Crown

.... huhhhh ..... a real Countdown

-----------------------------------

BMW i8 * RRS * BMW i3s

Here (translated) a letter I got from my dealer today:

Turbo and Turbo S introduction 4 September on internet, 4s introduction 14 October.

Taycan Turbo AWD: Power 625-685 hp, range 580km, base price 160.000 incl VAT

Taycan Turbo S AWD: Power 625-760 hp, range 540km, base price 195.000 incl VAT can be ordered September delivered 2020, I am not sure if the Turbo can be ordered aswell

Taycan 4S 28 cells AWD: Power 425-530 hp, range 520km, base price (est) 110.000 incl VAT can be ordered October delivered February 2020

Taycan 4S 33 cells AWD: Power 490-625 hp, range 600km, base price not available

Taycan base 28 cells, 2-wheel drive: Power 325-425 hp, range 530km, base price not available can be ordered September delivered December 2020

Taycan base 33 cells, 2-wheel drive: Power 380-490 hp, range 620km, base price not available

Taycan base won't have AWD then?

Tim

2010 997.2 GT3RS;  2008 Cayenne Turbo;  2006 911 Club Coupe;  2016 911 GTS Club Coupe;  2015 Macan S;  2019 Speedster (incoming)
 

Nob only rear wheel. The Turbo and Turbo S can be ordered in September

Targa Tim:

Taycan base won't have AWD then?

If you put AWD in base model, what’s left to 4S? Or Taycan 4?

i hope the price abroad will be slightly more competitive because turbo and turbo S are overpriced 

GT Lover, Porsche fan

991.2 GT3 manual, 991 GT3 2014(sold)

Cayenne GTS 2014

Targa Tim:

Taycan base won't have AWD then?

Canada do not get the 2wd models. 

We only get the awd ones. I told you that before hehe

Boxster Coupe GTS:

Porsche Taycan factory within a factory...

Mr. Reimold, what does the launch of Porsche’s first electric sports car mean for you?

The Taycan opens a new chapter in our history. Porsche has deliberately decided to produce this iconic new car at its main site in Zuffenhausen, the heart and home of the brand. The Taycan is something very special. Its performance, range, and innovative 800-volt technology for the shortest possible charging times are one of a kind. It’s a pure-blooded sports car, yet also suitable for everyday driving—in other words, it’s a typical Porsche. More than twenty thousand people from around the world have already contacted Porsche with serious interest in buying the car—without even having seen it. That’s just overwhelming. What’s happening is light years beyond what we could have expected.

Are you prepared?

Of course. It would be a problem if we weren’t. We’ll be opening our plant in September as planned.

The Taycan is considered Porsche’s most sophisticated project ever. The company is building a completely new plant in Zuffenhausen and investing around €1 billion.

Yes, the Taycan is very important to us. You just have to look at the incredible pace of this project. We presented the Mission E study at the Frankfurt International Motor Show in September of 2015. In November we started building the new body shop, where we’re already making the bodies of the current 911. Six months after that, we began clearing the field for the new assembly facility. In parallel to that, the Taycan’s production facilities were being planned. And twelve months later, the first prototypes and development cars were being made at the pilot center.

“We’re reinventing our main site with the Taycan, building a factory within a factory.”Albrecht Reimold

That’s all very ambitious. What are the biggest challenges involved?

We’re reinventing our main site with the Taycan, building a factory within a factory. We’re integrating a completely new production facility with new technology and new processes—while running at full production capacity in our existing plant. Remember that we’re already making more cars in Zuffenhausen than ever before, with 250 two-door sports cars a day. That’s like open-heart surgery and affects all the relevant areas, from ensuring smooth ongoing production processes to preparing for the start of Taycan production and looking out for the interests of our neighbors. After all, our main site borders residential and industrial zones, and several roads and even a rail line run through it. That all requires sophisticated logistics, and is also why we’ll be producing the Taycan on multiple floors and in different building complexes.

Wouldn’t it have been easier to make the Taycan at Porsche’s plant in Leipzig? More space is available there than in Zuffenhausen.

Zuffenhausen is the birthplace of our sports cars. The Taycan is a clear sign of our commitment to this traditional site, which we’re leading into the future by preserving jobs here and even creating new ones. The pact with our employees means we’ve made the Taycan “our project.” In addition to good neighborly relations, the supervisory and executive boards also needed the support of the workforce before deciding to take such an extraordinary step. The employees are also participating financially in the project by putting a quarter of a percent of their negotiated pay raise into a fund. This type of arrangement is unique in the automotive industry. Moreover, we’re putting highly innovative production methods into practice with the Taycan and taking a step toward the factory of the future. We call it Porsche Production 4.0—smart, lean, and green. Smart stands for flexible and connected production. Lean means responsible and efficient use of resources. And green refers to sustainability and environmental protection. After all, our aim is to continually lessen the environmental impact of our products. Since 2014, we’ve reduced the CO2 emissions per car in our production and logistics by more than 75 percent.

Reimold: “Zuffenhausen is the birthplace of our sports cars. The Taycan is a clear sign of our commitment to this traditional site.”

So you’ve achieved your goal?

No. Because Taycan production in Zuffenhausen will be carbon neutral. And our vision extends even further. We want our production to leave no environmental footprint whatsoever, with respect to the supply chain and the entire life cycle of our products.

Regarding the products, does that mean Porsche will only be making electric cars?

