What is the Porsche Taycan?

Porsche’s most revolutionary model since it introduced the Cayenne SUV in 2002, the 2020 Taycan marks the beginning of the iconic sports car maker’s battery-electric future.

Slowly percolating details and images to the public until it launches in September, Porsche is ramping up for what will be a hugely popular model, already beginning to steal sales from its definitive 911. So unless you enjoy living under a rock, it’s a car to know everything about. Wheels has the low down.

4

It’s coming to Australia

The Porsche Taycan is confirmed to arrive in Australia in 2020, not long after its European debut this year. But pricing and specification are yet to be confirmed, though it is expected the Taycan will be offered in three trim levels of varying power output and be joined by the crossover-style Taycan Cross Turismo a year later. Though you might want to get your orders in now, as Porsche Australia says local allocation could sell out before it officially lands in the country.

It’ll hit like a hammer

Underneath the metal are two permanent magnet synchronous motors producing a total output of up to 440kW at all four wheels, with a slight rear-wheel bias. Performance in a straight line is 0-100km/h in under 3.5sec and 0-200km/h in around 12sec, but bragging rights is that the Taycan is capable of constantly maintaining performance, unlike most electric vehicles that need to power down to preserve the battery.

Super juice

The estimated driving range of the Taycan is around 500km, but it’ll also land with the fastest charging time of any electric vehicle on sale. Sitting on Porsche’s J1 platform that uses a unique 800-volt battery-electric architecture, it can recharge from zip to 80 percent capacity (around 400km range) in just 15 minutes when connected to a 350kW fast charger. For comparison, Teslas’ supercharger network uses a 120kW charging system.

4

They can’t build enough of them

Electric vehicle hype isn’t limited to Tesla, with Porsche confirming that it has doubled production from 20,000 to 40,000 units in the first year in response to a long list of pre-orders. Taycan is built on its own production line in Zuffenhausen, where Porsche also produces the 911 and 718.

Looks are everything

Porsche has revealed official sketches of the four-door in an email to customers, and released lightly camouflaged prototype images. It remains to be seen in final guise, but some things are certain, such as having a traditional style boot rather than hatchback tailgate, and the charging port is mounted on the front driver’s side fender.