Porsche Taycan Unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show

Porsche Taycan Unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show
Porsche's First Electric Car, Taycan
Porsche Taycan Unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show
Porsche’s First Electric Car, Taycan

Porsche Taycan is the company’s most passionate and awaited project yet, and is set to rewrite the boundaries of electric motor vehicle performance. Porsche released the specifications of the new electric vehicle ahead of the car’s unveiling at the Frankfurt motor show. The reviews so far suggest this new EV is going to outshine all of its rivals in every regard.

Drive and Handling

The key to Taycan’s performance capability is attributed to the use of a permanent synchronous motor (PSM) in place of the cheaper asynchronous motor (ASM) which is larger, heavier and less consistent.

Though the Taycan’s 90 kilo watt battery brings  the car weight to more than 2.2 tonnes, it still has the lowest centre of gravity in any Porsche in the market and its weight distribution is almost ideal at 45:51.

With the help of electronic control mechanisms the motor also helps in enhancing Taycan’s response and handling, which many insiders working on the project claim to be not only top class but also something that is beyond what is available in the market right now. It has a five time faster throttle response than any other combustion engine car, for example, the torque vectoring is five times faster from front to rear and the traction control is ten times quicker. It uses an electronic slip differential which responds to wheel slip fifty times faster than any mechanical setup. There is also the standard Porsche Stability Management system, which when set in sports mode offers some serious intervention, and although vital for the satisfaction of enthusiasts, this system can be shut off completely.

Suspension and Stability

The car is not only has advanced electronics, it also has a unique suspension based on the Panamera’s. This setup uses a three chambered air suspension, allowing the car to drop twenty two millimeters at high speeds,  enhancing its efficiency by lowering the centre of gravity, and lift back up by the same twenty millimeters upon detection of obstacles or rough terrain.

Porsche’s Dynamic Chassis Control is also a part of the Taycan’s package deal and by using an actuator acquired from Panamera’s system the body roll can be reduced to almost zero degree even at maximum lateral load. This setup also helps to respond to oversteering or understeering in a matter of milli-seconds. The rear axle steering helps in navigation at low speeds and maintaining stability at high speeds.

Power

The explosive combination of six hundred and twenty five horse power and eight hundred fifty Nm of torque is produced by the two electric motors in Turbo, which allows Taycan to have a sprint time of zero to hundred kilometers per hour in about 3.2 seconds. The torque numbers on Turbo S  are 1050 Nm and 760 Hp, and it comes with an over boost function which makes the sprint even shorter at 2.8 seconds. The two speed gearbox on – axle helps in boosting the performance further. The Taycan has already set the lap record for all electric sports cars at the Nurburgring with a time of seven minutes and forty two seconds.

Experience

Compared to Panamera, the Taycan is shorter, but has deep foot wells or foot garages as described by Porsche for the passengers in the rear seat. The boosted leg space is made possible by removing the floor mounted battery pack from under the front seats. Other interior features include a sixteen point eight inch digital instrument panel, a ten point nine inch infotainment screen and below that an eight point four inch screen for climate control. Customers also have an option of adding a fourth ten point nine inch screen for the front passenger.

Taycan sports various other features such as a wireless software update to increase its battery and changing performance, Apple car play, Bose stereo system with surround, dual zone climate control and matrix LED headlights. An eight hundred volt electric power system also makes the Taycan stand out from other cars by enabling it to charge at three hundred and fifty kilo watts, meaning it can charge from 5 percent to eighty percent in just twenty minutes. However such chargers are available only in Europe right now, so for countries like India the only available option as of now is a conventional slow charger. The four hundred volt on board charger allows fifty kilo watts of energy flow, meaning the battery can take six to eight hours to charge till eighty percent.

Porsche is providing every buyer with a three year warranty on the Taycan and a separate one of eight years entirely for the battery, along with the guarantee that battery performance will not drop below seventy percent.

The performance car manufacturer already has more than thirty thousand reservations for Taycan, which is way better than expected as the plant capacity is twenty thousand leading to a waiting period of almost a year for some customers.

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