What's this then?

This is an experimental electric car charging station, located in Jettingen-Scheppach, near the A8 motorway between Ulm and Augsburg, in Germany.

What's that got to do with Porsche?

Well, Porsche (along with the likes of BMW and Siemens) is part of the German 'Fast Charge' research group, a team funded by the German government trying to find ways to speed up the charging of electric vehicles.

And have they?

It looks like it, yes. Fast Charge's experimental station uses the existing, familiar, CCS charging plug, but it runs a massive 450kW of charging power. To test it, Porsche hooked up one of its new Taycan electric car prototypes to the plug, and the results were remarkable.

Charge up fast, did it?

You could say that. In fact, thanks to its clever battery cooling and its 400-volt charging system, the Taycan gulped down charge at a rate of 100km (62 miles) in just three minutes. At those sorts of charging times, it could soon be the case that you can top up your batteries as quickly as you'd fill up a fuel tank.

Neil Briscoe - 18 Dec 2018