By no means. Porsche is and will remain a sports-car brand with high-powered cars—regardless of whether they’re driven by emotional gasoline engines, intelligent plug-in hybrids, or soon by purely electric systems as well. We’re a premium manufacturer, so our share of the market is relatively small. But we stand behind the climate goals agreed upon in Paris on December 12, 2015, and are clearly responsible for reducing our CO2 emissions. We can already do that without losing any of our performance levels or emotional appeal. For example, more than two-thirds of our Panamera customers in Europe are already opting for the plug-in hybrid version. We’re pursuing this development further in the purely electric sports-car sector with the Taycan.

How far can that go?

We’re expecting half of Porsche’s entire product range to be sold with an electric or hybrid drive by the middle of the next decade.

That must be a real culture shock for traditional Porsche customers.

Perhaps. But I can assure them that they’ll find everything they expect from our brand in a purely electric Porsche like the Taycan: extremely sporty driving dynamics, outstanding performance figures, and not least of all, a high degree of emotional appeal. I’m entirely convinced that the more attractive these products are, the faster electric mobility will be accepted. We’re sure that we’ll succeed in this and meet our customers’ expectations. 

Reimold: “We’ve restructured the Taycan’s production from the ground up.”

How does producing a fully electric sports car differ from producing one with a conventional engine—and how is it similar?

It’s not the case that we simply put a battery where the gas tank was and replace the combustion engine with an electric drive. And installing a battery, an electric motor, and the requisite cooling system is obviously a different matter than installing a combustion engine with its exhaust system. But the Taycan is also a car whose body needs to be assembled and painted. Large parts of the production process are the same. However, new specialized knowledge is needed to handle the high-voltage systems, which is why we’re giving all of our employees additional training. After all, we want to ensure that the Taycan embodies the high standards of quality that have always been associated with Porsche. Moreover, we want to ensure that purely electric sports cars can be individualized to the same degree as the current range of models. Our customers value the high degree of individualization that Porsche offers. Everyone gets exactly the car they want. You could say that we do series production of one-of-a-kind cars. That’ll be true of the Taycan as well.

“We’ll be assembling the Taycan on a flexi-line with driverless transport systems that move automatically from station to station.” Albrecht Reimold

There won’t be a conventional assembly line anymore for producing the Taycan.

You’re right. We’ve restructured the Taycan’s production from the ground up. That has the advantage of letting us integrate highly innovative production standards. We’ll be assembling the Taycan on what’s known as a flexi-line with driverless transport systems that move automatically from station to station. That gives us more freedom not only in our production operations but also in the architecture of our new plant. The flexi-line offers enormous benefits in terms of both investment and flexibility. We saved around 30 percent of the investment costs by not setting the conveyor systems into the foundation. And because the line isn’t rigid we can modify it at any time, integrate new elements, or do bypasses to meet special customer wishes.

The Taycan production system is also setting standards in digitalization.

That’s true. People often use the word “revolution” in connection with Industry 4.0, but I see that differently. Because what we’re doing today is a further development of what we’ve already been doing in the past with automation, simulation, and virtual product and production planning. Digitalization is enabling us to design work environments more ergonomically. At the same time, it supports our employees in analyzing complex processes and procedures. It also generates transparency, for example, by letting us examine where and why a certain data flow might not be taking the best possible course. It helps us identify potential that we might not have recognized otherwise.

Is this a precursor to a factory without any people?

No, we have a tradition of focusing on people. Nothing will change there. We’re automating our processes to make things easier for our colleagues and to support them in their work, but we continue to place a premium on highly qualified employees. For the very complex work that our company does—putting superior-quality, individualized, and top-notch sports cars on the roads—it’s essential for us to combine the latest technology with the expertise of our specialists.

So you won’t be cutting any jobs?

Over the last few years we’ve nearly doubled the size of our workforce—to more than 32,000 employees. We’re hiring an additional 1,500 colleagues for the Taycan and Cross Turismo alone. At Porsche, electric mobility is an engine for job growth.

Albrecht Reimold

Reimold, fifty-eight, started his career with a toolmaking apprenticeship that led to top honors in a national toolmaking competition. After studying production engineering at the Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences, he joined Audi in Neckarsulm as a trainee. He later directed the body shop there as well as production of the innovative aluminum space-frame A8 and A2 cars. In 2002 he supported the run-up to production for the Lamborghini Gallardo in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy. One year later he took on production planning in Neckarsulm for pioneering Audi models like the A6, A8, and R8, before assuming directorship of the site in 2009. As the CEO of Volkswagen Slovakia in Bratislava from 2012 to 2016, he also prepared the launch of production for Volkswagen’s fully electric e-up! compact car, as well as for the Porsche Cayenne. He joined Porsche AG’s executive board in February 2016 as the member in charge of production and logistics. Reimold places a high priority on sustainability. Achievements under his leadership include a dramatic reduction in production-related CO2 emissions and carbon-neutral production of the Taycan in Zuffenhausen in the future. His declared aim is the Zero Impact Factory—production without environmental effects.

Link:  https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2019/company/porsche-interview-albrecht-reimold-production-taycan-18308.html

He really forgot to mentioned the decision to produce the Taycan at Zuffenhausen was simply because of the union. 

The board wanted to use Leipzig, there are plenty of room to expand there and the logistics are much simpler, it's will also cost less, but the union will not budge at all.

JR-550:

Here (translated) a letter I got from my dealer today:

Turbo and Turbo S introduction 4 September on internet, 4s introduction 14 October.

