I ‘m a car enthusiast, and totally an EV fan, and in the last 2 years I saw on the road, or even drive, nearly every production EV on the market.
Talking about EVs, none look as good as the Taycan, it’s a gorgeous car, with shapes that readily turns heads.
Visually, the Taycan is exotic as usualy: the dramatic lighting and wheels combined with the voluptuous rear end and the tumbling hood, makes Porsche’s most aerodynamic production model.
As is the fashion today, the Porsche Taycan is built around a skateboard-style battery pack built into what makes up the floor of the chassis.
However, the Taycan is distinctive for a pair of what Porsche calls “foot garages”, sections of the underfloor battery compartment left empty to make room for the rear passengers’ feet …. a good idea, but getting your feet into them takes dexterity.
Front or back, you’ll appreciate how quiet the Taycan’s interior is. Quiet conversation is easy at freeway speeds, there’s a faint noise that mostly just reminds you mechanical things are happening.
The Taycan Turbo, with 500 kW/680 PS and a maximum speed of 260 km/h, rely on a pair of motors, one at the front and one at the rear, and a 93-kilowatt-hour battery. However, Porsche augments this with a two-speed transmission at the rear, the car noticeably upshifting under acceleration, usually somewhere around 50 mph. This shift, Porsche’s engineers say, allows short gearing to accelerate hard off the line, while also providing greater torque on the highway, an area where many EVs struggle.
How much acceleration? It takes 3 seconds for the Taycan Turbo to get from 0 to 60 mph, and it puts down 670 hp in that condition.
For me, The Porsche Taycan Redefines EV speed and acceleration. The Taycan is a handsome sedan that also happens to be electric and ridiculously quick in a straight line. If you’re more of a stoplight-to-stoplight kinda person, it has all the addicting insta-torque thrust that defines modern performance EVs. However, even after the initial launch, Taycan still possesses the power and pressure of a rocket on mid-range acceleration .
On the highway the Taycan runs lovely, the car handled the few bits of road imperfections without complaint. And, more interesting on the highway, is that the Taycan Turbo proved remarkably voracious at any speed.
If most EVs accelerate quickly in town, but get up to highway speed and suddenly they don’t feel so lively,that’s not the case with Taycan, that keeps going with full power, thanks to the two-speed transmission.
High-tech minimalism rules the interior and every hard key is effectively replaced by “touch response” screen controls with haptic fingertip feedback. The primary display sits front and center in the dashboard, presenting a widescreen interface that’s more comprehensive but similar to the one we’ve seen on the Panamera. The novelty is found below, here lies another touchscreen, this one split in two halves. The top portion is dedicated to climate controls, with pop-up menus to toggle things like the heated and ventilated seats and to aim the dashboard vents.
The lower half of that screen has a few areas for frequently used controls, like volume adjustment and opening the trunk, along with a large surface that effectively works like a touchpad, allowing you to highlight different areas on the main PCM screen above.
To the right of the dashboard, lies another touchscreen, just in front of the passenger. This is an optional display, for passenger use, enabling your co-driver to find and enter destinations, control media and even view a simplified version of the car’s dashboard.
In terms of range (346 km) and charging time (which varies depending on the chargers and power you choose) the Taycan Turbo also demonstrates the features of a sport car, ready to set off all times.
The Porsche Taycan is super easy to charge at home when you install a Level 2 charger like ChargePoint Home and can charge to full range in 10-12 hours. If you only have access to a Level 1 charger or simple wall outlet, it’s simple (though slower) to charge the Taycan and can take up to a day to charge the full range. Fast chargers offer more power to give you a healthy range in a short amount of time. The Taycan stands out for its advanced fast charging capabilities. At high-speed chargers, Porsche claims that the Taycan can add 80% range in 5 minutes (most chargers offer 80% range in double the time).
Setting price aside for now (in Romania, the price starts at 158.000 Eur), the Porsche Taycan is remarkably impressive in many ways. It’s quick, it’s fun and it’s also comfortable and quiet. As always, there is room for improvement, but Porsche has built his first EV that’s as stunning to drive as it is to look at.
Living price aside for now (in Romania, the price starts at 158.000 Eur), the Porsche Taycan is remarkably impressive in many ways. It’s quick, it’s fun and it’s also comfortable and quiet. As always, there is room for improvement, but Porsche has built his first EV that’s as stunning to drive as it is to look at.
