As the first of many planned electric cars from Porsche, the Porsche Taycan marks a major turning point for the company known for their iconic sportscars. Originally dubbed “Mission E” when it was announced as a concept car in 2015, the Taycan will begin its production life as two variants: the Taycan Turbo and the Taycan Turbo S, which run a staggering $150,900 and $185,000, respectively.
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The production series Taycan was introduced this week at the 2019 IAA, the hometown show for all the German automakers. As you’d expect, the Porsche Taycan made a splash and it was considered one of the most exciting cars of the show.
Both the Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron GT are built on the ‘J1’ platform, a bespoke all-electric architecture designed for those cars specifically.
Both Taycans will use a dual-electric-motor setup to put out the equivalent of 616 horsepower. The Taycan Turbo will make 670 horsepower while the Turbo S can put down 750 horsepower. The result is that the Taycan Turbo can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in three seconds flat, while the Turbo S will make that same run in 2.6 seconds.
It’s also interesting that the Porsche is the only production electric vehicle to use a two-speed gearbox, rather than a single-speed. That second speed helps with top-end acceleration and helps it achieve its 161 mph top speed.
The Porsche Taycan comes with a 93kWh battery pack that weighs in at 1,389 pounds for a total weight of the car of around 5,100 pounds.
By using the 800-volt technology, the Porsche Taycan can be charged from 5 percent to 80 percent in just under 23 minutes when hooked up to chargers that can charge at 270kW.
More variants of the Taycan will follow the two Turbos. Porsche didn’t share an EPA-estimated range for its first EV but the European WLTP cycle estimates 450 kilometers, which would equal about 280 miles.
Another Porsche that does not require a grille for engine/battery cooling. Only the headlights looks ugly.
True. On the headlights, I am beginning to like them as they are. I think the blue one looks stunning.
I suppose it is going to be one of those cars where you have to be careful about the colour you pick…
The more I see Bmw’s new grille design, the more I like Porsche. Porsche looks very good in blue and red.
The Taycan was only recently released in September, I’m sure the deliveries are barely commencing and the Tesla community has already felt the pressure (Google: Plaid). My local Porsche dealer says their allocation has been spoken for, for the next 2.5 years, pushing on a 36 month waitlist.
This compounds the utter failure of the i8’s “Vision” almost 6 years after they determined its fate to be nothing but a fluff machine. The only thing the BMW Board wants to do is approve more color variations of the i8’s interior. Finance manager at my BMW dealership says BMW NA offered employees a $675/month lease to take one of the inventoried i8s and not a single employee took the bait.
Such. Abysmal. Failure.
Is. Your. Comment.
You have gone from false equivalencies to not even comparable. i8 has been most successful of the Porsche/McLaren/Ferrari hybrids, BMW sold thousands & I have yet to see even 1 of the others in my market of 7 million (I see more Wraith). i8 drivetrain also sold in volume PHEV. Dealership employees do not lease 6 figure 2 seat GTs, they get demo. company cars that are then sold to the public as CPO. i8 is @ the end of its life with rumoured 2 seat Concept replacement. If this VAG BEV sedan (as Taycan is rumoured to be sold as Audi & Bentley as well) is already on a years long wait list due to limited production, what pressure is anyone under from this vehicle? Particularly if their rollout is as problematic as previous e-trons? Fluff is right, just not from BMW.
For this Taycan, Porsche got almost everything absolutely right. Even like the fact that they released the high-ends (Turbo & Turbo S) to market first. Porsche are doing everything I expect AMG and M Division to be doing but are not.