Taycan Turbo AWD: Power 625-685 hp, range 580km, base price 160.000 incl VAT

Taycan Turbo S AWD: Power 625-760 hp, range 540km, base price 195.000 incl VAT can be ordered September delivered 2020, I am not sure if the Turbo can be ordered aswell

Taycan 4S 28 cells AWD: Power 425-530 hp, range 520km, base price (est) 110.000 incl VAT can be ordered October delivered February 2020

Taycan 4S 33 cells AWD: Power 490-625 hp, range 600km, base price not available

Taycan base 28 cells, 2-wheel drive: Power 325-425 hp, range 530km, base price not available can be ordered September delivered December 2020

Taycan base 33 cells, 2-wheel drive: Power 380-490 hp, range 620km, base price not available

 

Thank you for the information.  Given Porsche's current naming convention, wouldn't the greater the number of cell battery packs ("33 cells) be the S variant will the lesser cell count packs (28) by the base variants?  

195k EUR? For a Turbo S?

panamera pricing then for a 5-3series Bmw class car. Wow. Good luck porsche!

Tesla Model S P100D & Model X P90D & 2016 BMW i8 & 2017 Sept 991.2 GT3 ordered. 2020 Porsche Mission E on order

I did mentioned before that Taycan pricing is slightly below the equivalent Panamera pricing.

Hi!

New video : 0-200 km/h testing

.... 9.4 seconds ... faster than 911 Turbo S  ... and same speed as Lamborghini Hurácan LP610-4 

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BMW i8 * RRS * BMW i3s

Sidney:

Hi!

 

New video : 0-200 km/h testing

 

.... 9.4 seconds ... faster than 911 Turbo S  ... and same speed as Lamborghini Hurácan LP610-4 

All I see is some prototype testing and not really testing but claims. 

I am pretty sure though that the Taycan Turbo S will hit 0-200 kph under 10 seconds.

RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Lamborghini Huracan Performante (2019), Mercedes E63 S AMG Edition 1 (2018), Mercedes C63 S AMG Cab (2019), Range Rover Evoque Si4 Black Edition (2019)

Sidney:

Hi!

 

New video : 0-200 km/h testing

 

.... 9.4 seconds ... faster than 911 Turbo S  ... and same speed as Lamborghini Hurácan LP610-4 

The 992 turbo s will be quicker (I expect & hope) 

Sidney:

Hi!

 

New video : 0-200 km/h testing

 

.... 9.4 seconds ... faster than 911 Turbo S  ... and same speed as Lamborghini Hurácan LP610-4 

This looks very impressive 

Porsche Taycan – A Genuine Fully Charged Exclusive!

Jonny Smith at Goodwood's Festival of Speed 2019

(9 August 2019)

Not in my 21 years as a motoring journalist have I managed to achieve a world exclusive in a Porsche, so I couldn’t have been happier when Porsche GB asked if I wanted to be the first non-Porsche person to drive the Taycan.

The conditions of the exclusive were pretty straight forward – do not show the dash and cabin, do not drive it fast around corners, but do drive it full throttle on an old Canadian military runway (Lahr) a few hours outside of Porsche HQ in Stuttgart.

Oh go on then.

Porsche couldn’t provide concrete spec details but wanted me to drive the car without distraction, so no chaperoning. Fine by me. We were given the key fob to the identical car first seen in public during Goodwood’s Festival of Speed weekend. It still had the Union Jack roof decals and misleading headlight and tail-light stickers.

We do know this is a 155mph 300+mile range 800-volt car with twin motors delivering over 600ps/hp, with the ability to reach 0-62mph (100kph) in well under 3.5 seconds and charge at over 250kW. 0-124mph (200kph) in under 10 seconds they say. Well, it can achieve a sub 8-minute lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife so it’s no slouch.

I tried to be a proper journalist and grill the engineers Bernd and Heiko, and off-camera Myk (Porsche electrified PR man) about real numbers and specs. They wouldn’t let much slip at this pre-embargo stage, so the following info is everything I’ve gleaned through reading trusted sources such as Georg Kacher in Car magazine.

Some of this might not be totally correct, but it helps form a barometer I’m happy to go with.

Needless to say a Porsche is a sports car, so the focus was always going to be trying to discover if the performance was sporty and importantly repeatable (unlike a Tesla P100D in Ludicrous mode) and how the chassis/brakes/steering felt.

In other words, is this a true sports car that happens to be electric?

There were well over 20,000 €2,500 deposits put down globally for the Taycan in March this year, so you can imagine that figure has significantly risen since. Interestingly over half of the sales have been conquest sales – so called customers who have never previously bought a Porsche before. The public launch is in September when all of these speculations will be proved accurate or laughed out of social media. Porsche apparently expects to sell 25,000 Taycans per year globally, which is 10% of their annual sales.

Taycan is the first in a line of plug-in pure EV Porsches which has a programme budget of some £5.3 billion – taking product to the end of 2022. So how much will this car I am driving today sell for, come the end of 2019?

Well, this car is the range topper and it seems to be referred to as the ‘Turbo’. With that in mind Porsche tells me Taycan will sit between their Cayenne SUV and the Panamera 4-door sports saloon. The Turbo versions of these cars are priced around £100k to £130k, so I would estimate this 600+hp Taycan will cost some £120k (€130k or $146k).

However there will be lower ranking models, some of which will probably have one motor and be RWD. Expect the 4-seat only Taycan range to begin around £65k (€70k  $79k) with 325hp (est). 
The J1 chassis platform of this car will be shared by the Audi E-Tron GT fast 4-door, albeit with different (asynchronous) motors. Remember, this PPE (Premium Platform Electric) was always designed as fresh ground-up EV.

The Model S Tesla no doubt played a part as benchmark in the Taycan’s early development. Although the P100D in Ludicrous Plus mode is faster zero to 62, the Taycan has repeatable launch control on its side. No “Are you sure you want to push the limits? This will cause accelerated wear of the motor, gearbox and batteries”. Bernd Propfe, director of Taycan product line, says I can do ten full throttle 0-62 and four 0-124mph sprints without any decrease in performance. I ended up doing more. No warnings, no problems.

