Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric

With 1140bhp, this physics-defying SUV is the most powerful production Porsche ever

- by ETHAN JUPP

IT CAN DO IT AGAIN, BUT DO I HAVE TO? Such is the ferocity with which the new Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric tackles its 911 Turbo S-matching 2.5sec 0-62mph run that I don't much fancy it. But without circuit laps in prospect, a few back-to-back launches are all the performance repeatability testing we can manage. I'm happy to report that such performance is 'repeatable enough'. The Cayenne's first all-electric steps are quite the opposite of tentative. This Turbo version's 1140bhp and 1106lb ft in Launch Control mode (845bhp standard) make it the most powerful production Porsche yet, and render the Lotus Eletre R a silver medallist in the hundred-click dash. The Porsche's rear axle alone can, in rare conditions, output almost twice the power of the original 521bhp Cayenne Turbo S of 2005.

Direct oil-cooling technology developed in Formula E affords this performance, in addition to 600kW regenerative braking capability that's on a par with a Formula E car. Porsche claims regen will handle 97 per cent of braking duties, but as I rubberband the Turbo through the hairpins and chicanes of Spain's Coll de Serra Seca, accompanied by the V8-aping Electric Sport Sound suite, the regen needle is only swinging three-quarters of the way around the dial. Here the optional (£7592) ceramics are stepping in, pleasingly with pedal feel more consistent than a Taycan's.