Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance showcases Mission R technology

Porsche's 718 Cayman has gone all-electric, with the GT4 ePerformance revealed as Flacht's concept study into race-ready electric vehicles.

While on the outside it might look like any "regular" 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport, Porsche has been hard at work taking the best bits of its Mission R concept study and putting them into its popular sports car – already slated to go all-electric by 2025.

Revealed at last year's IAA show in Munich, the Mission R was developed as a motorsport concept study for electric vehicles with a combined power output of up to 800kW, although in race trim it is designed to produce a mere 500kW.

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For the 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance, Porsche took the electric motors and battery pack from its concept study, dialling down its outputs to a conservative 725kW peak and 450kW constant power.

Compared to the 911 GT3 Cup racer, which is used in Porsche's Carrera Cup championships around the world, the GT4 ePerformance can lap just as fast as its combustion engine-powered counterpart – opening the door to its EV eventually spawning its own one-make race series.

“With the Mission R, we’ve shown how Porsche envisages sustainable customer motor racing in the future," said GT racing vehicle project manager Matthias Scholz.

"The 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance now demonstrates that this vision works impressively on the racetrack.

“We’re very excited about the response, because a one-make cup with electric racing cars would be an important addition to our existing customer racing programme.”

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Although the base Cayman GT4's design has been retained, its electric sibling is actually a massive 14 centimetres wider to help fit its fatter tyres, with roughly 6000 new parts designed from scratch to make the ePerformance work, adopting low-emission material production to reduce its carbon footprint.

GT4 ePerformance project manager Björn Förster says the concept is able to run consistently at race pace for around half an hour – or roughly the same amount of time as a Carrera Cup sprint race.

“The integration of oil cooling has significantly impacted the vehicle concept,” said Förster.

“With experts in the fields of aerodynamics and thermodynamics, as well as high-voltage and bodywork specialists, the development team created an architecture to tap the full potential of the battery cells for the first time – since there is no thermal derating. In this way, the power output in racing mode remains constant for half an hour.”

The GT4 ePerformance will make its first public outing at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed between June 23 and 26, running up the iconic 1.9-kilometre hillclimb.