The Porsche Cayenne Electric Will Charge Wirelessly In Your Garage

The upcoming Porsche Cayenne Electric is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated electric SUVs in recent memory.

The German sports carmaker is making sure that its flagship electric SUV isn’t just a bigger Macan Electric or a battery-powered version of the combustion engine Cayenne. Porsche is going all guns blazing with the Cayenne Electric, bringing genuinely cutting-edge tech to the table.

Chief among them is wireless charging.

Porsche said Thursday that the Cayenne Electric will debut with an optional wireless charging system when it goes on sale in 2026. The concept is as simple as it sounds. It’s similar to how your smartphone charges on a wireless pad, only scaled up for an SUV that weighs thousands of pounds.

How It Works 

Owners will be able to park the Cayenne Electric over an inductive floor plate, which houses a copper and ferrite transmitter coil, Porsche said. An alternating current will run through this coil, generating a magnetic field. That field links with a receiver coil in the vehicle’s underbody, located between the front wheels.

The on-board system will then convert alternating current into direct current to charge the high-voltage battery. The floor plate is weatherproof, Porsche claims, resistant to damage even if owners mistakenly place the wheels of the EV over it.

Plus, it’s certified to European (CE) and U.S. (UL) safety standards. Porsche said electromagnetic radiation is contained beneath the vehicle and the system will automatically pause charging if it detects foreign objects, like a misplaced tool or a pet that loves to hide under the car, for example.

Photo by: Porsche

You’ll need precise parking to ensure it works, so the vehicle’s cameras and the screens inside will have markers helping you place the EV exactly over the charging pad. Charging power will peak at 11 kilowatts, which is comparable to a Level 2 home charger.

Porsche added that it will have an efficiency of up to 90%, meaning only about 10% of the energy from the grid will be lost in the transfer. Typically, Level 2 home charging is considered the most efficient way of charging, minimizing energy loss, so we’ll see how wireless charging stacks up in comparison.

The Cayenne Electric will also lower itself automatically when it detects the inductive plate beneath, to reduce the distance of contact.

Why It Matters

Charging remains one of the biggest pain points for EV adoption. Public charging infrastructure across the globe is improving, but it still lags far behind the ubiquity of gas stations.

Yet most EV charging happens at home. Around 75% of Porsche’s electric models are charged this way, the automaker said. Now with wireless charging, Porsche is pitching an alternative to wall-mounted plugs, which could make home charging even easier if the system does exactly what Porsche is claiming.

If buyers opt in, an electrician will install the floor plate in their garage, carport, office, or any location connected to the main power supply.

Photo by: Porsche

Even without wireless tech, the Cayenne Electric was already shaping up to be one of the fastest-charging EVs.

Riding on the 800-volt Premium Platform Electric (PPE), shared with the Macan Electric and Audi Q6 e-tron, the Cayenne’s 100-plus kilowatt-hour battery will charge from 10–80% in just 16 minutes, with peak rates up to 400 kilowatts. The driving range is expected to exceed 373 miles (600 kilometers) on the WLTP cycle.

This isn’t the first time we’re seeing wireless charging on an EV. Tesla showcased wireless charging on its Cybercab last year. It won’t have charging plugs at all and will charge wirelessly only. The Cayenne Electric will obviously feature both, optional wireless charging and also get actual plugs to charge at home or public charging stations.

The wireless charging system will launch first in Europe next year and then roll out to other markets. Porsche will also showcase a prototype Cayenne Electric equipped with the system at the IAA Mobility auto show in Munich next week.

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