Porsche Taycan Road Trip: Ask Me Anything

Electric cars for a road trip? Doesn’t that mean stopping every hour and tuning a reasonable drive into an all-day affair?

Not necessarily. EVs have been making big gains in short order. Tesla claims a 322-mile range for its Model 3. Even the latest Nissan Leaf can cover up to 226 miles on a charge.

Porsche recently invited us on a little road trip: Atlanta to Daytona Beach, arriving just in time for the Rolex 24 at Daytona. That’s close to 450 miles through rather sparsely populated countryside. Our mount would be the all-new, all-electric 2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo.

Q: How far did it go on a charge, and did it beat the EPA’s rather underwhelming estimate of 201 miles?

A: Some computation shows that, yes, we beat the EPA figure. We couldn’t run the Taycan until empty, though: We had a schedule to keep, and since there are only so many charging stations in South Georgia and North Florida, we had to fill up when we could. The purpose of this exercise was to show that an EV like the Taycan could handle a road trip, not determine absolute efficiency numbers.

However, we do have lots of numbers courtesy of InsideEVs’ Tom Moloughney, our co-driver for the trip. Tom has owned and driven EVs since 2009. Inside his garage you’ll find a Tesla Model 3 as well as a BMW i3. He had already driven the Taycan Turbo as well as the Turbo S. He’s the expert on this stuff.

You can read his entire article for the math and details, but we know how you like to cut to the chase: His figures say that the Taycan Turbo would go 227 to 260 miles on a full charge.

A: We drove pretty responsibly–just cruised along with traffic. We might have goosed it a few times.

A: Again, we need to explain things before providing a figure. First, charging rate can depend upon battery temperature, the charger itself, amount of charge added, and the starting percentage of charge.

When pre-running the route, our hosts from Porsche determined that about a 15-minute charge would have taken us from our first Electrify America stop in Cordele, Georgia, to the second one, almost a hundred miles away in Lake City, Florida.

In theory, just that partial charge would have been enough to get to that next station: stop, plug in, visit the potty, grab a snack and, when ready to get going, the car would have enough charge.

In order for Tom to better compute our efficiency, we elected to refuel back to 98%, the amount of charge present when we left Porsche’s Atlanta headquarters. And the charging rate slows down as the battery gets closer to full.

Our second stop also took a little longer than expected–about an hour. The Taycan can take up to a 270 kW charge. The Electrify America stations promised up to 350 kW, but at the second stop we saw about 80 kW. We convoyed with two other Taycans, and at that same stop, one charged at north of 150 kW.

What caused the issue: Problem with our charger, software glitch or just an issue due to the Taycan’s newness? Or did loading up three cars at once cause the problem? One more possible variable: We were driving pre-production cars.

Q: Since the Taycan seems to have the range, why didn’t you make the 450-mile trip with just one stop?

A: Because Electrify American doesn’t have a station located between Cordele and Lake City. Our stopping points would be determined by infrastructure–and, also in reality, our bladders.

A: The car knew where they are located. Our first fill-up took place at a Walmart–fairly common for Electrify America, we’re told–while the second charger was located at an S&S convenience store.

A: Seemed fairly easy. Step 1 involved programming our final destination into the car’s navigation. It computed a route and noted where to fill up–and how much charge would be needed to reach the next stop.

Once at the charging station, we’d pull up to the pump and someone from Porsche would fire up an app and then stick the thing into the thing. It’s not as automated as the Tesla process–they skip the app process as the car magically talks to the pump–but it’s still fairly quick. Tom tells us that Electrify America will soon adopt plug-and-charge technology.

One big thing that separates the Electrify America chargers from the common gas station: no canopy. So, in the rain, we got wet.

A: Our first charge–the one that took 31 minutes–cost $22.68. We added 51.4 kWh.

A: Yes, totally is. The charging rate will be slower but, in theory, you can leave every day with a full charge. As Tom learned us, a solar array on his roof provides free fuel.

A: Like electric Panamera–but with zero hesitation when passing and even quicker acceleration. Know how you consider gearing and rpm when passing someone on the freeway? With the Taycan, you don’t. It all just happens instantly. It’s like driving a giant slot car.

A: Porsche lists a zero-to-60 time for the Taycan Turbo of 3.0 seconds. The Turbo S, they add, can reach 60 in just 2.6 seconds.

A: Quite. Call it an electric Panamera. Comfortable seats, great steering wheel, the usual Porsche steering feel. The brakes and accelerator all felt “normal.” Fit and finish–and, remember, this was a pre-production model–felt very ahead of the curve.

It didn’t feel like the Porsche badge had simply been attached. This felt like a Porsche.

A: Figure that nomenclature falls into their usual. It’s something we all might have to just build a bridge and get over.

A: Physical buttons instead of touch-pads for some of the console controls would make them easier to operate. Guess it’s something that you get used to, but we had to avert our eyes from the road to make the cockpit warmer or colder, for example.

A: The market is full of options. This is the one for those who want an EV that feels, rides and drives like a Porsche. It’s not a mass-market machine.

Since Tom owns a Model 3, we asked for his take between the Tesla and the Taycan: “The Taycan’s fit and finish is probably a couple levels above the Model 3’s. Tesla has definitely improved in the last year or two, but the fit and finish of their cars are still lagging behind the premium legacy OEMs, like Porsche, BMW or Daimler.”

A: Yes, it’s not slow as Tesla claims a zero-to-60 time of 3.2 seconds. That’s still wicked-quick in our book.

“The Model 3 is a sports sedan, and the Taycan is much more of a sports car,” Tom, our Telsa-owning co-driver explains. “The performance version of the Model 3 is close in straight-line acceleration, but not quite as fast, especially at high speeds. The Model 3 handles surprisingly well, considering it's a sedan, but that's probably because of the low center of gravity due to the battery underneath the passenger cabin.

“The Taycan Turbo would pretty much outperform a Model 3 in every aspect, but the Model 3 seats five, is roomier inside and has a lot more cargo space including a big trunk in the front.

“Think of a Model 3 as a BMW M3 and you'll understand how it drives. Minus the sound and gears, of course.”

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