39LAND
Porsche’s 2020
Taycan electric has its
sights set on Tesla.
by Dave Va nderWer p
The Taycan, Porsche’s pivotal step into the high-
performance and high-price end of the EV landscape, is quick,
comfortable, and likely to be a serious Tesla contender. The Tay-
can (pronounced TIE-kahn) is at least as important to Porsche as
aUR ¼_`aTR[R_NaV\[ 0NfR[[R [\a V[ aR_Z` \S ]_\¼a Oba S\_
reshaping the arc of the company’s future vehicles.
The automaker was determined not to do an electric SUV,
and it knew a sports car wouldn’t be able to sell in high enough
numbers to satisfy global regulatory requirements. So Porsche
YN[QRQ\[NSN`aONPX`RQN[P\[¼Tb_NaV\[AURANfPN[V`cR_f
nearly the same length as a Tesla Model S and 3. 4 inches shorter
aUN[aUR=N[NZR_NObaVaUN`N`bO`aN[aVNYYfY\dR__\\½V[RaUN[
either. But Tesla certainly deserves credit for doing the very
expensive, money-losing research that’s proved there’s a market
for luxur y EVs. And sure enough, Porsche had 30,000 orders in
hand globally even before the Taycan’s public debut.
Electric-vehicle breakthroughs include a much higher
\]R_NaV[Tc\YaNTRaUNaR[NOYR`SN`aR_PUN_TV[TN`dRYYN`aUR¼_`a
multispeed EV transaxle. Both of these help facilitate uncharac-
teristically consistent acceleration performance for an EV.
Porsche is sticking with its traditional naming convention,
calling these high-power models Turbo and Turbo S even though,
obviously, neither has a turbocharger. This also means that it’s
fairly easy to imagine how the bottom end of the model line will
¼YYV[YNaR_dVaUP\ZZR[`b_NaRYfY\dR_]\dR_¼Tb_R`N[Q]_VPR`
The Turbo S’s numbers are big: 750 horsepower and 774
pound-feet of torque and a price that’ll likely start at roughly
$150,000. The slightly less expensive Turbo will have 670 horses
N[Q# #]\b[QSRRa\Sa\_^bRAURQVßR_-
ence between the two is primarily at the
front axle, where the S’s larger inverter
enables more front-motor thrust. You get
those outputs for only 2 .5 seconds at a
time; after that, both models drop to 616
horsepower, which can be maintained forThe Taycan is now the
quickest-charging EV,
able to add 62 miles in
four minutes. It’s also
the first U.S. EV with
two charge ports, one
on each front flank.