New Porsche 718 Boxster EV will be mid-engined... sort of

Porsche has confirmed that its upcoming fully electric successor to the 718 Boxster and Cayman sports cars will utilise a unique stacked mid-mounted battery architecture, enabling the firm to replicate the effect of a low-slung two-seater, while also maximising range and minimising weight.

Speaking to Auto Express, Porsche’s head of safety systems, Dr. Simon Maurer, said: “It’s well known that we’re making an electric sports car and for that, an underfloor battery will be impossible – not only for the centre of gravity, but also for dimensions.”

With this in mind, the electric 718, which will be offered in coupé Cayman and soft-top Boxster guises, will instead adopt the same mid-mounted stacked battery arrangement as in 2021’s Mission R concept. This will give Porsche’s EV sports car a similar weight distribution to that of a traditional ICE sports model, and allow for a much lower driving position than is the case in the Taycan.

Porsche is not the first to experiment with unique battery configurations; the Maserati Gran Turismo Folgore, for example, arranges its cells in a ‘T’ shape to enable driver and passenger to sit either side, which is a concept also expected to be mirrored by the upcoming electric Mazda MX-5.

Nevertheless, Porsche says the 718’s battery will be “smaller than that of the Macan or Taycan” in order to keep weight to a minimum. Otmar Bitsche, the Stuttgart-based firm’s expert on EV powertrains, described how the system will instead focus on high energy density, with “the relative power capability of [the] sports car’s cell [being] higher relative to that of the Macan’s – maybe about in the same range as the Taycan”.

This being the case, we could expect a battery similar in capacity to the Mission R’s 82kWh unit, but much smaller in terms of dimensions than the under-floor pack in the Macan. Porsche tells us that it’s aiming for an official range figure of over 300 miles, and that all of its future EVs, for the foreseeable future, will be powered by 800-volt technology, enabling lightning-fast charging. 

And that’s not all, as vice president of energy systems, Heiko Mayer, told Auto Express that another focus for Porsche with its first electric sports car is to improve battery longevity. 

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Porsche already estimates its battery systems are good for 15 years and up to 300,000km (186,000 miles). Mayer said: “Our customers don’t just tend to have a [sports car] product for one or two years… they have it for seven, eight or even nine years.”

The boffins at Porsche say that a longer lifespan than a traditional EV battery should be expected from the new 718, despite a higher operating temperature to increase performance and the expectation that customers will drive their cars hard frequently.

Not that you’ll need to rag the electric 718 too much to get up to speed, as it’s expected to come in both single and dual-motor forms, with even the base model likely improving on the petrol model’s 4.5-second 0-62mph time. However, we don’t quite expect the production car to match the Mission R, nor the subsequent Cayman GT4 ePerformance’s titanic 1,073bhp output.

In terms of appearance, the next-generation 718 will essentially look like a modernised version of the current car, taking into account elements found in the Taycan and most recent Porsche 911, such as the quad-dot headlights and straked front bumper (which potentially could have active aero elements) respectively.

As is customary nowadays, the electric Cayman and Boxster will get a full-width light bar at the rear which, like on the new Macan, could be offered with a fully illuminated ‘PORSCHE’ script. Of course, there’ll be no exhaust pipe sitting below, with the optional Porsche Sport Sound generator providing the only audible driving accompaniment.

Inside, the electric 718 is certain to be a revolution in terms of design and tech compared with the ageing petrol model. Just like the Taycan, Macan and 911, the 718 EV will get a fully digital instrument cluster, as well as a widescreen centre display. As is always the case with Porsche models, there will be plenty of scope for customers to specify their car exactly to their liking, with a range of exterior and interior colour choices.

We expect the new electric Porsche 718 to be revealed in the latter stages of this year, going on sale at the beginning of 2026. Pricing is, of course, up in the air at this stage, but a starting figure of around £75,000 for an entry-level Cayman seems likely, with the convertible Boxster inevitably costing slightly more.

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