Top Gear's US Tech Award winner is about to revolutionise EV charging forever

This award celebrates a leap forward in automotive tech, something that has a tangible and positive effect on your user experience. And this one’s for anyone who’s fumbled about trying to roll up a wet charging chord, or parked just a fraction too far away from the plug… it goes to Porsche’s new wireless charging system, available as an option on the new Cayenne Electric.

I was able to get hands on and test the system first hand, and it’s as impressive as I’d hoped it would be. To be clear, this isn’t just a small hybrid battery, but a wireless charger for the whole car, and the battery on the new Cayenne is not small – 113kWh - and while yes, you can fast charge on either side with the NACS or CCS ports, actually plugging your EV in is so 2024.

The process couldn’t be simpler - as you pull into your garage, or the car gets close enough to the floor pad, an ultra-wideband signal triggers the camera and a set of special graphics pop up on the screen, helping you to slowly pull up to it and line everything up. A set of blue lines on the outside show where your tyres are pointing, and the green lines show the outer edges of the charging coil.

At the point you’re about to drive over the top of it, it switches to an overhead view and like a satisfyingly lo-fi video game, you basically put the ball in the basket and that’s it. You line it up, stop the car, switch to park and the charging starts… ramping all the way up to 11kW, which is actually kind of nuts considering there's still quite a gap between the car and the puck on the ground.

And speaking of that gap, there are sensors all the way around the tray and under the car so that if something were to blow across like a plastic bag or a sleepy pet looking for somewhere warm to curl up, it halts charging right away. Fried cat disaster averted. When that object leaves, it resumes charging again. If it doesn't leave, it sends a notification to the Porsche app on your phone.

Honestly, I was prepared for teething issues and fiddly interfaces that would totally negate the convenience of wire-free charging, but the whole thing worked really well. It was actually anti-climactic, but that's the point. You're supposed to just be able to pull into the garage, not think about it, not fumble with any cables or adapters, just park and walk away.

No, it won't charge as fast or be as efficient as a cable. but when you’re juicing up overnight anyway do you really care? It’s pricey (around $8,000), but then so is the only car it currently works with. Money aside, it’s the ideal luxury EV setup and you can bet Porche’s rivals will follow suit soon.