Porsche’s team that is working on the company’s first all-electric car are trying to create a vehicle that is exciting and new without ignoring design features that make a Porsche instantly recognizable.
The German automaker released a video Tuesday that provides a behind-the-scenes look at how engineers and designers worked through that particular challenge. The video provides a few hints about what could end up in the production version of the sports car, including holographic technology that gives the dashboard display a 3D look and software that recognizes hand gestures, eye movements, and voice to control functions like air conditioning and music.
Get Data Sheet, Coins2Day’s daily newsletter about technology.
The video also highlights the kind of design opportunities available with a car that doesn’t have the same space constraints as a vehicle with a gasoline engine. For Porsche, the extra space inspired the designers to give the Mission E, the working name of the car being developed, a low front end to make it resemble Porsche models of the 1950s and 1960s.
[Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckJxVBpegMo]
Porsche first introduced the Mission E concept car at the 2015 Frankfurt International Motor Show in September. Several months later, the company announced plans to produce the all-electric four-door sports car. The Mission E is expected to have more than 600 horsepower (or 440 kilowatts in system power) and about a 310-mile battery range. It won’t hit the road until at least 2020.
While Porsche has produced plug-in electric hybrids such as the Panamera S E-Hybrid, this new model would be its first all-electric car on the market and mark a major milestone in the division’s history. And it’s spending at least $1 billion to develop the car, an investment that illustrates the company is serious about bringing it to market.