Official images, independent observations are out.

IMAGES of the Macan EV - yes, the electric one - are being provisioned by Porsche but the best information is coming from independent sources.

The national distributor has yet to exactly spell out when the Macan EV will come here, though a pre-Christmas release is highly anticipated.

Full international unveiling could be very close, the parent is not just sending out images of the car in all-but-undisguised state and is also inviting media in Europe and the United States for ride along experiences.

The new car rides on the new PPE platform that Porsche co-developed with Audi. The first Audi to use it will bevthe Q6 E-Tron, set to land here before Christmas.

Every trim will have a 100kWh (95kWh net) battery pack with an 800-volt architecture. The battery is lighter and more energy dense than that of the Taycan, and it will be able to charge at up to 270 kW. 

Porsche says the Macan’s coefficient of drag is just 0.25, making it one of the most aerodynamic SUVs around thanks to things like an active rear spoiler and air flaps.

Proposition that every version will have a range of at least 500 kilometres on the European WLTP cycle seems a big call, but a test by the US website and magazine Edmunds in California suggests it might not be wholly out of reach.

The publication first ran the fastest Macan, which is expected to be named Macan Turbo. This one promises at least 450kW of electric power, which is available instantaneously and is split between the front and rear wheels thanks to the use of two motors, though the car is capable of employing just the rear unit. 

The mag achieved a whisker under 480km, with 11kms’ range left. It reckoned that to be especially impressive given the average speed of a fraction under 100kmh. 

Edmunds then did the same range trip in a base version of the Macan — also a dual-motor all-wheel-drive car, but with less power — which covered 523km at similar speeds.

Journalists who have been on rides in the car, around the test track and off-road course in Leipzig, Germany, say it is rediculously fast.

Attested one: “No medium-sized SUV needs to go anything like this quickly, but with launch control engaged the Macan can turn your stomach inside out. And the force is relentless. As long as the accelerator is pinned, your insides are being thrown at your spine. We have driven and ridden in faster cars, but not many.”

Meantime, it seems set to be a big gun for charging, too. The DC charging capacity stations that can pump hard - for NZ, that’s the handful of 300kW hyper chargers - is up to 270kW. 

Porsche says the charge level can be increased from 10 to 80 percent in less than 22 minutes at 400-volt charging stations, a high-voltage switch in the battery enables bank charging by effectively splitting the 800-volt battery into two batteries, each with a rated voltage of 400 volts. 

Macan EV is running more than a year behind schedule, due to issues with VW Group’s Cariad software.

Weissach says it has completed a range of simulations under harsh operating conditions, as well as 3.5 million kilometres of real-world driving on test tracks and public roads.

The car has worked out in temperatures ranging from -30 degrees Celsius in Scandinavia to above 50C in Death Valley, California.

The model comes with a Porsche Active Suspension Management system with two-valve damper technology, air suspension, rear-axle transverse lock, as well as rear-axle steering with an angle of up to five degrees.

When Macan EV was first proposed, Porsche was considering keeping selling the current petrol, now in its 10th year. However, now it seems the fossil fuel reliant type will be retired as soon as the battery-fed car comes out.