2011 - Porsche Cayenne on 2040-cars

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New European charging network will offer speeds up to 350 kW

It's about to get easier to fast-charge your electric vehicle across Europe thanks to four major automakers working together in a new joint venture. BMW, Daimler (Mercedes-Benz), Ford, and the VW Group (Audi and Porsche) have all signed a Memorandum of Understanding to install about 400 DC fast charging sites in Europe. As you may know, there are different types of fast chargers, but the ones that this group is talking about installing will be able to charge an EV in much less time than other stations. That's because these chargers will offer power levels of "up to 350 kW." Compare that to what's generally considered the current gold standard, the Tesla Superchargers, which have rates of up to 145 kW and a statement not that long ago from a Ford exec that suggested that 150 kW chargers would be the new normal. Of course, the Tesla chargers use the company's proprietary connector and the new network the JV is setting up will use the CCS standard. The first new stations will go up in 2017 and those 400 sites are just the beginning. A joint statement by the JV says that EV drivers will "have access to thousands of high-powered charging points" by 2020 along highways and main roads. "The charging experience is expected to evolve to be as convenient as refueling at conventional gas stations," the companies said. While not every electric vehicle will be able to take advantage of the 350 kW charging rate, the companies involved would be silly to build the infrastructure without vehicles that can handle that kind of energy flow. The JV says it would welcome participation from other automakers and will cooperate with interested regional partners. Related Video: News Source: Daimler Green Audi BMW Ford Mercedes-Benz Porsche Volkswagen Electric fast charging

Pick up your Porsche in Atlanta, get free track time

Want to pick up a new Porsche from the factory? That's an option, but you have to fly out to Germany and then have your car shipped back Stateside. If that sounds like too much globetrotting, Porsche Cars North America is now offering the next best thing at its new US headquarters. It even includes some extras you don't get with factory delivery. The company's New Vehicle Delivery program allows customers to order a new Porsche at their local dealership and then pick it up at the Porsche Experience Center at One Porsche Drive in Atlanta. After touring the facility, customers get acquainted with their new cars with help from an expert then lap the on-site test track for an hour and a half and grab lunch at the company's gourmet Restaurant 356. The best part is, unlike the many options Porsche offers, PEC delivery adds nothing to the price of the car. You will, of course, have to cover the gas to get back to wherever you and your car live. Porsche has already kicked off the program. The first participant, Tracy Blumenthal, came out from California to pick up her new Cayenne S E-Hybrid. As a special bonus for being the first customer, former Le Mans class winner David Donohue took her for a ride in the 918 Spyder. Sounds like a pretty good day, if you ask us, especially when you get to go home with a new Porsche at the end. Related Video: Porsche Launches New Vehicle Delivery Program at Experience Center in Atlanta April 25, 2016 Atlanta, Georgia. Porsche Cars North America has launched its New Vehicle Delivery program at the Porsche Experience Center (PEC) in Atlanta. The program enables customers to place a factory order for a new vehicle through any authorized Porsche dealer in the U.S. and take delivery directly from the experiential destination, located at One Porsche Drive in Atlanta. California forensic accountant and attorney Tracy Blumenthal was the first official customer to participate in the program today when she picked up her new Cayenne S E-Hybrid sport utility vehicle. "We are thrilled to launch the New Vehicle Delivery program as another premium offering at our Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta," said Andre Oosthuizen, Vice President, Marketing, for Porsche Cars North America.

2017 Porsche 911 Carrera experienced from the passenger seat

Autoblog joins Porsche for Rennsport Reunion V at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the fifth international gathering of all things Porsche. If you've ever had a picture of a Porsche on your wall or dreamed of owning a certain model, either that very car or one just like it is here. Watching three 917 racers blaze over the rise at the front straight and down into turn one can make a viewer think, "So this is how Steve McQueen felt..." It was a modern Porsche that delivered one of the highlights of the first day, though: we rode shotgun for three hot laps of the track in the new turbocharged 991.2-series 911 Carrera S, with Thomas Krickelberg, director of powertrain for the 911 model line, our pilot. We cornered him and August Achleitner, vice president of the 911 product line, for a few questions about the changes. What do you call the standard 911 now that it has turbocharged engines? Carrera. If you're wondering what to call the standard 911 now that they have turbocharged engines, the answer is: Carrera. Krickelberg said, "In-house we call them 'little turbo' and 'big turbo,'" but the Carrera is a model line within the 911 model line, the big boy 911 Turbo is a second model line within the 911 family. One will continue to be called Carrera, the other simply Turbo. The move to turbocharging came to serve the twin kings of performance and fuel economy, but engineers played around with numerous configurations. A non-turbo engine displacing about 4.0 liters – that's as big as the 9A1 engine block can go – was considered, but that setup couldn't deliver the desired fuel efficiency. Krickelberg said engineers considered a small-displacement block of around 2.0 liters, but that was abandoned because "takeoff behavior was worse" because the turbo was called upon to do too much of the heavy performance living. Krickelberg added, "Not only that, but there was a too big a gap between real-world fuel economy and homologation fuel economy." Base Carrera and the Carrera S models haven't used the same engine displacement since the 996 series departed at the end of 2004. Achleitner said, "We found 3.0 liters is the best solution to get the best mix of fuel and air in combustion chamber - it offered the best geometry, bore and stroke, and the size of the walls.