” ‘The last car produced by Porsche will be a sports car’, a quote from Ferry Porsche, the founder’s son of Porsche. This seems to have already anticipated that even if the driving power of cars will shift from fuel to electricity, Porsche’s focus on sports and racing cars will not be shaken.
In yesterday’s video release, we introduced to you in detail the Mission R electric concept racing car which Porsche brought to this year’s Munich Auto Show.
This high-performance beast only needs 2.5 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h, has a top speed of 300 km/h, and boasts a total output power of 1,088 horsepower in racetrack mode, fully demonstrating Porsche’s forward-looking thinking in the electric era of racing.
So, with the powerful performance parameters behind the Mission R, what new technologies did Porsche use in the research and development of this electric concept racing car? When will this concept racing car be mass-produced? How does Porsche understand the future of electric Formula racing?
With these questions, Super Charging Station had the honor to interview Mr. Matthias Scholz, head of Porsche GT racing, during the Munich Auto Show. Starting from the Mission R concept car, he outlined the future blueprint of Porsche’s electric racing car development.
From his words, it is not difficult to find that no matter how the energy structure changes, Porsche is still the Porsche that is thrilling and exciting.
The following is the transcript of the interview:
- Porsche previously launched the Mission E concept car, which means the mission of electrification. Can we interpret the release of the Mission R concept car as Porsche’s task in the electric era aimed at racing?
Indeed, racing is Porsche’s DNA. Starting from Formula E, we have already shown our strengths in top-level pure electric racing. Now, we want to bring pure electric racing to customer racing.
Mission R is the first pure electric racing car designed specifically for customer racing. This will be the new starting point for Porsche to work together with customers and car enthusiasts.”
In this process, the problem we need to solve is not just how to develop vehicles, but also how to think about the usage scenarios of cars. For example, we are striving to create electric car races like the Porsche Carrera Cup or Super Cup that allows only one car model to compete. We are also exploring interactive modes between drivers and fans, and eSports has also been integrated into this concept car. Therefore, we not only bring the vision of future customer races and new GT races but also expand more possibilities around this car.
- Mission R is equipped with many advanced new energy technologies, such as the direct oil cooling system and 900V architecture. How long will it be before we can see such technologies applied to Porsche’s mass-produced cars? Additionally, with its size currently sitting between 718 and 911, does it suggest that it will be the next pure electric 718 or 911?
Some of the technologies and elements on this concept car will undoubtedly be carried over to Porsche’s mass-produced cars in the future.
But Mission R is more than that – we hope that it will explore the technology and design elements of future supercars. What elements should sports cars need to have in 2025, 2026, or 2027?
Porsche’s racing department is already developing drivetrain technologies for future use, and today’s Mission R has demonstrated some of them. The first prototype vehicle incorporating these pure electric technologies will take some time to hit the race track, but it won’t take too long.
- Compared to other mass-produced cars, sports cars, and racing cars from other brands, what is the most advanced technology on Mission R now?
Mission R has many advanced racing technologies. For example, the use of natural fiber composite materials for the body, carbon fiber cage, and other advanced technologies for the future.
As you said, developing an electric car is not new, but integrating these technologies onto a racing or sports car is quite challenging. Factors to consider include calculating the battery capacity required, the required motor power and balance between them.
It is easy to achieve powerful performance through the use of electric motors, so the focus of developing electric racing cars is not solely on how powerful the motor is, but rather how to achieve a certain balance. On the one hand, the vehicle must be able to complete a 30 to 40 minute race, while on the other hand, it must also be lightweight enough. The advantage of the Mission R is that it strikes a balance between its lightweight design and its pure electric drive, resulting in a pure Porsche driving experience.
- Regarding the weight of the car, what is the weight of the Mission R? Additionally, has the Formula E impacted the development of this car? Porsche participates in Formula E, but three other brands have already withdrawn, stating that Formula E has not been effective in promoting future technologies. How does Porsche view this?
Regarding Formula E, Porsche is currently involved and intends to continue its participation in the future without any specific plans to withdraw.
We are very fond of Formula E since it allows us to travel to different cities and tracks while still achieving great interaction between technology, fans, and a fresh racing experience.
As for the car weight, our goal is to keep it below 1500 kilograms, which is close to the weight of the Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport. In the future, Porsche racing cars should fall within this range.
- Can you provide an introduction to the direct oil cooling technology used in the entire thermal management system, and whether the liquid cooling system used for the battery is the same as before?
This is a cooling system used for high-voltage batteries and motors. Similar to the liquid cooling system of internal combustion engines, but it does not use oil like a gasoline engine, but rather a liquid similar to oil and water.
- The Mission R’s performance in terms of power and charging time is very exciting. Are these technologies mature, or do we need to wait a few years before we see them in existing racing cars? Among the weight, power, durability, and charging speed aspects of development, which is the most difficult?
In fact, we need to consider multiple aspects. The most crucial element is to ensure that the vehicle’s performance is powerful and easy to control. This is not easy to achieve, so we need to seek solutions through new technology and continuous research and development.
First, we hope to make future mass-produced electric racing cars that allow customers to go to the track with trailers, and only need to equip two technicians with the car, rather than a team of about 15 to 20 people like the factory team.
Secondly, from a technical perspective, the vehicle of course needs to be powerful and should be an all-electric racing car with excellent performance and power, stunning everyone.
The third point is the issue of cost, which needs to be affordable for customers.
These three points are the issues we need to solve during the development process in order to achieve a balance. It is actually easier to create an expensive racing car with cutting-edge technology than to develop a well-balanced racing car that customers can afford. We must consider the cost, performance, and all other aspects, as well as technology.
- From Mission E to Taycan, it took about four years from concept car to mass production. Therefore, how long will it take to deliver Mission R to racing customers? What technological bottlenecks still need to be overcome in the mass production of this racing car? If there is a single race for Mission R in the future, what will be the relationship with the Carrera Cup?
Regarding when it can be delivered to racing customers, it will be around 2026 or a year or two before or after. By then, our customers will be able to drive a racing car with a more advanced electric drive system.
The technological bottlenecks are still batteries and battery cell technology. In this field, Porsche is working closely with the joint venture Cellforce Group, and we expect to produce these high-performance batteries in 2024, starting with racing cars. Of course, they may also be used in some very sporty high-performance road cars.
If we do have a single-model event for races, it will be different from the Carrera Cup. We will not stop holding the Carrera Cup, and our idea is to supplement it as a cup race. This is similar to our thinking 30 years ago when we first started the Carrera Cup.
We plan to integrate concepts like e-sports into the future, and may have different competitions for different tracks, adopt different technologies based on track changes, and consider providing other functions for the drivers.Therefore, there will be many fresh ideas, and Mission R is just the beginning of this road. In addition, we also need to explore with our customers and partners such as ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest) and FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) to see the possibility of future customer events using pure electric racing cars.
There is still no single model event like this in the world, so let’s start with our vision and concept cars. We cannot predict what will happen in the next few months; maybe it will be a new starting point for GT events, maybe a new event like E-GT will be born in about a year, or even more than that. We continue to work towards realizing this new single model event, and anything is possible.
- Porsche recently announced its cooperation with Rimac. Is there any cooperation between Mission R and Rimac? Or is Mission R entirely developed by Porsche itself?
Mission R is entirely developed by Porsche, with development and production taking place at the Weissach Development Center.
Our cooperation with Rimac is still being explored, and establishing this joint venture is very interesting, both companies can benefit from it. But currently, there is no connection between Mission R and Rimac.
Mission R is still in the initial stage of development, and we do not rule out the possibility of future cooperation with Rimac in some areas such as electric drive technology.
- Finally, what is the price range of Mission R’s future mass-produced cars? Will it be more expensive than the Carrera Cup racing cars?
It is not yet time to discuss pricing. If we look at the prices of existing customer racing cars, it will probably start from 200,000 euros, and if it is an RSR, it will be close to one million euros.
However, this still depends on the positioning of Mission R in the future. Let me put it this way, the performance of this car is between the GT3 R and Cup race cars, and the price should be higher than that of combustion engine racing cars, but overall it should be within this range.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.