A Preview of the Hot New Audi and Porsche Premium Platform Electric Architecture
A closer look at the important new EV platform that will debut under the Audi Q6 E-Tron and Porsche Macan EV this year.
You're going to hear a lot about PPE this year. That's the codename for the all-new EV platform that's going to underpin a range of vehicles from Volkswagen Group's premium brands, most notably Audi and Porsche, as well as Bentley. We've already had a glimpse of PPE with our sneak peaks of the upcoming 2025 Porsche Macan EV, which is scheduled to be officially unveiled next week for production likely later this year or early next. But the PPE platform should first hit the road under the all-new Audi Q6 E-Tron, which is scheduled for launch this spring.
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In simple terms, the PPE platform sits above the MEB platform that underpins EVs from Volkswagen Group's mainstream brands, such as the VW ID4 SUV, and alongside the J1 platform that underpins the Porsche Taycan and Audi E-Tron GT sedans. PPE is a highly flexible architecture, allowing wheelbases from 113.8 inches to 121.3 inches, tracks from 64.6 inches to 67.5 inches, and ground clearance to vary between 6.0 inches and 8.5 inches. What that means is that the platform can support both cars and SUVs, including replacements for the current Porsche Cayenne, Audi Q7 and Bentley Bentayga SUVs. We know from the Macan EV that PPE can accommodate air suspension, 22-inch wheels, and rear-wheel steering.
PPE-based vehicles will be powered by a new range of modular e-motors that will have higher performance levels than the units used in MEB vehicles. The new e-motor concept allows for stators of three different lengths of 3.9 inches, 5.9 inches, and 7.9 inches, that share a common diameter of 8.3 inches. This enables three different power and torque outputs—the longer the stator, the more power and torque is developed—from e-motors with a high degree of shared components.
All the motors are permanent magnet synchronous (PSM) type, though the small-stator motor can also be built as a lower cost, less powerful asynchronous unit. Each of the e-motors has a common single-speed transmission that can be fitted with one of four different gear ratios to further optimize vehicle performance. The transmission also allows the motors to be decoupled from the wheels to enable energy-saving coasting, or lift-off deceleration roughly equivalent to that of an internal combustion engine car with an automatic transmission. A modular inverter system can be upgraded from silicon to higher efficiency silicon carbide.
PPE vehicles will initially be dual motor, all-wheel drive, and Audi sources say PPE's front axle e-motor is 35 percent smaller, 20 percent lighter, 15 percent less expensive to make, and uses 30 percent less energy than the front e-motor in the Q8 e-tron. Under normal driving, 100 percent of the drive is sent from the rear e-motor—the more powerful of the two—to the rear wheels. However, the powertrain control system can instantly bring the otherwise passive front e-motor into action and infinitely vary the rear to front torque split depending on traction.
The front e-motor is used to recuperate up to 240 kW of energy under braking. PPE also gives performance-oriented brands such as Porsche the ability to fit their own, specially developed e-motors. For example, the top of the range Macan EV Turbo (seemingly confirmed by the special decal package on new Turbo trims) boasts a Porsche-developed e-motor with a 9.0-inch diameter, 8.3-inch long stator that will boost the dual-motor SUV's total output to at least 603 horsepower and more than 738 lb-ft of torque.
PPE has an 800-volt electrical architecture fed by a 100 kWh (gross) modular prismatic battery that weighs 1,260 pounds. The battery consists of 12 modules, each with 15 prismatic cells connected in series, and has a cooling plate in its housing. It can accept a 270 kW charge rate, meaning it can be taken from a 10 percent state of charge to 80 percent in less than 22 minutes on a 350-kW charger. Adding 60 miles of range takes just 4 minutes on a DC fast charger. The pack can also function like two separate 400-volt packs on low-speed chargers to improve charge times.
The battery's modular construction means it can supposedly be repaired—individual modules can be replaced if necessary—and even updated as newer, higher performance battery chemistries are developed. At the technical preview of the Macan EV, Porsche engineers claimed the battery's chemistry requires 60 percent less cobalt and delivers 30 percent higher energy density than the battery used in the Taycan.
For all that, PPE is merely a stepping-stone on Volkswagen Group's march to becoming a pure EV producer. Learnings from PPE will be folded into a new platform dubbed SSP (Scalable Systems Platform). SSP is slated to replace both MEB and PPE with a single, highly modular, flexible software-defined architecture capable of underpinning all Volkswagen Group EVs, including everything from 114-hp city cars to 1,700-hp supercars.
However, massive software development problems at Cariad, Volkswagen Group's in-house software division, mean the launch of the next-gen SSP could be pushed back from 2026 to 2029 or even 2030—though that could mean longevity for this new batch of capable PPE models.
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by cars. My father was a mechanic, and some of my earliest memories are of handing him wrenches as he worked to turn a succession of down-at-heel secondhand cars into reliable family transportation. Later, when I was about 12, I’d be allowed to back the Valiant station wagon out onto the street and drive it around to the front of the house to wash it. We had the cleanest Valiant in the world.
I got my driver’s license exactly three months after my 16th birthday in a Series II Land Rover, ex-Australian Army with no synchro on first or second and about a million miles on the clock. “Pass your test in that,” said Dad, “and you’ll be able to drive anything.” He was right. Nearly four decades later I’ve driven everything from a Bugatti Veyron to a Volvo 18-wheeler, on roads and tracks all over the world. Very few people get the opportunity to parlay their passion into a career. I’m one of those fortunate few.
I started editing my local car club magazine, partly because no-one else would do it, and partly because I’d sold my rally car to get the deposit for my first house, and wanted to stay involved in the sport. Then one day someone handed me a free local sports paper and said they might want car stuff in it. I rang the editor and to my surprise she said yes. There was no pay, but I did get press passes, which meant I got into the races for free. And meet real automotive journalists in the pressroom. And watch and learn.
It’s been a helluva ride ever since. I’ve written about everything from Formula 1 to Sprint Car racing; from new cars and trucks to wild street machines and multi-million dollar classics; from global industry trends to secondhand car dealers. I’ve done automotive TV shows and radio shows, and helped create automotive websites, iMags and mobile apps. I’ve been the editor-in-chief of leading automotive media brands in Australia, Great Britain, and the United States. And I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The longer I’m in this business the more astonished I am these fiendishly complicated devices we call automobiles get made at all, and how accomplished they have become at doing what they’re designed to do. I believe all new cars should be great, and I’m disappointed when they’re not. Over the years I’ve come to realize cars are the result of a complex interaction of people, politics and process, which is why they’re all different. And why they continue to fascinate me.Read More
