DRIVABILITY
Back to the Cayenne E-Hybrid, which today puts
a lie to the ‘end of weekend’ rhetoric. Its factory-
rated ability to tow 3500kg is a game-changer
for travellers who want to tow large caravans,
whether up major highways or ‘off-piste’. Add the 100kW (at 2800rpm) mid-mounted, fluid-
cooled electric motor, which produces a further
300Nm from idle to 2400rpm, and your maximum
system torque rises to 700Nm from 1000-3750rpm
– plenty for even the biggest Bushtracker.
Apart from its discreet ‘Hybrid’ badges on its
flanks, there are few visual clues that you are
dealing with something different until you start it up
and watch its unique dashboard display light up. The beauty of the Cayenne E-Hybrid is that it
decides what you need and delivers it seamlessly.
Cruising on the blacktop with a heavy trailer behind,
the system will sometime switch the V6 petrol
engine off entirely, depending on gradient, wind
resistance and your pressure on the accelerator,
bringing it back into play when you require the
same momentum to be maintained.
For all intents and purposes, it can be treated
like a regular Cayenne. Specify the factory tow
pack, which for Australian buyers comes with a
conventional yoke-style rear tow tongue receiver
and you will also get the Porsche adapter that
allows it to receive a standard Australian round
plug and it’s job done.
Then just drive it normally and let the hybrid
management system deal with the transition from
battery to petrol propulsion.
It all happens so quietly that you are often unaware
of the transition until you see the rev counter
needle swing upwards, although you can monitor
it visually through the various dashboard displays.
CHARGING
There are three ways to know: audibly (no
engine sound on battery), watching the various
dashboard displays that show the energy flow, or
watching the fuel gauge. The high-voltage battery is fully charged within
7.8 hours via a regular 10A, 230V connection,
but if the optional 7.2kW on-board 32A charger
is used with a 230V connection, the battery can
be fully charged after only 2.3 hours.
Without any battery contribution, the E-Hybrid’s
3L V6 engine, with its twin-scroll turbocharger,
develops 250kW from 5200-6400rpm and peak
torque of 450Nm from 1340–5300rpm, so it is
already equipped to haul a large van. While the Cayenne will travel up to 44km on
battery alone, if the 14.1kWh battery (30 per cent
more than the previous model Cayenne Hybrid)
has been fully charged, range is significantly
reduced if towing a heavy trailer.
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