Porsche unveils electric Mission R concept race car

German sports carmaker Porsche has further strengthened its green credentials with the unveiling of the ambitious Porsche Mission R concept race car earlier this week.

The all-wheel drive, pure electric race car is planned to have its own one-make racing series in the near future, Porsche said.

"Porsche is the brand for people who fulfill their dreams," said Oliver Blume, chairman of the executive board at Porsche AG. "This is also true in motorsports. We experience our innovative strength on the racetrack, demonstrate courage in pursuing new avenues and delight car owners with sporting performance.

"In addition to our involvement in the Formula E World Championship, we are now taking the next big step forward in electric mobility. The concept study is our vision of all-electric customer motorsports. The Mission R embodies everything that makes Porsche strong: performance, design and sustainability."

Featuring state-of-the-art technology, the Mission R is equipped with two newly-developed electric motors, which can deliver up to 800 kilowatts when the car is in qualifying mode.

It can accelerate from zero to 100 kilometers per hour in less than 2.5 seconds with 1,088 PS in qualifying mode. Its top speed is over 300 km/h.

On a racetrack, the electric racer can achieve the same lap time performance as the current Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, according to the carmaker.

According to Detlev von Platen, member of the executive board for sales and marketing at Porsche AG, the Mission R's technical concept embodies a compact two-seater sports car with a center block battery and two electric motors, one at the front and one at the back.

Porsche announced in June it set up a joint venture with lithium-ion battery producer Customcell, in which Porsche has an 83.75 percent stake. The joint venture is expected to begin operation in 2024 and will have an annual cell production capacity for around 1,000 vehicles.

"We will also use the latest development in terms of battery technology, this is a reason why we are entering into a cooperation with Customcell to set up the new joint venture named Cellforce, not to build up volume batteries but to build and develop specific high-performance batteries, because we see a huge potential here for our race cars," Platen said.

The Mission R has battery capacity of around 80 kilowatt-hours and features an innovative energy recovery system, which make sprint racing possible with no loss of output, the carmaker said.

Equipped with advanced 900-volt technology and Porsche Turbo Charging, the race car can be charged from 5 percent to 80 percent in 15 minutes.

The Mission R also features Porsche Active Aero dynamics and a drag reduction system on the nose section and rear wing.

As is the tradition of Porsche, these technologies potentially will be used for Cup series cars in the future, Platen said.

Another highlight of the concept race car is its focus on carbon dioxide reduction and sustainability. The car body is largely made of natural fiber reinforced plastic, the basic material of which is made from flax fibers obtained from farming. This ecological material is also used for the front spoiler lip, the diffuser and the side skirts.

Platen said: "Sustainability will be absolutely important if you want to create and have a future. We need to do something to make the planet clean in the future. We feel this is a very high responsibility at Porsche that we bring our contribution to that."

Porsche set a goal in March that it plans to have a carbon dioxide neutral balance sheet throughout the entire value chain by 2030. It will make the carmaker one of the first manufacturers to achieve this goal.

According to Platen, Porsche's major factories are completely carbon dioxide neutral. The carmaker wants to do this for the entire lifecycle of the car, in its entire value chain, from the raw materials, the production, suppliers, to the usage of the car.

To achieve that, Porsche will invest more than 1 billion euros ($1.18 billion) in the research and development of decarbonization technologies and renewable energy.

The Porsche Mission R is slightly shorter than the current 718 Cayman series, but it is noticeably wider at 1,990 millimeters and with a height of 1,190 mm it is also significantly lower.

The interior design focuses on the driver in all areas. An ergonomically placed display between the controls on the steering wheel shows relevant data during the race. The monitor above the steering column shows images from the side-mirror cameras and the central rear-view mirror camera.

"Porsche continues to show cutting-edge innovations, and the all-electric Taycan is the best proof that Porsche can change in the future while remaining Porsche. We have been able to develop and produce a completely new car－the Mission R－without losing the heritage and tradition of Porsche when it comes to design, passion of driving and specific dynamic," Platen added.

The concept car is currently being showcased at the 2021 IAA Mobility in Munich, Germany.

Customer motorsports have a long history at Porsche. Since the start of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland 31 years ago, the sports car manufacturer has produced and delivered more than 4,400 Cup cars.

A total of 30 one-make cup series are held worldwide on the basis of these reliable, high-performance race cars. The latest version of the 911 GT3 Cup was not launched until the start of this year's 2021 motorsport season and is based on the 992 model generation.