There are around 200 Taycan prototypes being tested from -35 to +45 degrees centigrade around the world, covering collectively over 1 million kilometres.

Charging and Range

Nothing official mentioned, but the Taycan’s range will be between 300 and 320 miles in normal cruising modes with what we think is a 96kWh battery. ‘Range’ mode on the driving selector adds 10% by paring back air con and sensitivity of controls below 85mph.

Being 800 volts is a huge development for Porsche, because this allows some seriously rapid charging abilities. It will be the first production EV to charge theoretically up to 350kw. Porsche owns a stake in Ionity, so expect to see more of these charge points in the near future.

In the meantime if you can find a 150kW rapid charger then the Taycan will top up from 0-80% in 40 mins. At 350kW? 0-80% in some 15 mins! A 3-pin plug charge would take 30 hours.

It has been alleged that Porsche are already developing the car to take solid state batteries in order to drop that 2-tonne kerb weight down and bring the energy density levels even higher.

Boot

Main boot is shallower than a Panamera (and isn’t a hatchback – rather a coupe boot lid) and is about 400-litres, but has some interesting side cubby pockets and lift-up floor for fussy charge cables. There is a front boot (froot) which carries almost 100 litres and is shaped to swallow suitcase(s), like its 911 grandpa.

Interior

The cabin is a tasteful blend of familiarity and gradual evolution of tech screen. The steering wheel (with 10 control elements on) is borrowed from the current 992 911, with the addition of a regen button. The boomerang floating frameless dash binnacle is pure digital and displays 5 dials, like the classic 911s did. The push power button is also to the left of the steering wheel, paying homage to the old 911 brethren. There is reportedly an autopilot function which will have been borrowed from Audi’s A8 flagship model.

The driving position feels very 911, and the centre console has a clean haptic screen for the climate controls and battery status. To each side of the 5-dial binnacle you can touch logos for the suspension, sport modes and that kind of thing. The screen in the centre of the dash is for navigation and infotainment. As we said, the Taycan is exclusively a 4-seater car, and the rear passenger footwells have been designed to be deep for comfort. They work around the battery enclosure, which sits between the wheels in a carbon fibre cage.

The test car had stitched leather but there will be a non-animal skin option.

Batteries

Porsche won’t confirm, but their battery partner is LG. There are reported to be 408 li-ion pouch cells in 34 modules in this version of the Taycan making up a pack of about 96kWh that weighs approximately 650kg. Mounting this low helps the Taycan to achieve a lower centre of gravity than a 911. The pack is liquid cooled using a pair of radiators either side of the front bumper, fed by air through channels underneath the front number plate.

Motors

In this pre-production car I believe the front motor to be 215hp and 221lbft, with the rear motor delivering 402bhp and 406lbft of torque. So 649 lbft peak torque, sometime more for ‘overboost’ according to some reports. It is rumoured the motors have been specially developed with an Italian company to feature rectangular thick ‘hairpin’ style windings rather than thin round wire windings, similar to that in the 919 Hybrid Le Man car. This enables Porsche to package copper wires within the solenoid coil more tightly to make the motors smaller and more resilient to hard current/heat punishment. In other words be able to perform full throttle launch control multiple times without damaging components and throwing a Christmas tree of warning lights across that beautiful dash fascia.

Gearbox

The motor design allows hard repeated use, but there is alleged to be a 2-speed gearbox which can block first gear to prevent damage during hard launches, working alongside an electronic differential lock. Sustained high speeds (something Porsche are known for being excellent at – cue Autobahn commuting clichés) are also achieved with this gearbox, as the motors rev to 16,5000 rpm. Being a Porsche means the power delivery is rear biased, using torque vectoring on both axles to regulate the power delivered to each wheel. Some inside information suggests the pulse inverter that masterminds the power vectoring acts five times faster than conventional 4wd systems. There is no stability managed by brake actuation – the Taycan’s ECU controls everything by wheel selected torque feed.

Suspension

The ride is adjustable air-bag suspension, with rumours of rear steer on some models. There is a 48-volt active anti-roll bar system. Sport Plus lowers and stiffens the suspension to maximise cornering and also downforce. There’s also active aero in the adjustable rear spoiler and front bumper air dams.

Brakes

This being the flagship ‘Turbo’ spec car it has the optional carbon ceramic brakes and 21-inch wheels (20-inch will be standard). Most Taycans will come with PSCB coated steel brakes to reduce dust creation. Porsche are confident they have cracked the brake feel and efficiency with software that progressively merges e-motor regen as hydraulic friction braking kicks in. In normal driving 90% of the braking will be done by regen, but yet there is no mention of one-pedal driving. Brakes to me feel totally relatable to normal piston Porsche cars, which is high praise indeed.

Summary

I have only driven the car around tight slower corners on flat ground, but from the launch control runs I can tell this is unmistakably a Porsche. It is packaged to rival the forthcoming Merc EQS and Audi E-Tron GT, and show hot Tesla drivers that high performance is way more than a one shot deal.

The Taycan appears to be an incredible package that is priced to tempt existing or would-be Tesla owners into a legacy manufacturer who is clearly taking EVs very seriously. The Taycan isn’t the start – that was the 919, the 918 and their Formula-E team – but within 18 months I believe it will help to change perceptions of what an EV is and how it can fit into the world of hardcore car enthusiasts, as well as hyper milers.

I want to thank Porsche for offering myself and Fully Charged this special exclusive drive. There is a lot of arrogance in the car media world, and a few noses may have been put out of joint with this video, but Porsche are a progressive company, and I like to think that this channel that Robert Llewellyn has created is exactly that. We are small, but we are powerful. I went away from Stuttgart trying to work out if I could afford a base model single motor RWD Taycan by the time such a car comes to market. All that’s left to say is this:

“I can tell you I don’t have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for certain other journalists. If you let me keep the Taycan that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you, but if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you.”. … Only joking.

Link:  https://fullycharged.show/blog/porsche-taycan-a-genuine-fully-charged-exclusive/

Video Link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP9kokeyxGU

Actually very handy piece and video . I am starting to really like it.

Johnny Smith did 26 0-200km/hr launches in a row, 30 total, the spread between fastest to slowest time is only 0.8 seconds.

Our resident Tesla owners, care to try doing 26 0-200km/hr runs and report back the time spread?

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a28662827/2020-porsche-taycan-prototype-ride/

We Got a Tire-Squealing Ride in a 2020 Porsche Taycan. Here's What We Learned

Porsche's electric sports sedan is almost here and feels ready to impress.

By DAVE VANDERWERP

AUG 11, 2019

Porsche's high-performance electric sedan, the 2020 Taycan, is almost here. Just ahead of its formal debut on September 4th, we got a chance to ride along in a prototype with Porsche's product line director for EVs, Robert Meier. 

Although the company is still holding back a lot of details on what is arguably the first direct Tesla competitor, we rode in a top-of-the line performance variant with the larger of two battery-pack options, carbon-ceramic brake rotors, active anti-roll bars, air springs, rear-wheel steering, and a 21-inch wheel-and-tire package. Porsche doesn't yet want to talk about its trim level strategy, but molded into the door sills of this one, under a piece of black tape, read Taycan 4S. So it appears the naming won't break with Porsche traditions, which would make the top trim likely to be called Turbo or Turbo S. 

Here's what we learned:

It Performs like a Porsche Yet Rides Comfortably

Porsche's goal, according to Meier, was to create the "world's first electric sports sedan," an obvious swipe at Tesla, currently the largest purveyor of EVs, and no doubt the Taycan's number one competitor. To that end, Meier says the Taycan has the lowest center of gravity in the current Porsche lineup, even lower than the 911 GT3, and nearly two inches lower than the just-launching 992-generation 911.

Squealing its Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 tires (there also will be a Michelin option) up Glendora Mountain Road outside of Los Angeles, the trip computer showed 1.3 g's to both the left and right. Although these types of readouts are routinely optimistic and an absolute peak measurement not an average like our skidpad test, Meier said it will have comparable lateral-grip capability to the 911, which, in our testing, hangs on to the skidpad for 1.05 g. 

But, anything with the right tires will be grippy. Even better, the Taycan feels like a sports sedan, hunkered down, with one-and-done damping and sorted body control. And yet, it's remarkably light on its 21-inch tires, with an uncanny delicacy to its ride for what is sure to be a very heavy car. 

The goal was to achieve a Nürburgring time of less than eight minutes, on par with the 996-generation GT3, which Meier says they've accomplished (he said they'll eventually divulge the exact time). 

Unlike Other EVs, Acceleration Will Remain Extremely Consistent

Porsche will at this point only specify a vague, 600-plus-hp claim, but it recently updated its zero-to-60-mph acceleration figure from "under 3.5 seconds" to "under 3.0 seconds," which is frankly where it needs to be to compete in Tesla-land.

More surprising are Meier's claims about the consistency of the Taycan's performance, as the acceleration times of EVs, including every Tesla we've tested, tend to fall off dramatically after just a pair of runs. The Taycan supposedly will be able to do 10 launch-control starts in a row with no degradation in performance, and Meier says even when the battery is discharged past 50 percent the performance will be very consistent, with measurable but not perceptible slow-down. This is something we're anxious to test for ourselves at the first opportunity.

Helping to achieve this are the permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors, which were chosen because they enable more repeatable performance, along with being more efficient at high rotating speeds as well as being lighter and more compact, according to Meier. Extremely fastidious control of the heat in the battery pack and electric motors is also critical.

The company is not yet ready to articulate the hows and whys behind its two-speed gearbox on the rear axle—the first multi-speed gearbox on a production EV—that should provide a sizeable benefit to both performance and efficiency. You may recall that Tesla initially slated the Roadster to have a limited use two-speed gearbox that couldn't be shifted on the fly. We even tested one of those early builds, but in the end Tesla couldn't make it work and swapped the two-speed for a direct drive. 

There Will Also Be Eco-Focused Models

In addition to performance variants like the one we rode in, there will be Taycans with eco-tire options, including a wheel design that's largely closed off, which improves aerodynamic efficiency by a significant margin according to Meier, although he wouldn't quantify it.

Overall, Porsche did an extreme amount of efficiency optimization on the Taycan, as EVs, even with today's largest battery packs, have a relatively small amount of energy on board relative to what a gas tank holds, so developing EVs is an exercise in energy conservation. The Taycan has flaps in front of the radiators on each side of its nose, which, when closed, block off brake-cooling ducts to improve aerodynamics. That's another Porsche first. The Taycan can also regenerate energy while slowing at any rate, up to and including ABS stops, where the braking system first maxes out the regen capability and then adds additional friction braking on top of the regen. 

It's a Four-Seater Sedan for a Reason, and Not Simply an Electrified Panamera

Meier says the sedan configuration was chosen because the Taycan needs to sell in high enough volumes to meet worldwide regulatory requirements that a sports-car could never achieve. But Porsche was determined not to lead with a SUV because it wanted its first EV to be as dynamic as possible.

