Porsche shows off futuristic new public charging stations – With a lounge and gym

Porsche has revealed a pilot site for its new state-of-the-art public charging stations that will rival the likes of Tesla’s Superchargers.

“Located close to busy routes with significant traffic flow, open 24/7, with very high charging performance, a comfortable ambience, and convenient, central billing of charging costs, the new Porsche Charging Lounges are perfectly tailored to the requirements of Porsche drivers on long journeys,” the premium automaker announced.

The first Charging Lounge is now open outside Bingen, Germany, just two minutes from a major motorway junction, and it offers four 22kW AC standard-charging and six 300kW DC fast-charging stations that were built by Alpitronic, with more Lounges planned for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in the near future.

A taste of what’s to come

The Charging Lounge pilot site in Bingen is a preview of how future Porsche charging stations could look, featuring a slim “floating” roof that connects the charging points to the building.

The lounging area is glazed from floor to ceiling to create a “smooth transition between inside and outside” and bright colours paired with light wood provide an atmosphere that “promotes a sense of well-being,” said Porsche.

Part of the “digital building’s” electricity is sourced from solar cells on the roof and to reduce its carbon footprint, it uses a fossil-fuel-free heat pump for airconditioning and intelligent consumption methods by, for example, dimming the lights when there are no guests present.

While waiting for their hybrid Cayennes and electric Taycans to juice up, visitors to the Porsche Charging Lounge can keep themselves busy in the spacious seating area with a large selection of drinks, snacks, and “analogue and digital media”, use the “high-performance Wi-Fi” network to check emails and do work, or squeeze in a quick workout in front of the “smart mirror.”

The wait won’t have to be that long, though, as with the 300kW fast-charging cables at hand, even the massive 93.4kWh battery in the Taycan will see 10-80% charge completed in 22 minutes.

Integrated into the Porsche Charging Services, the Lounges are simple to locate on the built-in navigation system, and upon arrival, the boom gate to the entrance automatically opens when it scans a registered vehicle’s licence plate.

Payments can be made with debit and credit cards, as well as Apple Pay or Google Pay, while the charging price of 33c per kilowatt hour is just as low as for other fast-charging stations in the Porsche network.

“With the Porsche Charging Lounge, we are creating another important touchpoint along the customer journey and showing how convenient charging can be for Porsche customers,” said Alexander Pollich, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche Deutschland.