Porsche unveiled a new Boxster variant this week, the all electric Boxster E is a “mobile laboratory” for testing Porsche’s future electric drivetrain technology. There are currently 3 identical Boxster E’s being tested on the roads of Stuttgart, near the Porsche factory in Germany.

With 240hp and AWD the Boxster E makes the 0-60 dash in 5.3 seconds, it uses twin electric motors and has a 29 kWh battery system mounted behind the seats, offering ideal weight distribution. We don’t yet have top speed, range or charge time specifications for the car as Porsche is staying tight lipped about it, not uncommon when it comes to test-bed cars.

Most industry insiders are suggesting that this will be the first all electric offering from Porsche and may hit showrooms as early as 2012 with 2013 being offered as a slightly more realistic shipping date.

The Boxster is the smallest and lightest car in Porsche’s current model line up, making it ideal for an electric car conversion. Porsche has been making serious inroads into the electric and hybrid vehicle space in the past 12 months with the introduction of both the 918 RSR and the 911 GT3 Hybrid.

We’ll update with more just as soon as Porsche stops playing coy.

-To stay in the loop join our Facebook page grab the RSS feed or join us on Twitter @ElectroVelocity –