The very same Taycan we saw about a month ago at the Goodwood Festival of Speed made the trip to Germany at the former Canadian Forces Base Lahr. Porsche invited Fully Charged’s Jonny Smith to hop behind the wheel of the still-camouflaged pre-production prototype of the company’s first pure electric and experience its repeatable performance.
Officially Revealed:
Indeed, “repeatable” is the key word here as Porsche wanted to prove the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive Taycan can withstand without breaking a sweat the stress of multiple full-throttle acceleration tests with the launch control system activated. Jonny Smith was allowed to abuse the EV by putting it through no less than 30 acceleration tests with the launch control for maximum performance.
Gallery: Porsche Taycan At 2019 Goodwood
The car in question is the range-topping model with more than 600 horsepower on tap, but multiple versions are programmed to come out within the next two years, including a base rear-wheel-drive model powered by a single motor. At the other end of the spectrum, Porsche will likely introduce GT-like lightweight models to follow the recipe used for the vast 911 lineup.
With the official reveal still about a month away, we don’t have the final performance numbers. That being said, Porsche has said on multiple occasions that it’ll do to 62 mph (100 kph) in a little over three seconds and 0 to 124 mph (200 kph) in less than 12 seconds. From what we can tell looking at this video, the Taycan is insanely fast when you take into account it’s going to weigh about two tons, if not more.
We get to learn the pure electric sedan is going to benefit from active aero to make it as sleek as possible and consequently boost efficiency. In addition, pressing the Range button closes the flaps and makes other changes to increase range by about 10%. Speaking of range, the crown jewel of the family is expected to offer more than 500 kilometers (311 miles) between charges. It’ll take only about 15 minutes to get 400 km (248 miles) of range courtesy of the 800-volt technology.
Once the annoying camouflage will come off, Jonny Smith says the Taycan won’t look like a Panamera as it will stay true to the Mission E concept from 2015. Speaking of concepts, the Cross Turismo revealed last year is set to spawn a rugged lifted wagon production version at some point in 2020.
Source: Fully Charged