Porsche has a new answer for one of the least glamorous parts of owning an EV – plugging it in. According to Michael Steiner, Porsche’s Board Member for Development, the sticking points for electric mobility remain ease of use, everyday practicality, and the state of charging infrastructure. Their solution is to make the whole process invisible.
Instead of installing a wall-mounted charger and wrangling cables, Porsche will soon offer a wireless charging system for the electric Cayenne. The setup looks simple: a pad sits on your garage floor, hooked into a 220V outlet. No wall unit, no plug-in routine. Just park and let it do the rest.
From the driver’s side, the experience is almost seamless. Using a special camera view in the Surround View parking system, the Cayenne guides itself into the exact spot above the pad. Once the car is lined up and the parking brake set, the vehicle automatically lowers its suspension to bring the receiver close enough. Power then transfers wirelessly across a gap of four to six inches.
It’s clever, but not without its quirks. The whole process depends on adaptive air suspension – an advanced but complex piece of tech that adds another layer of maintenance to consider. More moving parts usually means more opportunities for something to go wrong. On the safety side, Porsche covered the obvious concerns. The charging pad includes motion detection and foreign object recognition. If a child, a pet, or even a stray toy ends up on the plate, charging stops immediately.
The system will roll out in Europe next year, with Porsche planning to bring it to other markets after. For now, it’s a glimpse of a future where charging is as invisible – and as automatic – as connecting to Wi-Fi.
