The Taycan can’t match a Tesla Model S
for range, but this highly visible display
at least keeps drivers informed on
exactly how much juice they have left.Plus, which starts at $114,430 and has
the bigger 93.4-kW-hr battery, a $6,580
option. The base model will follow in June
with the 79.2-kW-hr Performance Battery.
The early builds also have a standard
panoramic roof.
Range was expected to be about 270
miles with the Performance Battery Plus,
and Porsche was expecting the actual EPA
ratings to be much smaller than what the
car gets in real life. Although EPA ratings
are still not in for the 4S, the Taycan
Turbo’s were even lower than expected,
at 201 miles. In short, the Taycan’s range
is substantially less than that of the aging
but still dominant Model S.
The Model S dates back to 2012, about
the same time five Finnish men were
sitting in a sauna, drinking American rye
whiskey, and ruminating on why no one
had made rye whiskey in Finland—where
rye bread is the national food and rye is
the No. 1 crop. With zero experience, they
founded the Kyrö distillery and tried to
figure out how to make whiskey.
To make money during the years
whiskey needs to age, another sauna
summit yielded the idea of making
Finland’s first gin in the interim. Napue
gin is made of rye, cranberries, and other
botanicals that make it smell and taste
like a spruce grove or birch-lined forest.
It hit the market in 2014, as the Model S
was becoming the top-selling electric car
in many countries. Both were on upward
trajectories with no real competition.
But no one goes unopposed for long.
Arctic Blue is a Finnish winery estab-
lished in 1989 by a trio of Finns who
were skilled berry growers and expanded
into wine and then sparkling wine. They
introduced their first gin 2017. It incorpo-
rates the bilberry, a wild arctic blueberry.
Suddenly, Napue had a viable competitor.
Porsche’s history is synonymous with
gorgeous driver’s cars, but always with a
conventional combustion engine. Going
electric takes Porsche onto a whole new
track. Like Arctic Blue, which is new to
gin but not the spirits industry, Porsche
is taking its institutional knowledge and
capability and taking a leap with a new
architecture designed exclusively for EVs;
the family will expand with the Cross
Turismo crossover launching next year.
It was crucial that the Taycan be worthy
of the brand in terms of both looks and
performance. We think the designers
nailed it with lines reminiscent of the
911 in this true four-seater. Inside is an
impressive array of screens and a mix of
luxury and sportiness.
One area where EVs have fallen short:
adverse winter conditions. My task was
to see if the Taycan fulfills its implied
promise, the ability to flick the back end
and drift. Hence, a day in Lapland, a frozen
swamp lined with snowbanks, and a
Taycan charged and ready to go.
The day started with a 90-mile dash
from our hotel overlooking Finland’s
largest ski hill in Kittilä to the Porsche
Performance Center. Most of the drive
was in the dark. At this time of year in the
land of the midnight sun, the sun rises
at 11:05 a.m. and retires again two hours
later. The light was dim, but the world was
white, the roads, snowbanks, trees, and
sky all sharing the same pale palette.
The car handled the rough road with
aplomb. Ice and packed snow had created
a foundation, akin to a rumble strip, with
layers of softer snow on top. It was the
perfect surface to test the three-chamber
air suspension. Slick surfaces elicited the
occasional full-body shimmy, but overall,
the stability inspired confidence. It was
easy to speed down roads with precious
few tire tracks for guidance. The pitfalls of
such conditions are real, as evidenced by
a couple other vehicles (no Taycans) that
slid off the road.FEATURE