Porsche Taycan – The Best Mission E Car

November 2, 2020

Finally, Porsche has revealed its first all-electric car. Its been four years since concepts, name changes, spy shots, teases, and leaks of information about the four-door EV are being spread around. Then, the German automaker revealed the production of the Taycan electric sports car on Wednesday during an event that took place at the same time on three continents.

In 2015, “Mission E” was revealed as a concept car. At the same time, it was announced that the Taycan would begin its production of cars as its two variants: the Taycan Turbo and the Taycan Turbo S, which will run an astounding $150,900 and $185,000, respectively. Both will be four-wheel drive machines, and both will go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in three seconds or less.

Other than these variants of the Taycan, less powerful rear-wheel-drive versions or the Cross Turismo crossover that Porsche has already presented in concept form, will follow the two Turbos. Porsche still didn’t share an EPA-estimated range for its first EV, though these higher-end versions are supposed to travel around 300 miles on a full charge.

Both initial versions of the Taycan will use a mechanism called dual-electric-motor setup to provide 616 horsepower collectively. The Taycan Turbo will provide 670 horsepower in the special get-off-the-line-quickly, also called “launch control” mode, while the Turbo S can drift at 750 horsepower in that mode. The consequence is that the Taycan Turbo can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in just three seconds flat, while the Turbo S will make that same run in only 2.6 seconds.

The two Taycan Turbo S will be powered from their 93kWh battery pack that weighs in at 1,389 pounds (630 kilograms). In all, both cars weigh just a touch over 5,100 pounds (2,314 kilograms), which is only a few hundred pounds heavier than the Tesla Model S sedan, and just a few pounds lighter than the existing version of Tesla’s Model X SUV.

Rumors said that the first Porsche Taycans will cost more than that of Tesla’s, but they will just about keep pace with the top-tier car manufacturer in Silicon Valley. It will also transcend its German counterparts’ EVs in both categories. The Taycan competes with a top speed of 161 mph, as compared to Tesla Model S and X performance 163 mph, the top speed (thanks to a recent OTA software update). Porsche is also advertising the Taycan’s ability to repeatedly launch off the line without overheating the battery pack, something that most modern EVs aren’t really made for.

One thing Porsche is believing in to move Taycans (beyond the brand name itself), is the thing Porsche has advertised the most during the four-year tease of its first EV: the fact that the car’s massive battery packs has relatively low charging time. Thanks to the 800-volt technology that Porsche is using in the Taycan, the battery packs of both variants can be reached from 5 percent to 80 percent in just under 23 minutes when connected to 270kW chargers.

These details help fill out the picture that Porsche has been painting of the Taycan, which is: it’s an EV that will offer supercar performance without forcing buyers to do sacrifices on realism. Last month, the German automaker presented the very first photos of the inside of its first EV, revealing a typical 2020 Porsche Taycan Interior, though one with a greater number of screens and more touch-sensitive panels than usual. The built-in Apple Music app in the Porsche Taycan makes it the first car that has this feature. Buyers of similar speed performance cars often have to sacrifice some comfort and some other features, but Porsche is promising deep-pocketed Taycan buyers will get a future-facing (but still premium) version of the cabin experience that the company’s luxury sports cars are famous for.