Porsche Cayenne Electric gets trick doors and trick charging

Why is Porsche fitting new doors?

It’s not fitting new doors, per se, it’s more about how those doors open and close. That’s because, you guessed it, the Cayenne Electric can now be fitted with doors that open and shut themselves, saving you the hassle of, y’know, gripping a handle and all that.

Just give the handle a gentle tug and the servo motor controlling each door does the rest, or you can use internal buttons, on-screen icons, or the Porsche Digital Key on your phone.

If you’re the driver, when you sit into the car and either press the brake pedal or do up your seatbelt, your door will close automatically. Just like a Rolls-Royce. 

What if you try to open the doors in a narrow space?

Porsche has thought of this — each door gets its own dedicated sensors which detect if there’s an obstacle, whether that obstacle is a low wall, a bollard, another car, a passing cyclist, or someone walking their dog. And there’s a manual override if you think this is all a bit too tech-heavy. 

What about the charging option you mentioned?

For the first time, the Cayenne Electric will now be offered with an optional wireless charging system. This is obviously aimed at home charging, as it requires a contactless charging pad to be installed in your driveway or garage.

The software for the system is already integrated into the car, so there’s no need for any upgrade there, but the two physical items you’ll need are the charging pad mounted in the ground, and a receiver pad fixed to the car.

You simply position the Cayenne Electric over the pad (the parking cameras help with this) and the energy starts flowing. The system is weatherproof, and Porsche says that it can run at up to 11kW of power, with 90 per cent efficiency.

There’s also an integrated suite of safety systems, one of which automatically cuts the power if a living animal somehow gets between the two pads, so you won’t come out in the morning to the smell of scorched mice.

What else is changing for the Cayenne Electric?

There are some new seats for the Cayenne too, which come with a link between the massage function and the audio system so that you can be massaged to the sound of the beat.

The driver's and front passenger's seats each feature 16 air cushions and six sound actuators in the backrests and seat cushions.

Cayenne Electric customers can already choose from the Contrasts, Shades, Dreams and Legends paint ranges but now there’s also the paint-to-sample option, which allows you to match your Cayenne Electric to a specific, chosen colour. There are also some new interior styling options, including a ‘Director’s Cut’ which mixes and matches black and dark green tones.

How much for all this?

The Cayenne Electric starts from €113,660 in Ireland, and the Cayenne Electric Turbo is priced from €179,280.