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Porsche flexes e-Motorsport prowess with GT4 ‘ePerfomance’

Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance on track from behind in Valencia

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Porsche has shown off its electric GT4 ePerformance racecar at an ice track race in Sweden.

As a leader in vehicles that put a smile on your face, Porsche is under distinct pressure to bring that same excitement and joy to the EV transition, and it’s clear that it intends to do just that. First shown at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last year, the Porsche GT4 ePerformance has made another debut, this time at an ice track race in Northern Sweden.

At the Race of Champions event in Northern Sweden, Porsche got the opportunity to show off its GT4 ePerformance project, a car that is set to define the future of electric motorsports.

The Porsche GT4 ePerformance is a serious racecar, no question about it. Fitted with carbon fiber body panels, the tried and true aerodynamics of Porsche’s fastest racecars, and a stripped interior, it is the real deal and has the performance to back it up.

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The full specifications of the vehicle are not yet known, but a surprising amount of information has been revealed over the past year. First of all, the ePerformance is designed to last a minimum of 30 minutes on the racetrack, what Porsche says is the equivalent of 1 Porsche Carera Cup race, allowing drivers to push the car to its absolute limit without the worry of a dead battery mid-race.

Second, the drivetrain, likely using a dual or tri-motor system, produces similarly insane power as its gas counterparts. It packs 603 horsepower for its 30-minute race setting or up to 1088 horsepower peak. But perhaps even more surprising is the car’s incredibly quick charging. According to Porsche engineers, the vehicle can charge from 5 to 8 percent in as little as 15 minutes thanks to its 900-volt architecture.

 

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While Porsche did not provide a statement on the vehicle or today’s race for that matter, Porsche’s Project Manager of Sales Oliver Schwab told Teslarati:

“The 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance blazes a trail to Porsche customer racing with electrically-powered racing cars. As a first step, we will unveil this concept to our global partners. With drivers, teams, organizers, authorities, and other interested parties, we’re also gathering ideas for Porsche racing formats in the future.”

To show off this incredible power, Porsche chose the ideal venue. For those unfamiliar, the “Race of Champions” (ROC) is a series of races that take place around the globe, forcing the best drivers on the planet to face off; on the same track, same car, and same day. This event includes participants such as four-time F1 Champion Sebastian Vettel, six-time American rally champion Travis Pastrana, ten-time F1 Champion Valtteri Botas, nine-time 24 Hour of LeMans winner Tom Kristenson, need I say more.

But merely coming to the event was not nearly enough for the thrill junkies from Stuttgart. The GT4 ePerformance was fitted with spiked tires and one of the largest wings I have ever seen mounted on a Porsche vehicle, allowing the car to rip and jump through the icy course with ease.

If this is the future of motorsport, I want it.

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And thankfully, I (and many others) won’t have to wait much longer. While unconfirmed by Porsche, the high-performance electric 911 could very well make its production debut following the introduction of the company’s newest EV platform, PPE. And with the numerous benefits to handling, power efficiency, and weight reduction, the car could be a rocket ship.

According to a Porsche press release from late last year, the GT4 ePerformance will be headed to North America for the first half of this year, making a tour throughout the continent to show potential customers the incredible future of electric Porsche racing, and will ultimately end up in Asia after completing its grand tour.

Porsche has shown in today’s video that motorsports are here to stay and may flourish with the upcoming EV transition. With such a noble goal, who could oppose them? Who knows, with the dedication to its electric performance vehicle offerings, it might just be enough to drag a certain American EV maker to the same market. And if this product is a showing of Porsche’s future products, such a competitor might finally have something to worry about.

What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at william@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com!

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Will is an auto enthusiast, a gear head, and an EV enthusiast above all. From racing, to industry data, to the most advanced EV tech on earth, he now covers it at Teslarati.

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Tesla expands its branded ‘For Business’ Superchargers

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Credit: Francis Energy

Tesla has expanded its branded ‘For Business’ Supercharger program that it launched last year, as yet another company is using the platform to attract EV owners to its business and utilize a unique advertising opportunity.

Francis Energy of Oklahoma is launching four Superchargers in Norman, where the University of Oklahoma is located. The Superchargers, which are fitted with branding for Francis Energy, will officially open tomorrow.

It will not be the final Supercharger location that Francis Energy plans to open, the company confirmed to EVWire.

Back in early September, Tesla launched the new “Supercharger for Business” program in an effort to give businesses the ability to offer EV charging at custom rates. It would give their businesses visibility and would also cater to employees or customers.

“Purchase and install Superchargers at your business,” Tesla wrote on a page on its website for the new program. “Superchargers are compatible with all electric vehicles, bringing EV drivers to your business by offering convenient, reliable charging.”

