at 350 kW, that gives the Porsche some headroom for when 400 kW chargers become more commonplace. In perfect conditions, Porsche says the Cayenne can fill its battery from 10 to 80 percent in 16 minutes, a five-minute improvement on the Macan and equally new BMW iX3. Impressive, but well short of BYD. The Chinese company recently claimed its new Flash Chargers can operate at 1,500 kW, filling a battery from 10 to 70 percent in seven minutes, and even to full—enough for 600 miles of range, BYD says—in just nine minutes. As a quick thought exercise, how much time per year might BYD’s charging tech save the average US driver? Start with the average US mileage of 13,500 miles, then take both BYD and Porsche at their word—assuming maximum range and charge time are always possible, then gloss over the difference between US and Chinese range test cycles, and the answer is roughly eight hours annually. That’s also assuming no overnight home charging, where maximum speed is irrelevant. So while BYD’s figures are massively impressive, we’re well into marginal-gains territory now. This is all China-only for now, where 20,000 such chargers are planned by the end of this year, plus 2,000 in Europe. And currently, only one car can take full advantage of these chargers, the Denza Z9GT, which comes to Europe later in 2026. Smooth Sailing Back to the Cayenne Electric, and what impresses most is how enjoyable it is to drive. Much of its weight is disguised by the standard-fit air suspension, then almost entirely removed if you opt for the Turbo’s optional Porsche Active Ride. As employed by the Taycan, this sees the suspension work hard to keep the car level through every corner, as well as during acceleration and braking. The result is the sort of consistently flat ride that, whether over speed bumps or on a spirited drive, questions the laws of physics. It makes the car feel not only smaller, but lighter, sportier, and significantly more capable at tackling twisty roads than a 5,860 lbs SUV has any right to. Pair this with the thin-rimmed, nicely weighted steering wheel, and the driver is rewarded as any Porsche buyer should. This sensation is compounded by the soundtrack, which is new for the Cayenne Electric and fills the cabin with an augmented sound that is part V8 engine, part electric motor. It’s smartly judged, only building when you accelerate, and gearheads will notice a hint of synthesized turbo whine in there, too. Purely optional, it can be switched off if you prefer to drive in silence. Although not a Land Rover Defender , the Cayenne Electric makes for a surprisingly capable off-roader. At the brand-hosted drive event, WIRED was invited to take on a fairly challenging course comprising dirt tracks, rock crawls, and the sort of terrain that would historically make a Porsche driver blush. There’s an optional off-roading kit for Cayenne drivers who really want to get stuck in, boosting ground clearance and wading depth, but even without this, the car performs well. Since EVs offer much finer torque control than gas cars—and can summon all of it immediately, if required—they make excellent off-roaders. Porsche has also fitted the Cayenne Electric with a hill-descent system where you can take your feet off the pedals and let the car lower itself down even the steepest hills, with speed controlled in 1 mph increments via the cruise control switchgear. Back to the public road, and the Cayenne Electric reminds us of Porsche's stance on regenerative braking. Unlike almost all other EVs, Porsches ask their driver to use the brake pedal to slow down, since one-pedal driving isn’t an option. Drivers accustomed to other EVs will have a brief moment of panic, then quickly remember how to drive using both pedals. The Cayenne is still using the motors to slow down when you press the brake (before calling on the enormous rotors), but there’s no one-pedal mode, and no paddles for adjusting regen strength on the fly. Ultimately, this is a high-end SUV that nails both the sporty performance and luxury ride quality of the brief. It’s a deeply impressive car, but one that makes you question why Porsche no longer has the confidence to go all-in on electric, and whether that’s a cause for concern. The Taycan—now seven years old—was a strong first step, but suffered from a middling range and quickly became a poster child for heavy depreciation. Then came the facelifted Taycan with a longer range and faster charging, and the electric-only Macan, which now, it turns out, won’t be exclusively EV after all. The Cayman and Boxster duo were also set to be EV-only, their gas-powered predecessors killed off in 2025, only for Porsche to now be reportedly reverse-engineering them to accept engines as well as batteries. Now the Cayenne isn’t exclusively electric either, and a future flagship electric SUV, dubbed the K1 and intended to sit above the Cayenne, will reportedly arrive with internal combustion and hybrid drivetrains first, followed by an EV version later. Porsche is rightly adjusting course to stay both relevant and profitable—an especially acute concern in China, where buyers have shifted in droves away from once-admired Western brands in favor of locals like BYD and Xiaomi . But with so much change, it’s hard to know where Porsche customers should spend their money. No matter how good the Cayenne Electric is, you’ve got to really want an EV and be certain it suits your needs to buy it without first waiting for the plug-in hybrid. There’s a strong chance the hybrid will be cheaper, with a longer range and potential for stronger residuals. Judged on its own, the Cayenne Electric is a phenomenally capable SUV with otherworldly performance, top-notch tech, and comfort to match. But zoom out, look at Porsche’s shifting EV strategy, and ask yourself: Why not just wait for the hybrid? Rating: