EV Intersection | Porsche First to Market with Luxury Plug-in Electric Vehicle

EV intersection for Sept. 29 travels the back roads this week to find electric vehicle and infrastructure articles you need to read. Includes Porsche's SUV/Crossover hitting dealers, BMW's DC fast charging strategy and the secret police in Iowa go after Tesla ride-and-drives. 

The plug-in hybrid from Porsche Cayenne to be available starting in November 2014.

1.The Porsche Cayenne SUV beats Tesla Motors's Model X to the punch by releasing its SUV S-E Hybrid plug-in at the Paris auto show this week and then to dealers in early November, reports The Detroit Bureau. The article does not address U.S. deliveries, but this model is priced around $76,400...right in the same spot for the Model X and it's 260 miles to a charge (assuming). Rumors say the Porsche will be able to deliver 11-22 miles on a charge. Mileage improves somewhat with the plug-in component and Porsche says:

"So far, battery-based vehicles haven’t exactly charged up the global automotive market, but Porsche notes that 9% of the Panameras it sold worldwide so far this year were S E-Hybrids. And that figure jumped to 16% in the U.S."

2.Charles Morris provides some nice analysis of DC fast charging efforts by BMW's i3, titled, "BMW's New Fast Charging Strategy," in the latest edition of CHARGED EVs (via print). The article is not online yet, but points out that BMW is not building a network like Tesla and is relying on eVgo to some degree, but also a "white label" charging hardware from Bosch. The charging hardware uses a SAE 1 connector and 24 kW charging capability. This link goes to more information on the fast charging hardware from Bosch. 

3. The Iowa Automobile Dealer Association members are cruising the streets looking for Tesla test drives, well, sort of, as reported by Time in this story, titled, "Iowa Dealers to Tesla: Stop Test Driving Your Cars in our State." I heard the Association's secret police is also hunting down Dell and Apple products in Iowa. Silliness continues.

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Related Content:

EV Intersection for 9/12 | Can Tesla Power Its Gigafactory with Renewables Alone?
Tesla Motors Follows Luxury Car Market Playbook 

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This is the hybrid plug-in Panamera at the 2014 Chicago Auto show.