Porsche Wireless Charging to debut on new Cayenne

Wireless car charging finally arrives and, no, it won't fry your cat

By Cam Tait / Thursday, 4 September 2025 / Loading comments

Wireless charging technology has been around for some time now. Pretty much every new car today has some form of inductive charging for your phone, keeping its battery topped up while somehow frying it at the same time, and if it doesn’t then the aftermarket has got you covered. But what about charging the car’s battery wirelessly? It’s something many firms have tried but nobody’s been able to put anything into production. Porsche, however, is gunning to be the first, by announcing the rollout of a wireless charging feature for the new Cayenne.

To be revealed at the IAA motor show in Munich, the Porsche Wireless Charging (always one to take the literal approach to nomenclature) system will be offered as an optional extra for the upcoming Cayenne Electric, taking away the faff of plugging a charging cable in when you park up at home. The system consists of two parts, the first being a ‘vehicle pad’ receiver, which is a relatively compact unit that sits between the front axle, and a ‘ground pad’ transmitter that you can plug in to the mains at home. Porsche engineers joked that, because the former uses a fan to regulate heat and the latter a liquid system, it’s the first time its offered a product that’s both air and water cooled (geddit?).

Naturally, it’s nowhere near as rapid as hooking it up to a fast charger, but its max rate of 11kW is pretty decent by home charging standards. It does require a fair bit of precision to line the transmitter up with the receiver. Thankfully, there’s a dedicated graphic that pops up on the Cayenne’s infotainment screen with two green guiding lines layered over a direct feed from the front camera. Then, as you approach the charging pad, the camera switches to a top-down graphic where you have to line up a green ring (your car) with a green circle (the charging pad).

Having tested the system ahead of its debut, it feels a bit like a retro video game, with the circle snapping to the ring when a connection is made. The pad is a tad sensitive to the position of the car and it’s easy to overshoot and disconnect from the transmitter, though it’ll no doubt become second nature after a few attempts. Porsche’s also beefed up the transmitter so if you do end up mucking up your approach and running it over, it won’t fall apart under the (likely immense) weight of your electric Cayenne.

One of the major barriers for the commercialisation of wireless chargers is, weirdly, pet cats. The problem being that cats typically like to a) sleep under cars and b) sleep on warm surfaces, which has wireless charging pad written all over it. But fear not, cat lovers, because Porsche’s charging system can detect the presence of a pet and immediately switch the pad off. Once your pet’s moved, it’ll then wait 15 seconds before charging just in case they hop back on the pad. You’ll also get a notification through the My Porsche app if your cat/small dog decides to take a nap on the charger so you don’t jump in for your morning commute with zero battery remaining.

This isn’t a matter of science fiction, either. Sales for the Porsche Wireless Charging system will commence in Europe next year, with ‘other markets’ following soon after. It’ll only be available on the new Cayenne to begin with, and although you’ll be able to retrofit it at your local Porsche dealer later on, you can’t do the same with the current Taycan and electric Macan. We’ll have to wait a little longer for official pricing, but if you’re fed up with plugging your car in at the end of a long day, this may well be an option worth ticking when speccing up that Cayenne…