Porsche Boxster EV charging at Tesla Supercharger in California. Photo: Roland J, used with permission.
Porsche’s upcoming Boxster EV has been spotted in California, supercharging into a Tesla Supercharger, increasing speculation about the timing and details of the car’s launch.
Porsche has gradually electrified its vehicle line, offering increasingly powerful electric vehicles. As of now, the most powerful Porsche of all time is electric and there is more to come.
But until now Porsche has been reluctant to electrify its sportiest models. Despite launching the Taycan, a high-performance sports sedan, and the extremely powerful electric versions of the Macan and Cayenne, the brand’s classic sports cars remain powered by fossils.
That looked like it was going to change when Porsche announced that the 718 Boxster softtop convertible roadster/Cayman hardtop coupe would end production in 2025, with many assuming it would eventually be replaced by an electric model.
But rumors circulated about the upcoming 718 EV, and many thought the project was on the chopping block, along with Porsche and other Western automakers retreating from electric vehicles as they allowed China to step in and meet growing global demand for superior electrified powertrains.
Fortunately, Porsche’s new CEO, Michael Leiters, came to his senses. In August, he stated in an interview that “we will build the model because it is the best economic solution and it will be a fantastic car.” The 718 will also benefit from a platform-sharing agreement with Audi, which never wavered in its plans to bring its sister vehicle, the TT, to the roads.
Since then, the Boxster has been seen in public several times, and not particularly privately.
Just a couple of weeks ago, it did a largely uncamouflaged lap around the Nürburgring, giving us the clearest look yet at the car. Things could still change before production, especially if Porsche offers several body kit option packages that change the look of the car, but this car seems to be getting closer to being real.
And now we have a even closer Look, this time not from a photographer’s nest next to a track, but from a walker passing a Tesla Supercharger in California. User SeaPeanut7_ posted about this on reddit:
The Supercharger in question is located in Carson, CA, in the parking lot of the DoubleTree hotel. It’s a pretty sprawling Supercharger site, split into two sides of the hotel parking lot (and the last time I went there, charging was pretty slow… I ended up heading down the road to the next one).
The original post only included two photos, but they still give us some interesting insights.
First of all, you can see some camouflage on the car, but it is not patterned like normal camouflage. There’s plastic cladding on the front and rear that seems designed to hide the diffuser, or at least we hope so, because it’s a bit ugly. There is also tape around the rear light bar and headlights.
The charging port is where we expected it based on previous photos, right in the center rear of the vehicle. The original photo on reddit hides the charging port, but we reached out and they sent us another photo showing the car directly connected to the NACS, without an adapter:
Porsche electric vehicles have been able to access Tesla Superchargers since last September, and Porsche has been including NACS ports in its most recent updates to its electric vehicles.
But most of Porsche’s electric vehicles have two Loading ports. Current Porsches come with a NACS connector for DC fast charging on one side of the vehicle and a J1772 connector for Level 2 AC charging on the other side.
A single NACS input on the rear could be a sign that Porsche is considering abandoning its previous charging paradigm and moving to AC- and DC-only NACS. Or maybe this is just the case for its smaller sports cars, and the 4-door will retain the two-air intake setup.
Interestingly, this Supercharger is right down the street from the Porsche Experience Center in Los Angeles, a facility where you can have a Porsche sports car experience on a small test track. There are AC and DC chargers at that facility…but no 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 some kind of testing).
As for Porsche’s take on all this? We contacted Porsche North America and they gave us nothing new. Officially, the company is still considering the model and there have been no announcements about where or when it will or will not be sold.
But we can’t imagine they’re testing supercharging in California just for fun…
What do you think of the closest look we’ve had so far of the Boxster EV? Let us know in the comments.
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