Porsche Just Struck Back At Tesla, And Musk Should Be Worried
Porsche Just Struck Back At Tesla, And Musk Should Be Worried
But, possibly not for the reasons you might think.
Porsche Just Struck Back At Tesla, And Musk Should Be Worried
But, possibly not for the reasons you might think.
The Taycan is one of Porsche’s most successful models ever. In 2021, it outsold the 911, and its sales figures have been neck and neck with the icon ever since. However, this shouldn’t be a surprise, as it went toe to toe with Tesla’s fastest cars whilst having a driving experience and chassis dynamics on a whole different league to any Tesla. Moreover, the Taycan had Porsche’s signature design and quality, as well as EV technology that even Musk didn’t have, like 800-volt architecture and two-speed gearboxes. The only drawback to this revolutionary vehicle was its annoyingly limited range and the fact that Tesla’s latest Model S Plaid took its EV performance crown. Well, Porsche recently updated the Taycan, and this new challenger immediately smashed Tesla, took back the EV performance crown, and gave Musk reason to worry.
So, let’s dive into what Porsche has improved.
The major headline is the range. The new Taycan Turbo S has a WLTP range of 391 miles, which is 100 miles more than the old Turbo S! But, unlike other EV companies, Porsche increased this range without making compromises. The new Taycan uses an updated, more efficient inverter and motor, allowing them to eke out more miles per kWh. It also uses way more energy-dense batteries than before, allowing them to use a battery pack 11.6 kWh larger than the old car (105 kWh vs 93.4 kWh) without adding any weight. In fact, the new Taycan is actually 5 kg lighter than the old one.
But these new motors and batteries come with other advantages too. The new motors produce 939 horsepower, or 188 more than the old one, giving it a lightning-quick 0–60 mph time of 2.4 seconds! What’s more, like the old Taycan, it can do this without preconditioning the battery pack and do full-bore acceleration runs repeatedly without any problem (unlike Teslas). The charging has also taken an enormous leap forward. The peak charging rate has been bumped up to 320 kW, and the average charge rate from 10% to 80% state of charge is now 230 kW, giving a 10% to 80% charge time of only 19 minutes!
But, all of this excellence does come at a cost. The new top-trim Taycan (Turbo S) costs £161,400, or £13,100 more than it used to! It’s nice to know the cost of living is affecting the affluent too…
So, how does this compare with the best Tesla has to offer? Well, it’s complicated.
The Model S Plaid is far cheaper, at £100,000. But it has a shorter range of 373 miles WLTP, a slower peak charge rate of 250 kW, and a much slower 10% to 80% charge time of 30 minutes, thanks to its lower battery voltage of 400 V over the Taycan’s 800 V. It does have significantly more horsepower, at 1,019 horsepower, and does actually weigh slightly less, enabling it to do 0–60 mph in 2.2 seconds without preconditioning, and 2.07 seconds if you are willing to precondition the battery (times without rollout and on non-prepared surfaces).
But don’t go thinking the Plaid is the higher-performance vehicle. A pre-production new Taycan Turbo S recently smashed the Model S Plaid’s Nürburgring time by 18 seconds! In fact, its time of 7 minutes and 7.55 seconds was 26 seconds faster than the old Taycan and only 2 seconds off the Rimac Nevera, a 1,914 horsepower $2 million + hypercar and fastest ever EV around the ring. Simply put, the new Taycan punches well above its weight because Porsche has developed its handling to the nth degree. For all intents and purposes, it is the best handling EV ever made, allowing it to run rings around any Tesla if the road ahead gets even a little wiggly.
To make matters worse, the entire new Taycan line up shares the same underpinnings as the Turbo S. So, even the lower trims will handle just as well. Bad news for Tesla, as the £100,196 Taycan 4S Plus is arguably a better buy than the Plaid. Sure, it only has 590 horsepower and does 0–60 in 3.7 seconds. It has the same battery pack and ultra-fast charging as the Turbo S but a massive 399 miles of WLTP range! Plus, the interior makes the Plaid’s look like it came from a dollar store, and again, it will out-handle the Tesla any day of the week.
Okay, so why should Musk be worried about the new Taycan? In reality, it isn’t really a competitor to the Model S, as they have wholly different target markets. What’s more, Tesla makes the vast majority of its profit from the Model 3 and Y, not the Model S. So surely Musk has nothing to worry about?
Well, not quite. You see, Porsche and its parent group, VW, are using their high-performance cars to develop technology that will trickle down into their regular EVs rather rapidly. We can already see this with the new Porsche Macan EV, which borrows the same battery and motor technology from the Taycan (old and new), which gives it performance, charge times and driving ranges way above the competition. But the platform the Macan is based on, the SPP, will soon end up in more budget-friendly cars. In fact, Škoda has announced that its next Enyaq, which is due to hit the market in 2028 (the current model is based on the VW ID4), will use the same platform and technology as the new Macan EV. So don’t be surprised if, in four years’ time, you can buy a £40,000 ($50,000) VW, Audi or Škoda with over 400 miles range, sum 20-minute charge times and eye-popping acceleration.
This is why Musk should be worried about the new Taycan. Because his Model 3 and Y will require a complete redesign to compete with the affordable EVs that it will spawn. Tesla’s current technology is good, but it is reaching the limit of its development. As such, they will need entirely different battery architecture, different battery cells, and completely different drivetrains to match what Porsche and VW have coming.
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Sources: Top Gear, Autocar, EV Database, EV Database, EV Database, EV Database, EV Database, Car Magazine, Top Gear, The Verge, Will Lockett, Motor Trend, Carscoops, Inside EVs