Porsche Electric Cars

You know, I like the Porsche Taycan. I think it’s relatively sport for what it is while still featuring the family friendliness of four-doors and plenty of cargo room. Sure, it kind of looks like a deformed, partially aborted 911 with too much DNA, but that’s a conversation for another day. What I can’t get past, though, is the fact that Porsche has seriously dropped the ball when it comes to EV range. Where the Porsche Taycan Turbo is rated at 201 miles, the Taycan Turbo S garners just 194 on a full charge.

Nobody has officially confirmed that the next-generation 2023 Porsche 718 Cayman and Boxster will be electric or even hybrid, but a new report is saying that they could have 400 horsepower, a figure that will put them well ahead of the current Cayman GTS and pretty damn close to the 414-horsepower Cayman GT4.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the sort of battle that has the potential to change the EV segment forever. So far, Tesla’s viciously quick Model S has been kicking supercars and muscle cars to the curb in drag races around the world to the delight of Elon Musk’s fanbase. However, it looks like the electric sedan has met its match and then some in the squeaky-new Porsche Taycan. TopGear took the two EVs out for a spin that culminated with both a drag race and a top speed run on the Autobahn. Let’s see how that went, shall we?

Porsche returns to single-seater racing after a +30-year hiatus this year as it embarks on a new adventure in Formula E, the world’s top EV racing series. The factory-backed Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E team will field a pair of Porsche 99X Electric cars for Messrs Neel Jani and Andre Lotterer, both formerly part of the company’s LMP1 program. Expect to see this 335-horsepower red, white, and black beast battle at the sharp end of the field in the 2019-2020 season that’ll kick-off later this year.

Porsche halted its involvement in the FIA World Endurance Championship, where it raced in the top-flight LMP1 class with a pair of hybridized 1,000-horsepower prototypes, to race in Formula E. The German automaker will thus move forward in its quest towards electrification by competing in the first all-electric racing series in the world with a car powered by a 900-volt battery, just like the 2021 Taycan sedan. But you’d rather see Batman ride in this low-flying spacecraft than the Taycan and that’s why Porsche hopes to garner a new, younger, and tech-savvy crowd through its participation in the eco-friendly championship.

Porsche is officially going to have several versions of its Taycan all-electric model, one of which will be an estate or wagon model that will most likely be called Sport Turismo. The Taycan Sport Turismo is exactly the same as the sedan model, but with a bigger trunk and more practicality.

It’s actually going to be the first mass-market, purpose-designed, all-electric wagon ever, and no, the handful of coach-built Tesla Model S wagons don’t count.

The rest of the package remains unchanged, so it’s only going to be sold with an all-electric powertrain (don’t be fooled by the fake exhausts on the back of the camouflaged prototype in these photos provided by our spies) which will provide great performance, as well as a large lithium-ion battery pack for decent range.

Design-wise, expect a slightly more toned down version of the Mission-E Sport Turismo concept that debuted at the Geneva motor show this March. Porsche is apparently also going to make a higher-riding crossover-style version of this wagon, but it will be the sedan and wagon that will be the two main models.

But even if Tesla doesn’t make a production wagon variant of its Model S, that model is going to be the Taycan and Taycan estate’s main rival because it is already quite well established in its segment.

Updated 10/28/2019: The 2021 Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo was spotted testing in the wild once again with some minor changes as it moves closer to its launch for the 2021 model year. Check out the latest images in our spy shots section below!

After years of promises, teasers, and concept cars, Porsche finally unveiled the Taycan. A major turning point in the company’s history, the Taycan is the first Porsche with an all-electric drivetrain. What’s more, the Taycan is an EV of the high performance variety, so it goes against one of the most popular electric vehicles on the market, the Tesla Model S. A strong seller in the United States and a market leader in some European countries, the Model S is tough to beat. The big question is whether the Taycan has what it takes to give the Model S a run for its money and that’s exactly what we will find out in the comparison below.

