The new Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo features all the strengths of the Taycan such as superior performance and long range. In addition, there is more headroom for rear-seat passengers and a maximum luggage compartment capacity of over 1,200 litres loaded via the large tailgate. The chassis, with standard all-wheel drive and air suspension, is height-adjustable. The visual appearance of the Taycan Cross Turismo is closely based on the Mission E Cross Turismo concept study presented at the Geneva International Motor Show in 2018. In particular, its silhouette is defined by the sporty roof line sloping towards the rear – called the flyline by Porsche designers. The off-road design elements include wheelarch trims, unique lower aprons at the front and rear as well as the side sills. In combination with the Off-Road Design package, the Cross Turismo has special flaps at the corners of the front and rear bumpers and at the ends of the sills. The Taycan Cross Turismo will be launched on the market in the summer of 2021. It is anticipated that the five largest markets for this version of the Taycan will be the US, the UK, Norway, the Netherlands and Germany.
The integrated Porsche 4D Chassis Control analyses and synchronises all chassis systems in real time. Porsche uses a centrally networked control system for the chassis of the Taycan Cross Turismo. Adaptive air suspension with three-chamber technology including the PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management) electronic damper control system is fitted as standard in all Taycan Cross Turismo models. The air suspension includes a Smartlift function as standard. This allows the customer to easily programme the system so that the ride height is automatically raised at certain recurring locations such as road humps or garage driveways. Such positions can be stored by simply pressing the chassis button. The highly praised design contours familiar from the Taycan sports saloon can be found in the interior: the wing-shaped upper and lower sections of the dashboard stretch across the entire width of the vehicle. The free-standing, curved instrument cluster forms the highest point on the dashboard. A central 10.9-inch infotainment display and a further, optional, front passenger display are combined to form an integrated glass band in a black-panel look.
All Taycan Cross Turismo models have two particularly efficient electric motors, one fitted on the front axle and a second on the rear axle, and therefore have all-wheel drive. Permanently excited synchronous motors have a rotor with high-quality permanent magnets that generate a natural magnetic field. The rotor thus moves synchronously with the magnetic rotating field of the stator, which is why it is known as a permanently excited synchronous motor. A pulse-controlled inverter specifies the frequency of the rotating field in the stator, therefore determining the rotor speed. On account of their structure, functionality and their excellent thermal behaviour, the permanently excited synchronous motors are able to deliver the high performance expected of a Porsche. Both the range and the continuous power of the drive benefit from the high efficiency of the permanently excited synchronous motors. The electric motor, transmission and pulse controlled inverter are each combined into a compact drive module. Thanks to its coaxial design, the front axle module is integrated into the front of the vehicle, taking up a very small area.
The battery is located in the underbody of the Taycan Cross Turismo, ensuring a low centre of gravity and therefore sporty driving characteristics. The battery housing is a load-bearing component of the body structure, accommodating cooling and electronic components and protecting them from environmental influences. The waterproof housing is a sandwich construction consisting of a cover at the top and a bulkhead plate at the bottom. The truss-design battery frame, which has multiple subdivisions, is mounted in between. The cooling elements are glued on underneath the bulkhead plate. The battery housing is secured by means of a steel protective plate. For the battery frame, the developers opted for a lightweight aluminium design. On the one hand, this provides a lot of installation space for the cell modules – and consequently a high battery capacity. On the other hand, this has made it possible for the weight of the vehicle to be kept low. Modern joining techniques are used, such as MIG welding (metal welding with inert gases) on the battery frame, laser welding on the bulkhead and protection plates, and heat-conducting adhesive on the line system under the battery.
The Taycan Cross Turismo operates with a system voltage of 800 volts (voltage range 610 V to 835 V) instead of the 400 V that is usual for electric cars. The standard two-deck Performance Battery Plus contains 33 cell modules consisting of 12 individual cells each (396 in total). Total capacity is 93.4 kWh. The standard two-deck Performance Battery Plus contains 33 cell modules consisting of 12 individual cells each (396 in total). Total capacity is 93.4 kWh. The cells themselves are pouch cells. In this cell type, the electrode stack is not enclosed by a rigid housing, but by a flexible composite foil. This allows both optimal use to be made of the rectangular space available for the battery and a reduction in weight. The modules each have an internal control unit for monitoring voltage and temperature and are connected to each other via busbars.
The liquid-cooled synchronous motor on the front axle has an active length of 160 mm and an active diameter of 190 mm. The synchronous motor on the rear axle is slightly more compact on the Taycan 4 Cross Turismo and Taycan 4S Cross Turismo than on the more powerful variants: the electric motor on the rear axle is 130 mm long and has a diameter of 245 mm (Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo and Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo: 210 and 245 mm). The modules generally have the highest power density (kW per litre of installation space) of all electric powertrains on the market today. A special feature of the electric motors used in the Taycan Cross Turismo is the hairpin winding. Here, the stator coils consist of wires that are rectangular rather than round. The wires are bent and their shape – before they are inserted into the stator’s laminated core – is reminiscent of that of hairpins, hence the name ‘hairpin’. The open ends are welded together using a laser beam. The manufacturing process of hairpin technology is complex, but it allows the wires to be packed more densely and thus increases the amount of copper in the stator. While conventional winding processes have a copper filling factor of 45 to 50 per cent, it is just under 70 per cent in this case.
