Porsche’s upcoming Boxster EV has been spotted in California, Supercharging at a Tesla Supercharger, adding to speculation over the car’s release timing and details.
Porsche has been gradually electrifying its vehicle line, offering more and more powerful EVs. As of now, the most powerful Porsche ever is electric, and there’s more to come.
But so far, Porsche has been reticent to electrify its sportiest models. Despite coming out with the Taycan, a high-performance sport sedan, and extremely powerful electric versions of the Macan and Cayenne, the classic sportscars of the brand have remained fossil-powered.
That seemed like it was going to change when Porsche announced that the 718 Boxster soft-top convertible roadster/Cayman hard-top coupe would go out of production in 2025, and many assumed it would finally be replaced by an electric model.
But rumors flew about the upcoming 718 EV, with many thinking that the project was on the chopping block, alongside Porsche and other Western automakers’ pullback from EVs as they allowed China to step in and supply the rising global demand for superior electrified powertrain.
Thankfully, Porsche’s new CEO, Michael Leiters, saw reason. In August, he stated in an interview that “we will build the model – because it is the best solution economically and will be a fantastic car.” The 718 will also benefit from a platform-sharing agreement with Audi, which never faltered in its plans to bring its sister car, the TT, to the road.
Since then, the Boxster has been spotted in public multiple times, and not in particularly private fashion.
Just a couple weeks ago, it did a mostly uncamouflaged lap at the Nürburgring, giving us the clearest look yet at the car. Things still could change before production, especially if Porsche offers various bodykit options packages that change the car’s look, but this car seems to be getting closer to real.
And now we have an even closer look, this time not from a photographer’s nest beside a track, but from a walker-by at a Tesla Supercharger in California. User SeaPeanut7_ posted about it on reddit:
The Supercharger in question is in Carson, CA at the parking lot of the DoubleTree hotel. It’s a rather sprawling Supercharger site, split across the two sides of the hotel parking lot (and the last time I went there, it was quite slow to charge… I ended up heading down the road to the next one instead).
The original post only included two photos, but they give us some interesting insights anyway.
First, some camouflage can be seen on the car, it’s just not patterned like normal camouflage. there’s some plastic cladding at the front and rear that seems designed to hide the diffuser – or at least, we hope it is, because it’s kind of ugly. There’s also tape around the rear lightbar and the headlights.
The charge port is where we expected it given previous photos, right in the rear center of the vehicle. The original photo on reddit obscures the charge port, but we reached out and were sent another photo which shows the car directly plugged into NACS, without an adapter:
Porsche EVs have been able to access Tesla Superchargers since last September, and Porsche has been including NACS ports on its most recent refreshes of its EVs.
But most of Porsche’s EVs have two charging ports. Current Porsches come with a NACS connector for DC quick charging on one side of the vehicle and a J1772 connector for AC level 2 charging on the other side.
A single NACS inlet in the back could be a sign that Porsche is considering ditching its previous charging paradigm, and moving to NACS-only for AC and DC. Or maybe this will only be the case with its smaller sportscars, and the 4-doors will retain the two-inlet setup.
Interestingly, this Supercharger is just down the street from the Porsche Experience Center Los Angeles, a facility where you can have a Porsche sportscar experience on a small test track. There are both AC and DC chargers at that facility… but not Tesla Superchargers. Porsche could have used its own DC chargers with an adapter, so this must have been an attempt to test the car on Tesla’s network (there were also two Porsche employees inside the car, further suggesting testing of some sort).
As for Porsche’s take on all this? We reached out to Porsche North America, and they gave us nothing new. Officially, the model is still under consideration by the company, and there have been no announcements over where or when it may or may not be sold.
But we can’t imagine they’re testing Supercharging in California just for fun…
What do you think of the closest view yet we’ve had of the Boxster EV? Let us know in the comments.
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