Porsche Taycan Highway Range 241 Miles (WLTP), City 280 Miles, Price = $151,000 & Up!
Credit to Author: Dr. Maximilian Holland| Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2019 18:09:15 +0000
Published on September 4th, 2019 | by Dr. Maximilian Holland
September 4th, 2019 by Dr. Maximilian Holland
Porsche just held the launch event for the all-electric Taycan, sharing useful new information on WLTP range (up to 241 miles on the highway) and 0–62 mph acceleration time (as low as 2.8 seconds), thanks in part to great aerodynamics. We’ll have more coverage from the event itself in the coming days, but here’s a quick piece on the key information.
Not mentioned at the launch, but since appearing quietly on Porsche’s order pages, the Taycan is priced a bit higher than some had hoped — starting from $151,000 and going up from there. The Taycan is a well engineered package overall, with a decent balance of specifications, but some potential buyers may want to wait for lower priced versions coming later.
Porsche Taycan. Image courtesy Porsche.
The price is the biggest surprise. Although not mentioned during the launch event, Porsche has just released pricing information on its websites in the USA and Germany. Prices start from $151,000 in the US (US pricing page) and from €152,136 in Germany (Germany pricing page). This will be for the lower specified “Turbo” variant, before options. We eagerly await further clarification from Porsche on the pricing for the “Turbo S,” as well as details of what’s included as standard and the price of optional extras. EV incentives in some parts of Europe and the US will knock a small fraction off these prices.
The other important new information is the WLTP range of the Taycan, which had been missing previously. Porsche revealed that the release variants will feature a 93.4 kWh (gross) battery size. Although no combined range rating was provided, for the “Turbo” variant, the WLTP highway range rating is 237 miles (381 km) and WLTP city rating is 280 miles (450 km). The more powerful “Turbo S” receives a WLTP highway rating of 241 miles (388 km) and 256 miles (412 km) WLTP city. Given the WLTP combined rating is usually weighted 52% city and 48% highway, this should give 259 miles (417 km) for the “Turbo” and 249 miles (400 km) for the “Turbo S.”
In energy efficiency terms, WLTP ratings vary between 370 and 430 Wh/mile (230-267 Wh/km) depending on variant and duty cycle.
On average, EPA ratings can often be around 15% lower than WLTP ratings, so we might expect an EPA highway rating in the ballpark of 205 miles and city 220/238 miles (Turbo S/Turbo).
The WLTP highway range amounts to up to almost 3 hours of 75 mph (120 km/h) cruising from a full charge in decent conditions, before pausing for a charge break (at around 10% battery). From there, in ideal conditions, 22.5 minutes of charging can return another 75% of battery capacity, so around 2 hours and 25 minutes of 75 mph cruising before another charge break. Even if we trim that down by 10 or 15% to compensate for WLTP’s range inflation, that’s still decent road trip practicality in those regions that have dense 270+ kW CCS charging infrastructure that supports the Taycan (much of northwest Europe already does). For shorter charges, in ideal conditions, 5 minutes of charging from near empty can return up to 62 miles (100 km) of WLTP city range (or around 52 miles of WLTP highway range).
Porsche Taycan Launch. Image courtesy Porsche.
Porsche has provided the Taycan with great aerodynamics, with 0.22 Cd when in range mode (with suspension lowered and closed air intake flaps). The vehicle weight is 2,305 kg (5082 lb) for the Turbo and 2,295 kg (5060 lb) for the Turbo S. The Turbo S has ceramic brakes as standard, which may account for its lower weight. The battery weight is of course very low in the vehicle, giving both variants a lower center of gravity than the Porsche 911, helping to mask the considerable mass.
Top speed is 162 mph (260 km/h) on both variants. Acceleration is very strong, with 0–62 mph arriving in 2.8 seconds for the Turbo S, and 3.2 seconds for the Turbo. As Porsche has previously highlighted, 0–124 mph acceleration is also very strong (and highly repeatable), taking 9.8 seconds on the Turbo S, and 10.6 seconds on the Turbo. The Porsche Taycan thus joins the Tesla Performance models in demonstrating that EV powertrains blow away their combustion engine peers in the acceleration stakes.
Porsche Taycan. Image courtesy Porsche.
Bear in mind that although the prices of the launch variants, the Turbo and Turbo S, are on the high side, Porsche has previously indicated that lower priced variants will appear at some point in the future, albeit with somewhat lower specifications.
What do you think of the new Taycan? Can you afford to jump in one? Please join in the comments below to share your thoughts.
If you want more detailed technical data, you can visit Porsche’s news page (see lower right of that page for PDF spec sheets). You can watch the 40 minute launch event here:
Dr. Maximilian Holland Max is an anthropologist, social theorist and international political economist, trying to ask questions and encourage critical thinking about social and environmental justice, sustainability and the human condition. He has lived and worked in Europe and Asia, and is currently based in Barcelona. Follow Max on twitter @Dr_Maximilian and at MaximilianHolland.com, or contact him via LinkedIn.