However, it's not simply an electrified Panamera. The Taycan is a size-class smaller, with aggressively sloped hood- and rooflines. In fact, sitting in the passenger seat, the hood appeared to plunge faster than that of the new mid-engine Corvette we sat in recently. And the Taycan has a trunk versus the Panamera's hatchback because the space required to package the hinges on a hatch would've either negatively impacted rear visibility or raised the roofline.

Rear-seat legroom in the Taycan is quite generous, although the top of this six-foot-five evaluator's head was just brushing the optional glass roof in the car we rode in; Meier says that the rear-seat headroom is about an inch less than the Panamera's. Part of its rear-seat spaciousness was enabled by strategically removing two of the battery pack's 33 individual modules from the area where rear passengers' feet reside, dropping the floor there more than three inches. As passengers slide their feet further under the front seats, though, they'll notice a steep ramp back up to the floor height found in the rest of the cabin.

We Predict That the Taycan's Range Rating in the U.S. Will Be Closer to 200 Miles Than 300

Although Porsche has claimed a 500-kilometer range (311 miles), that's using the European NEDC cycle, which is far less taxing than the EPA's. On our ridealong, we saw a predicted 234 miles starting with a full charge, which seemed accurate for our southern California drive loop that ranged from 70-mph highway cruising to storming up a twisty mountain road. And that, combined with reading between the lines of Meier's comments about wanting to "be conservative" with the range figure and to make it "achievable" has us expecting a United States rating closer to 200 than 300 miles. Again, we'll be testing this for ourselves as soon as we can, because the two-speed gearbox may enable better highway range than is the EV norm.

There's No One-Pedal Driving

Many EVs provide enough deceleration when lifting off of the throttle to bring the vehicle to a complete stop and enable true one-pedal operation. Not the Taycan. Citing the fact that the most efficient thing to do is coast, and clearly not trusting the pedal control of its buyers, Meier said they decided to not offer much regen capability and instead wait to do the majority of regen when the driver pushes the brake pedal. There are two settings, though. The default is none, but a slight amount can be enabled, if desired.

Why There Are Two Charge Ports

In a word, convenience. It's to allow Taycan buyers with tight parking confines to choose which side is easier to access. Behind the passenger-side flap is a SAE-standard CCS plug configuration, today's go-to setup to accommodate AC and high-voltage DC charging. (There also will be CHAdeMO hardware for the Japanese market.) On the driver's side is a second, AC-only port. What if someone tries to plug into both ports? It can't happen; if one port door is open, the other locks. 

Charging should prove to be one of the Taycan's strong suits, as it's the only EV with an 800-volt operating force, which reduces the current required to charge quickly and also saved 66 pounds of wiring in the Taycan, according to Meier. Porsche claims that the Taycan will have the ability to add 62 miles of range in just four minutes when using a 350-kW fast charger, and the company has committed to installing 500 of them in the U.S. through Electrify America, the dieselgate makegood program.

There's No Fake Sound

The sound that's there is a low whine from the electric motors under acceleration and during regeneration. In Sport Plus mode, it morphs into a much lower-frequency, more spaceship-like noise but, this, too, we're told was created using recordings of the Taycan's electric motors on a test bench. During steady-state cruising the motors are silent, and Porsche has successfully silenced any high-frequency noise from the power electronics.

Going from ancient tech 400V to 800V saves 66 pounds of electric wiring, beauty of higher voltage, thinner gauge, lighter wiring. My Audi e-Tron is still on ancient 400V, but the next Audi e-Tron GT sedan will bee based on the Porsche platform and will go 800V.

Just as I was complaining about the electric whine in the Audi ad pretty much all electric cars, Porsche dropped the bombshell that they can silent that annoying whine.

Come September, the top end of the EV market will vanished from Tesla's grip, they will be squeezed down to the middle of the EV market and also getting squeezed on the low end by the likes of Nissan Leaf, VW e-Golf, etc. 

Some Tesla fanboy will probably chime in with Tesla doing quicker 0-60 or whatever, but just like Roll Royce buyers won't care for the fact that a Mercedes S63 do quicker 0-60.

Or maybe they will mention the longer range one gets from a Tesla, which will be a moot point for most buyers. A EV car is a city appliance, as most Tesla owners will say, they charge it at home every night, or charge it at the office when they get there from home, so what's the point for a longer range when one doesn't even need it? 

And talking about range, I came back from my track today in my GT2RS, normal easy drive, I averaged 10.6L/100km for the 430km drive. I got a 90L tank, that gives me over 800km of range on one tank of fuel. And the car has 700HP, can pull over 1.5g lateral, can any Tesla match that? 

did a quick check on the state of the CCS fast charging network over here (south of Germany) and the >300kW chargers seem to be more dense than the Tesla SUCs already. The following map shows >150kW CCS chargers (via  https://www.goingelectric.de). Quite impressive if you ask me

Whoopsy:

Johnny Smith did 26 0-200km/hr launches in a row, 30 total, the spread between fastest to slowest time is only 0.8 seconds.

Our resident Tesla owners, care to try doing 26 0-200km/hr runs and report back the time spread?

I hear crickets on the background from the silence 

⇒ Carlos - Porsche 991 Carrera GTS

I hear the popping sound of lithium ion cells exploding during the first major Model 3 crash and fire recorded: https://electrek.co/2019/08/12/tesla-autopilot-brakes-model-3-crash-explosions/.  Thought Tesla helped to solve this issue with the Model 3, guess one was wrong.  This also explains why the Audi e-tron battery pack is so heavy.  

It's the chemistry of the batteries.

Tesla uses a more volatile mix, gives them better transient response of currents in and out and slightly higher energy density. That later part they don't have a choice, as they uses universal pre made cylinder cells to make up a pack, others use punch style cells which are more space efficient but is model specific. . The downside is higher self sustained combustion chance. They are the only one using that, and they deems the fire risk acceptable. 

