If you are a fan of 1980s science fiction cinema, you will love what Porsche has done, in order to celebrate ‘Back to the Future” day. At the same time, Porsche is celebrating the Electrify America and Europe Ionity charging networks exceeding 1.21 gigawatts. What’s the connection, you’re asking? In “Back to the Future”, the time-traveling DeLorean required the same 1.21 gigawatts in order to run “back to the future”. Now, the future is here.

To celebrate the milestone (and the movie), Porsche released a video, in which a Porsche Taycan takes on the time-traveling DeLorean. Both cars are accompanied by the epic movie soundtrack, and as the DeLorean hits 88 mph it disappears in smoke and lightning while leaving two burning lines on the blacktop. By the way, 1.21 is also the hour, in which Doc Brown successfully sent the DeLorean, with Einstein (the dog) in it, to the future, for the first time.

Porsche not only nodded to the science fiction classic, but also utilized it in order to showcase how far charging technology has come. "Not so long ago, harnessing 1.21 gigawatts meant a trip “Back to the Future”. Today, harnessing 1.21 gigawatts is a little less fraught and a lot more practical, being contained within a rapidly expanding network of chargers readily available to the Porsche Taycan", Porsche said.

Achieving and surpassing 1.21 gigawatts is an important milestone for the EV infrastructure. Back when electrically-powered vehicles were starting to become mainstream, range anxiety was a real thing. Now, with 670 Electrify America charging stations and 372 Ionic charging stations, it is a thing of the past.

With an 800-volt architecture and 270-watt charge speed, the Taycan can replenish from five to 80 percent of its batteries in just 22 minutes, which translates to "less time spent charging and more time traveling”, which is also a clever wordplay on behalf of Porsche. Both Electrify America and Europe Ionity offer Plug-and-Charge, which automatically starts charging your car as soon as you plug it in. If you are a Taycan owner, you also benefit from three years of free charging.