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We love the Porsche Taycan, and we also have a big soft spot for performance estate cars, so the fabulously named Taycan Sport Turismo is right up our street.
It will come as no surprise that the Taycan leans more towards ‘performance’ than ‘estate’. The raw numbers of 446 litres of boot space with the seats up and 1,212 litres with the seats lowered confirm that ultimate load lugging wasn’t top of the development list, but whilst the increase in boot space is small the addition of a tailgate does boost practicality. And of course you also get the 81 litre front boot which is a useful feature.
A quick look at the spec sheet confirms that Porsche has taken its first EV very seriously. The basics are either rear or four wheel drive options, a 97 kWh (usable) battery pack and a very powerful regenerative braking system which in four wheel drive specs can harvest 265 kW of power and can meet up to 90% of braking demand.
However that is just the start. The Taycan was the first production EV to use an 800v electrical system rather than the normal 400v. This has several benefits including smaller cables that take up less space and are lighter, the ability to sustain consistent high performance output, and the ability to accept very high charging rates with a peak of 320 kW. This means a 10% to 80% charge in as little as 18 minutes whilst adding 282 miles of range. Of course you can still use 50 kW Rapid chargers so there is no downside to the Ultra Rapid capability.
For Fast AC charging the Porsche has an 11 kW on board charger which means it will take a little over 11 hours to fully charge from a 22 kW chargepoint or from a 7 kW chargepoint, such as a home charger, it takes around 14 hours. You can specify an optional 22 kW on board charger which reduces the charge time at 22 kW chargepoints to 6 hours, but it is a costly option. There are two charging ports on the front wings, allowing AC charging on either side and DC Rapid charging on the drivers side. The additional AC port is a nice touch as Fast chargepoints can sometimes be more difficult to access, so being able to position the car on either side helps.
The Taycan is hugely fast, but not the fastest EV on the market. Instead Porsche has concentrated on repeatable performance and claims that 10 back to back launch control starts can be performed with no loss of performance. To do that, Porsche has focused on controlling battery temperature as tightly as possible which also helps to deliver those super fast recharging times. The battery pack itself is made up of pouch type cells which are more space efficient and allow the pack to fit around features such as footwells for rear seat passengers which will be welcomed by anyone who travels in the back.
Of course where you really want to be is in the driver’s seat where you will be greeted by a typical Porsche driving environment. The engineers have worked hard to get the seating position low, the dashboard looks great and the myriad of electronic displays blend seamlessly rather than being the standout feature.
On the move there are four driving modes (Range, Normal, Sport, Sport+). Interestingly Porsche has decided not to use a ‘one pedal’ regenerative braking system, instead lifting off the accelerator lets the car coast and braking is only activated via the brake pedal. We really like one pedal systems but we think Porsche has got this absolutely right as performance driving still feels more natural with a two pedal set up.
The Taycan lays claim to being the first electric car that really nails performance driving and as such we love it. The fact that it is also hugely innovative, looks great inside and out, fits four adults and can accelerate from 49 – 74 mph in 2.7 seconds underlines its rounded capabilities. Any downside? Well, it isn’t cheap but at least you can see where your money has gone.
Estimated real world range: 300 – 404 miles
Official range: 404 miles
Official electricity consumption: 178 Wh/km
Battery pack: 105 kWh (gross) 97 kWh (net) lithium ion; 8 year / 100,000 mile warranty (70% SOC remaining)
Recharge time: 7 kW charge approx 14 hours; 11 kW charge approx 11 hours; Rapid CCS 50 kW 1 hour 30 mins (10 – 80%); Ultra Rapid 150 kW 33 mins (10 – 80%) 320 kW 18 mins (10 – 80%)
Please note that CO2 emissions quoted for electric cars are not directly comparable to diesel and petrol cars. This is because CO2 emissions quoted are calculated by Green Car Guide and include the emissions created at the power station turning fuel (e.g. gas etc) into electricity and in transmitting and distributing the electricity to an end user. They do not include the actual production of the fuel (e.g. gas extraction and refinery emissions). Petrol and diesel emissions are supplied by car manufacturers and are based solely on the fuel burnt in the engine (tailpipe emissions) and do not include the production of the fuel or distribution to a fuel station. In practice this means that electric car emissions are over-estimated relative to petrol and diesel. For instance if an electric car, a petrol car, and a diesel car are all reported to emit 100 g/km CO2, the electric car actually has lower emissions.