Whoopsy:

Going from ancient tech 400V to 800V saves 66 pounds of electric wiring, beauty of higher voltage, thinner gauge, lighter wiring. My Audi e-Tron is still on ancient 400V, but the next Audi e-Tron GT sedan will bee based on the Porsche platform and will go 800V.

Why would 400V be considered ancient? So VW base all their coming ID products on ancient 400v tech that they will sell over the next decade? One big benefit is that it is less expensive and we have yet to see if it is a smart move to go all-in on 800v. It will take time before that tech trickle down to less expensive cars. Same with having 2-gears. The price is very high yet the benefits are of limited value in most scenarios. In an expensive car like the Taycan they can get around it because the car is expensive. This should of course also result in great performance figures and give the customer something desirable for the high price tag.

Just as I was complaining about the electric whine in the Audi ad pretty much all electric cars, Porsche dropped the bombshell that they can silent that annoying whine.

Come September, the top end of the EV market will vanished from Tesla's grip, they will be squeezed down to the middle of the EV market and also getting squeezed on the low end by the likes of Nissan Leaf, VW e-Golf, etc. 

It's like you would render a 911 pointless just because McLaren introduce a faster car with more carbon fiber and F1 tech? There are room for both and Taycan is the size of the Model 3 for 50% higher price than a Model S. Totally different products with a different clientel of buyers even if there of course are customers interested in both.

Actually, come September not much will change at all, just like the demand for Audi Q7 didn't went down when the Urus was announced. If anything, Tesla will probably gain demand as a result of the Germans pushing EV as something great which will make more people curious. When they realize that the Taycan is too expensive they might test drive a  Model 3 Performance instead and realize that it's quite good for a fraction of the price.

Some Tesla fanboy will probably chime in with Tesla doing quicker 0-60 or whatever, but just like Roll Royce buyers won't care for the fact that a Mercedes S63 do quicker 0-60.

The Porsche customer is not the same as the Tesla customer if we speak in general terms. Just like you just wrote that it doesn't matter if the RR is worse to 60mph than S63... different needs and each product have its own set of USPs. Yet it is no surprise if the main part of the members in here would go for the Taycan being brand loyal and love Porsche for all their USPs, prefer the design, etc...

Or maybe they will mention the longer range one gets from a Tesla, which will be a moot point for most buyers. A EV car is a city appliance, as most Tesla owners will say, they charge it at home every night, or charge it at the office when they get there from home, so what's the point for a longer range when one doesn't even need it? 

Why do you keep on guessing what those who like Tesla would say or not say in different situations? And also saying that range is moot point, yet a few lines below you brag about range with your GT2RS? Of course "enough" range is important for an EV that replace a petrol or diesel car for all purposes. What is considered to be "enough" is of course individual depending on how the car is used and where one live.

And talking about range, I came back from my track today in my GT2RS, normal easy drive, I averaged 10.6L/100km for the 430km drive. I got a 90L tank, that gives me over 800km of range on one tank of fuel. And the car has 700HP, can pull over 1.5g lateral, can any Tesla match that? 

And who have ever said that a Tesla should match a GT2RS? And even if you want to compare fuel consumption, the same comparison can be made with the Taycan 

lukestern:

Whoopsy:

Going from ancient tech 400V to 800V saves 66 pounds of electric wiring, beauty of higher voltage, thinner gauge, lighter wiring. My Audi e-Tron is still on ancient 400V, but the next Audi e-Tron GT sedan will bee based on the Porsche platform and will go 800V.

Why would 400V be considered ancient? So VW base all their coming ID products on ancient 400v tech that they will sell over the next decade? One big benefit is that it is less expensive and we have yet to see if it is a smart move to go all-in on 800v. It will take time before that tech trickle down to less expensive cars. Same with having 2-gears. The price is very high yet the benefits are of limited value in most scenarios. In an expensive car like the Taycan they can get around it because the car is expensive. This should of course also result in great performance figures and give the customer something desirable for the high price tag.

400V system is 'current', 800V is next generation. In ICE terms, 400V system is carburetors, 800V is fuel injection. 800V system means less current is going through the wires, that means thinner and lighter wires for the same power. Less material used means cheaper cost too. The tech is the same, but the cars just needed to be wired and built for 800V. 800V system is also backward compatible with 400V, which means a 800V car can be charged using 400V, but the reverse cannot happen.

Just as I was complaining about the electric whine in the Audi ad pretty much all electric cars, Porsche dropped the bombshell that they can silent that annoying whine.

Come September, the top end of the EV market will vanished from Tesla's grip, they will be squeezed down to the middle of the EV market and also getting squeezed on the low end by the likes of Nissan Leaf, VW e-Golf, etc. 

It's like you would render a 911 pointless just because McLaren introduce a faster car with more carbon fiber and F1 tech? There are room for both and Taycan is the size of the Model 3 for 50% higher price than a Model S. Totally different products with a different clientel of buyers even if there of course are customers interested in both.

Actually, come September not much will change at all, just like the demand for Audi Q7 didn't went down when the Urus was announced. If anything, Tesla will probably gain demand as a result of the Germans pushing EV as something great which will make more people curious. When they realize that the Taycan is too expensive they might test drive a  Model 3 Performance instead and realize that it's quite good for a fraction of the price.

Before the Audi e-Tron and the Porsche Taycan, there is no premium luxury top end EV, A Tesla Model S/X is already considered the very top of the range and is 'premium' EV. People that's well off don't have a choice. Imagine there is no Ferrari, Rolls Royce, Mercedes, etc in the car market, and people that wants a top of range product can only get a say Lincoln, that's the EV market before. Now they don't have to settle for a Lincoln, i.e. Tesla Model S/X, they can go for a Porsche, Mercedes, Audi. 

