The 2026 Porsche Cayenne EV Will Offer Wireless Charging

Porsche is about to make charging your EV a lot easier

The German sports car maker has revealed that the upcoming 2026 Cayenne EV will offer wireless charging. That means you won’t have to plug in the battery-powered SUV at home; you simply have to park it over the company’s new charging pad.

Porsche will publicly unveil its inductive charging system at the IAA Mobility Show next week in Munich on Thursday. In a press release, the automaker made clear that the technology was developed with the intent of making it easier for drivers to charge their EV, with the company explicitly highlighting how user-friendly its system is.

“Ease of use, suitability for everyday use and charging infrastructure are still the decisive factors when it comes to the acceptance of electric mobility,” Dr. Michael Steiner, a Porsche executive board member, was quoted as saying.

Sure, the system consists of just two major components. One is a ground plate that is connected to your home’s electrical grid and installed on the floor of your garage or in your driveway, while the other is a vehicle plate that is integrated into the underside of the battery-powered Cayenne. To initialize charging, you simply park over the pad, so that the two plates are aligned, and energy is transferred between the plates via a magnetic field. It basically works the same as the wireless charger for your smartphone.

Porsche says the ground plate, which weighs 110 pounds, has a maximum charging power of 11 kW. A common criticism of wireless charging is that it is less effective than its wired counterpart, but the automaker claims its system functions at 90-percent efficiency. That means that it can charge an EV just as fast as you would if you plugged it into your home’s electrical grid. The ground plate, which is air-cooled, is also able to operate in temperatures from -40 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit, though it is unclear how extreme temperatures will affect its efficiency.

This isn’t the first time that an automaker has tried out wireless charging for an EV. BMW tested it out in 2019, according to Car and Driver, but didn’t bring it to market. But this does appear to be the first time the technology has been available on a series-production vehicle, even if it is just an add-on. The wiring for the vehicle plate is integrated into the Cayenne’s body and must be chosen as a feature at the time of purchase. Because of this, the technology also cannot be retrofitted onto any of Porsche’s other EVs for the time being.