Porsche announced today it will make the Mission-E electric sports car–unveiled as a concept in September at the Frankfurt auto show–a reality by the end of the decade.

The Mission-E shows Porsche isn’t content to let Tesla have the market for high-performance all-electric sport sedans to itself any more–or, at least not beyond 2020, by which point a production version of the Mission-E should be on the road.

Getting a foothold in that emerging segment isn’t cheap: Porsche says it is investing “around a billion euros” (that’s ‘around’ $1.5 billion in Canuck coin) to create more than 1,000 new jobs to pave this Mission-E’s road from concept to consumable. Porsche board chairman Dr. Wolfgang Porsche says that with today’s announcement, Porsche is “making a clear statement about the future of the brand. Even in a greatly-changing motoring world, Porsche will maintain its front-row position with this fascinating sports car.”

Porsche says the concept has a 600-hp drivetrain that would propel the car from zero to 100 km/h in 3.5 seconds, and boast a driving range of 500 km. An 800-volt charger designed specifically for the car (and twice as powerful as today’s quick-charge systems, says Porsche) would refill spent batteries to 80 percent capacity in just 15 minutes.

Porsche Mission E concept 0006

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