After four years of watching Porsche's Mission E concept go through the stages to production, the final product has finally arrived in the Porsche Taycan. In doing so, Porsche has its sights set directly on Telsa.
At launch, the Taycan will be available only in the top trims of Taycan Turbo and Turbo S. Being fully electric, neither of them actually has a turbo of course. Packing a 93.4 kWh battery pack in its floor, the Taycan has a lower center of gravity than a Porsche 911. The top-line Turbo S can generate up to 750 horsepower with overboost mode engage and that will get the 5,100 lb car from 0 to 60 in 2.6 seconds. The standard Turbo makes do with 670 horsepower and a 0 to 60 of 3.0 seconds. Top track speed is limited to 161 mph for both. The Taycan is AWD using a dual motor system with one motor at each axle. Unlike EVs from Tesla and Nissan, Porsche uses a two-speed transmission to gain maximum acceleration and easy highway cruising.
The Taycan is the first production EV with an 800 volt system instead of the more common 400 volts for other electric cars. With the fastest charging available on the market, the Taycan can recharge from 5% to 80% in just 22.5 minutes under ideal conditions when connected to a 270 kW charger that will be found at all Porsche dealerships. Home chargers will use a more common 9.6 kW charger. Higher speed charging using Electrify America's network is available for free for the first 3 years. While EPA ratings for range have yet to be released, the Turbo is rated for 236 miles to 279 miles on the EU cycle and the Turbo S is rated for 236 miles to 256 miles on the same cycle. Assume somewhere in the mid-250s once the EPA gets their hands on one.
While the Taycan does get a traditional hydraulic braking system, Porsche says that the regenerative system can handle 90 percent of all braking. A standard adaptive air suspension is also there with Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control.
On the interior Porsche mounted 5 screens that surround the front occupants with tech. Up front is a 2.8 cubic foot glove box storage space, and out back is a bit more roomy 12.9 cubic foot storage. Porsche put indents into the floor for rear passengers to give more legroom.
The Taycan is expected to go on sales towards the end of this year. Launch pricing is $154,660 for the Turbo and the Turbo S starts at $186,350. Cheaper models will come later.
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