Porsche's Mission E will be priced to lure away Tesla shoppers

Porsche boss Oliver Blume has dropped some details about the Porsche Mission E that should perk up the ears of EV and sports car fans. The all-electric vehicle will look much like the dramatically-styled concept that first appeared in 2015 and get to an 80 percent charge in just 15 minutes. It will also go on sale in 2019 and have a (relatively) reasonable price of an "entry-level Panamera," which is around $80,000-$90,000, he told Car Magazine at the Frankfurt Auto Show.

Concept cars are often a designer's pipe-dream, but the production Mission E will be "very close to what you saw two years ago at Frankfurt," Blume said. "It will be exciting but a bit different from the concept." That means you're looking at a four-door 2+2 that's meant to take on, say, the Tesla Model S, but with much sportier styling.

It goes as fast as it looks, though not quite up to the Tesla Model S 100P's "ludicrous mode" acceleration. Still, it'll hit 62 mph in "less than 3.5 seconds," says Blume, 124 mph in 12 seconds and max out at over 155 mph. What's more, it'll have dual motors with four-wheel drive and 911-like four-wheel steering.

Most important for potential Tesla buyers, the Mission E will launch with 350kW fast-charging, allowing a quarter-hour recharge to 400 km (250 miles). Total range with a full battery will be 500 km (300 miles). Porsche has said that its Le Mans 919 hybrid racing experience helped it develop the fast-charging tech. It's well behind Tesla in terms of its charging network, but it recently launched 800-volt chargers (pictured above) that can handle the 350kW needs of the Mission E.

The price is a lot for most of us, but it looks to be around the same as, say, an $87,200 Tesla Model S 100D (with 335 miles of range). And it's less (final pricing pending) than the $135,000 P100D with ludicrous mode, which is perhaps a more apt comparison. In other words, the right kind of buyer will have a tough decision in 2019 — if you had the budget, which would you go for?

Written by Steve Dent for Engadget.