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The first site opened in Land O’ Lakes, Florida, which is Northeast of Tampa, as a company called Suncoast launched the Superchargers for local EV owners.

Tesla launches its new branded Supercharger for Business with first active station

The program also does a great job at expanding infrastructure for EV owners, which is something that needs to be done to encourage more people to purchase Teslas and other electric cars.

Francis Energy operates at least 14 EV charging locations in Oklahoma, spanning from Durant to Oklahoma City and nearly everywhere in between. Filings from the company, listed by Supercharge.info, show the company’s plans to convert some of them to Tesla Superchargers, potentially utilizing the new Supercharger for Business program to advertise.

Moving forward, more companies will likely utilize Tesla’s Supercharger for Business program as it presents major advantages in a variety of ways, especially with advertising and creating a place for EV drivers to gain range in their cars.

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Tesla Cybercab ‘breakdown’ image likely is not what it seems

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Credit: TslaChan | X

Tesla Cybercab is perhaps the most highly-anticipated project that the company plans to roll out this year, and as it is undergoing its testing phase in pre-production currently, there are some things to work through with it.

Over the weekend, an image of the Cybercab being loaded onto a tow truck started circulating on the internet, and people began to speculate as to what the issue could be.

The Cybercab can clearly be seen with a Police Officer and perhaps the tow truck driver by its side, being loaded onto, or even potentially unloaded from, the truck.

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However, it seems unlikely it was being offloaded, as its operation would get it to this point for testing to begin with.

It appears, at first glance, that it needs assistance getting back to wherever it came from; likely Gigafactory Texas or potentially a Bay Area facility.

The Cybercab was also spotted in Buffalo, New York, last week, potentially undergoing cold-weather testing, but it doesn’t appear that’s where this incident took place.

It is important to remember that the Cybercab is currently undergoing some rigorous testing scenarios, which include range tests and routine public road operation. These things help Tesla assess any potential issue the vehicle could run into after it starts routine production and heads to customers, or for the Robotaxi platform operation.

This is not a one-off issue, either. Tesla had some instances with the Semi where it was seen broken down on the side of a highway three years ago. The all-electric Semi has gone on to be successful in its early pilot program, as companies like Frito-Lay and PepsiCo. have had very positive remarks.

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Tesla reveals its first Semi customer after launch

The Cybercab’s future is bright, and it is important to note that no vehicle model has ever gone its full life without a breakdown. It happens, it’s a car.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that there has been no official word on what happened with this particular Cybercab unit, but it is crucial to remember that this is the pre-production testing phase, and these things are more constructive than anything.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla analyst teases self-driving dominance in new note: ‘It’s not even close’

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla analyst Andrew Percoco of Morgan Stanley teased the company’s dominance in its self-driving initiative, stating that its lead over competitors is “not even close.”

Percoco recently overtook coverage of Tesla stock from Adam Jonas, who had covered the company at Morgan Stanley for years. Percoco is handling Tesla now that Jonas is covering embodied AI stocks and no longer automotive.

His first move after grabbing coverage was to adjust the price target from $410 to $425, as well as the rating from ‘Overweight’ to ‘Equal Weight.’

Percoco’s new note regarding Tesla highlights the company’s extensive lead in self-driving and autonomy projects, something that it has plenty of competition in, but has established its prowess over the past few years.

He writes:

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“It’s not even close. Tesla continues to lead in autonomous driving, even as Nvidia rolls out new technology aimed at helping other automakers build driverless systems.”

Percoco’s main point regarding Tesla’s advantage is the company’s ability to collect large amounts of training data through its massive fleet, as millions of cars are driving throughout the world and gathering millions of miles of vehicle behavior on the road.

This is the main point that Percoco makes regarding Tesla’s lead in the entire autonomy sector: data is King, and Tesla has the most of it.

One big story that has hit the news over the past week is that of NVIDIA and its own self-driving suite, called Alpamayo. NVIDIA launched this open-source AI program last week, but it differs from Tesla’s in a significant fashion, especially from a hardware perspective, as it plans to use a combination of LiDAR, Radar, and Vision (Cameras) to operate.

Percoco said that NVIDIA’s announcement does not impact Morgan Stanley’s long-term opinions on Tesla and its strength or prowess in self-driving.

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NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang commends Tesla’s Elon Musk for early belief

And, for what it’s worth, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang even said some remarkable things about Tesla following the launch of Alpamayo:

“I think the Tesla stack is the most advanced autonomous vehicle stack in the world. I’m fairly certain they were already using end-to-end AI. Whether their AI did reasoning or not is somewhat secondary to that first part.”

Percoco reiterated both the $425 price target and the ‘Equal Weight’ rating on Tesla shares.

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