The Porsche Taycan is an all-electric sports sedan based on the Mission E concept. It’s also Porsche’s first-ever production electric car, designed to go against the Tesla Model S. Previewed by the Mission E concept, the Taycan sports design features borrowed from the show car, but also includes styling features seen on the Panamera sedan and 911 sports car. Powered by a couple of electric motors, the Taycan generates in excess of 700 horsepower in its range-topping version.

While considered laughable just a decade or two ago, the idea of a high-performance electric vehicle is now widely accepted in even the most traditional of speed circles. Porsche took full advantage of this and designed a sleeker Panamera that’s notably more powerful and quicker. Granted, it’s not as spectacular as the Mission E concept, but it’s definitely an exotic appearance even when compared to full-fledged sports cars. However, does it have what it takes to compete with the Tesla Model S? Let’s find out in the detailed review below.

Updated 10/14/2019: Porsche added a new member to its Taycan lineup. The new Taycan 4S has been announced in two different battery configurations. Check the Drivetrain section for more details.

Hennessey is famous far and wide for its fully loaded tuning programs for some of the finest performance cars in the world. That’s a reputation the tuning company has earned after 30 years of delivering goods packed with jacked and juiced V-8 engines that oftentimes defy our imaginations. But just as Hennessey’s reputation for these programs is iron-clad, the tuner isn’t afraid to test the waters in other areas of the aftermarket world. Well, it’s doing just that after announcing plans to create an aftermarket program for an electric car. Mind you, this isn’t your typical electric car project, either. Hennessey isn’t creating a program for the Nissan Leaf. Instead, the tuner is setting its sights on the Porsche Taycan. As far as ambitious projects go, this one’s right up there for Hennessey, though if there’s one tuner that can pull it off, my money’s on John Hennessey and his boys. Prepare to enter a new world of EV tuning, folks. This is going to be good.

A few years ago I was working on a piece about the Porsche 911 991, and I had to count the number of available versions of it. I stopped at 25. It is a somewhat similar story with the Porsche Panamera, which is, right now, available in 18 different guises. Why am I telling you this then?

Well, the Porsche Taycan is available in only two guises for a start - the Taycan Turbo and the Taycan Turbo S - I wonder how many more versions can we expect?

Nobody was expecting the Porsche Taycan, the brand’s first mass market all-electric vehicle, to be cheap. And it isn’t, even when just talking about its base asking price. When you start piling on the options (and if you’re configuring one of these, make no mistake, you will), the price quickly soars to astronomical levels.

The problem with small craft beer companies isn’t about the quality of their products or the innovation behind it. It is about the scale. When the demand picks up, they cannot deliver - the quality goes down, and waiting time goes up. That is why not many alcohol drink representatives want to work with small scale craft beer producers. I am telling you this because we have something similar in the car world as well. When the demand picked up for the Tesla-produced cars, the company could not meet the expectations. No matter what it did. So, when a car like the Porsche Taycan comes to the market, it is a whole different story. It has Porsche and the entire Volkswagen Group behind it. These people do meet expectations, and these are all the quirks and features you need to know about the Taycan to believe it.

Porsche just unveiled the Taycan, an all-electric sports sedan aimed at the Tesla Model S. The Taycan is Porsche’s first mass-produced EV, but it’s not the first electric vehicle produced by the company. Porsche’s history with electrification goes back more than 100 years ago, long before Ferdinand Porsche established his iconic firm in Stuttgart, Germany.

The highly anticipated Porsche Taycan made its global debut ahead of the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show. Essentially a competitor for the popular Tesla Model S, the Taycan signals the beginning of a fierce battle in the high-performance electric car segment. And needless to say, the Taycan looks like it has what it takes to give the Model S a run for its money. On the other hand, Porsche’s EV isn’t as quick as the American sedan, which is a letdown for performance enthusiasts.