Comparing a Model 3 with the same sized Taycan is like comparing a Toyota Corolla vs a Mercedes C-Class. The Mercedes cost more simply because it is more premium and is a better car, same deal with the Taycan vs Model 3.

The Audi e-Tron is pretty much a direct competitor vs a Tesla Model X, an electric people mover (my insurance company classified the e-Tron as a wagon). But the Audi has better interior material and finishing yet cost almost 50% less, the incoming Mercedes EQC should be priced about the same as the Audi, so this is basically the price war for the Model X segment. Why would someone pay more for less and with a less premium brand name?

The Taycan will be the sole product in the luxury EV segment, taking that crown away from Model S/X. The Teslas will move down one segment to the premium segment and compete against the Mercedes EQC and Audi e-Tron and Jaguar iPace. 

Some Tesla fanboy will probably chime in with Tesla doing quicker 0-60 or whatever, but just like Roll Royce buyers won't care for the fact that a Mercedes S63 do quicker 0-60.

The Porsche customer is not the same as the Tesla customer if we speak in general terms. Just like you just wrote that it doesn't matter if the RR is worse to 60mph than S63... different needs and each product have its own set of USPs. Yet it is no surprise if the main part of the members in here would go for the Taycan being brand loyal and love Porsche for all their USPs, prefer the design, etc...

They were the same. It's the people that buys the top end luxury product in the segment. Before there was no choices, it's only Tesla or nothing. But with the Germans coming in with their EVs, the top of the segment will not be Tesla's. Same deal will happen if Rolls decided to come out with a EV. Then they will be top and everyone move down a step or 2. it's already happened in the luxury SUV segment. My 918 buddies a lot of them bought a Rolls Royce Cullinan. And before that, a Bentley Bentayga. They don't even go for the Cayenne Turbo S anymore, or the Urus for that matters. 

Or maybe they will mention the longer range one gets from a Tesla, which will be a moot point for most buyers. A EV car is a city appliance, as most Tesla owners will say, they charge it at home every night, or charge it at the office when they get there from home, so what's the point for a longer range when one doesn't even need it? 

Why do you keep on guessing what those who like Tesla would say or not say in different situations? And also saying that range is moot point, yet a few lines below you brag about range with your GT2RS? Of course "enough" range is important for an EV that replace a petrol or diesel car for all purposes. What is considered to be "enough" is of course individual depending on how the car is used and where one live.

For people buying luxury EV, or even premium EV, it will not be their only car, it is not a 'replacement' car, it would be like the 3rd, 4th or 5th car. Extra range really isn't important, Tesla's has better range than other EVs but that will be a moot point for that top end segment. It could however be for the low end of the segment where people replaced their only car with a EV. And the Model 3 has a great advantage there, it goes farther than the Nissan Leaf, Tesla just need to drop the price a bit more to better compete against the Leaf, it already has a better interior against the Leaf. 

And talking about range, I came back from my track today in my GT2RS, normal easy drive, I averaged 10.6L/100km for the 430km drive. I got a 90L tank, that gives me over 800km of range on one tank of fuel. And the car has 700HP, can pull over 1.5g lateral, can any Tesla match that? 

And who have ever said that a Tesla should match a GT2RS? And even if you want to compare fuel consumption, the same comparison can be made with the Taycan 

Hey, it's the Tesla crowd that want to keep boasting about how fast their car is and how far it can go. I am just mentioning that my GT2RS can beat both metrics. Actually my 918 can do that too. And the Turbo S Exclusive also. 

As I said before, it's a pendulum, it swings both ways. The higher one lifts it to one side, the harder it will go the other side. 

--

Maybe this is it?

I hope they will sell loads and take the EV market to the next level 

2018 White 911 GT3

Topspeed:

Maybe this is it?

 

Very close.

RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Lamborghini Huracan Performante (2019), Mercedes E63 S AMG Edition 1 (2018), Mercedes C63 S AMG Cab (2019), Range Rover Evoque Si4 Black Edition (2019)

That's a pretty amazing feat, the ultimate stress test, repeated high drain and high charge over 24hrs.

And peak ambient temperature was 42 degrees.

The speed is between 195-215km/hr, say 205km/hr on average. That's almost 17hrs of driving. 

Using the charge curve of my e-Tron as a baseline, the charging will be most efficient and quick from 'empty' to around 75%-80% as it is at pretty much peak charging speed, so I do not think Porsche recharged the battery to full during each 'pit stop', probably stop at 75%-80% And I believe they come back to charge around 10%. 

Porsche hasn't release any details on how long each charging stop is, but I think I will take an educated guess. Say an hour stop each, that makes up the 7 hrs of charging time, they start off with a full charge, so that makes it 8 segments. An hour recharge every 2 hours of driving. So ~410km per stint. The first stint last longer simply because it has 100% charge and the last stint they can really drain the battery all the way down to get some extra distance.

Perhaps about 65kw for ~400km, sounds about right at such high speed. 

Regardless, it showcase Porsche's next generation 800V system. It can sustain repeated high drain scenarios and also the much quicker recharge ability.

Tesla's 400V system has no hope of even coming close to this distance record. 

Charging stations installed at Nardo. 

Cable looks pretty thin, so not the liquid cooled ones like Tesla's Supercharger V3. Those 250kw Tesla chargers needed to pump 625A. A equivalent 800V stations only needs to pump half of that. Don't think these are even 250kw chargers. My guess is that they are 150kw, less than 200A current.