Adam Levine drives an electric Porsche

US singer-songwriter Adam Levine put the pedal down in the Porsche Mission E to see if it has the moves.

Following a test by pro-driver Mark Webber, the drive by Levine features in a YouTube clip and prompted media to speculate that Porsche is ramping up marketing of its first all-electric car.

The Mission E is undergoing testing and is due out later next year and expected in New Zealand early 2020.

Numbers, prices and specifications are being discussed with the factory, Porsche NZ sales and marketing manager Jamie Taylor says. He says enquiries have come from potential new customers as well as existing ones.

Levine, who helped found band Kara’s Flowers – later becoming Maroon 5, is a Porsche fan and also has ventured into menswear, a record label and a fragrance line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCdKezPKPIM&feature=player_embedded

He took the Mission E on a spin around the Experience Centre track in Los Angeles, with Porsche producing a video from it.

In the clip, the instructor talks about the car having a 480km range and that it can charge to 80% (386km) in 15 minutes.

It has two permanent magnet synchronous motors (PSMs), one each for the front and rear axles.

A 440kW power output catapults the Mission E to 100 km/h in under 3.5 seconds, and to 200 km/h in less than 12 seconds.

Porsche plans to establish its own super-fast electric vehicle charging network in Australia.

The German sports car maker says its dealership-based charging stations will have three times the output of Tesla’s superchargers, using an 800-volt battery array in its vehicles – double that of conventional EVs.

Porsche chief executive Oliver Blume has been reported as saying Australia needs a network similar to Europe, with Melbourne to Sydney the first priority.

The company’s also involved in a joint venture with Volkswagen AG, Daimler Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Ford to establish 400 high-powered charging stations across Europe.