Porsche is currently testing prototypes of the Taycan in extreme climates, with a team of around 40 specialists having assembled "three figures" worth of prototypes.

Four years after Porsche showed us the original Mission E concept, the 2020 Taycan is finally here, ahead of its public premiere at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show. Porsche's new EV arrives on the heels of numerous teasers, a hatchback concept (that we later drove) and the construction of a new plant to build the company's first battery-electric vehicle. Plenty of testing allowed it to claim a record lap time around the Nürburgring's Nordschleife for a four-door electric car. We've even gone for a ride in a prototype.

Likely even more important to buyers is that there'll finally be a real alternative to the Tesla Model S that has ruled the large luxury electric sedan roost. Whether or not Porsche will be able to loosen Tesla's stranglehold on the segment remains to be seen, but attractive looks, gonzo performance and a tech-laden cabin appear to put the Taycan in the position to do just that when it goes on sale later this year.

Visually, Porsche designers were able to carry over a healthy helping of design traits from the Mission E concept to the production Taycan. The exterior's hunkered-down stance, low-sloping front end, pronounced fenders, flush door handles and continuous rear light strip all make the cut. Four-point LED daytime running lights are also part of the package. At launch, the Taycan will be offered in a Turbo trim riding on 20-inch wheels, and Turbo S specification that gets standard carbon fiber trim and sits on 21-inch wheels. (Yes, we realize it's odd to use "Turbo" and "Turbo S" on a car that doesn't use turbochargers -- or, you know, an internal combustion engine.)

With a drag coefficient of 0.22, the Taycan Turbo possesses the lowest drag of any vehicle in Porsche's current production lineup. Full underbody paneling also contributes to its slippery aerodynamics. The Taycan Turbo S is slightly less efficient at cutting through the air, with a 0.25 drag coefficient.

At its core, the Taycan's body is built from a mixture of steel and aluminum joined together with a variety of different welding processes, screws, rivets and adhesives. Upping passenger safety is hot-formed steel for the body's pillars, side roof frame and seat cross member, and boron steel for the bulkhead cross member. All of this improves passenger safety.

For performance purposes, the shock absorber mounts, axle mounts and rear side members are constructed of die-cast or forged aluminum, while all body panels minus the front and rear bumpers are also made from aluminum to shave weight. In total, 37% of the Taycan is made of aluminum.

The Taycan uses a new battery-electric drivetrain consisting of a permanent-magnetic synchronous motor on each axle, giving the Taycan all-wheel drive. Up front, power is routed to the wheels through a single-speed gearbox. At the back, thrust runs through a two-speed transmission with a short first gear providing maximum acceleration performance and a long-ratio second delivering top speed and efficiency. Power comes from a 93.4-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack that doubles as a structural chassis component and keeps the center of gravity low.

The results are impressive: The 2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo puts out 670 horsepower and 626 pound-feet of torque. Thanks to a 2.5-second overboost period, Porsche estimates the Taycan will scoot to 60 mph in 3 seconds flat, and cover the quarter-mile in 11.1 seconds. In Taycan Turbo S form, power increases to 750 horsepower and 774 pound-feet during overboost, for a 0-to-60 mph time of 2.6 seconds and a quarter-mile run of 10.8 seconds, according to Porsche. Both models top out at 162 mph.

The all-important driving range depends on how hard the Taycan is driven, and what mode it's driven in. A Range setting puts the powertrain in an energy-sipping setting with a demand-based, two-wheel drive mode that decouples the rear axle. On the other hand, the most performance-focused Sport Plus delivers max power to all four wheels. A US-spec EPA range estimate isn't yet available, but Porsche's own WLTP-based testing estimates 279 miles of driving range for the Turbo, and 256 miles for the Turbo S. As with all other WLTP-to-EPA conversions, there's no accurate way to translate them, but note the US numbers will likely be slightly lower than these preliminary estimates.

Porsche developed an 800-volt charging system specifically for the Taycan. With it, Porsche says juicing the battery pack from a 5% state of charge to 80% takes just 22.5 minutes in ideal situations, with a DC fast charger offering 270 kW of power. Charge times are dependent on weather conditions and infrastructure, but Porsche has taken steps to address both issues.

To reduce charge times in both hot and cold temperatures, the battery can be thermally preconditioned using a charging planner. Owners simply need to set a departure time in the planner and the car will automatically warm or cool the battery for optimal charging times.

Helping address roadside infrastructure issues, Porsche has partnered up with Electrify America, which currently has 268 charging stations in the US. An additional 160 are under construction, with plans calling for 600 high-performance charging stations being operational along highways by the end of 2020. Every Taycan sold in the US will come with a free first 30 minutes of charge time for three years at Electrify America locations.

In addition, all Porsche dealers will offer charge points, and a Porsche Charging Service app will help find any other charge points providing information such as power level, connector types and number of open plugs.

At home, where Porsche expects 80 to 90% of charging to take place, the company is offering a charging dock and mobile charger connect with a 9.6-kW connector that'll juice up the Taycan in 11 hours. With an EV being the biggest power-consuming item on a house's power system, Porsche also developed an energy manager that can be installed in a home's circuit breaker. It's capable of managing a house's power flow, providing cost optimizing charging, using solar power and providing blackout protection by reducing the charge to the car if other household appliances, such as fridges or dryers, turn on and exceed the breaker's max power threshold.

Power is nothing without control, and the Taycan certainly has it, as proven by the aforementioned Nürburgring lap record. Helping to improve reflexes of the over-5,000-pound vehicle is the stiffest chassis to underpin a Porsche production vehicle to date, a super-wide track, center of gravity that's lower than a 911 GT3, an air suspension, fully variable all-wheel drive system, torque vectoring rear differential and quicker traction control reflexes. To sharpen things further, rear-axle steering will be standard on the Turbo S and optional on Turbo models, while a variable antiroll bar will also be offered.

To kill speed, the Turbo uses 10-piston calipers biting down on 16.3-inch brake rotors up front, and four-piston clampers with 14.3-inch rotors at the rear. The Turbo S is upgraded with slightly bigger, 16.5-inch carbon ceramic discs in front and 16.1-inch discs out back. Being a battery electric vehicle, the Taycan does feature pedal lift-off brake energy recuperation with different modes, ranging from off for pure coasting and full-on that Porsche says covers 90% of stopping events and reduces brake wear.

Heading inside, the 911-inspired cabin is simply designed, with a 16.8-inch, four-mode, digital instrument cluster occupying the highest point of the dash. Cabin trim offerings will include standard leathers and woods, but also include sustainable options such as naturally tanned leather and even leatherette for customers who want a cow hide-free environment.

All Taycans will come with glass roof giving 100% UV protection thanks to a combination of dark glass, tint and a low-e coating to keep things light and airy inside. Speaking of air, the climate controls are fully digital, meaning you even control the direction of the vents through a control panel in a touchscreen. Two modes are preprogrammed for direct and indirect airflow, while an individual setting can let owners fine-tune vent settings to their liking. A two-zone climate system is standard, but a four-zone setup is available, giving rear-seat occupants a 5.9-inch screen to control their half.

A new infotainment system debuts in the Taycan, with a 10.9-inch center touchscreen offering navigation with real-time traffic, voice commands, Apple CarPlay and the first full integration of Apple Music in a vehicle. To play tunes, Bose and Burmester audio systems will be offered and will be capable of playing Apple Digital Masters files for studio-quality sound from a library that includes more than 50 million songs.

Another interesting Taycan infotainment wrinkle is the availability of an additional 10.9-inch touchscreen for passengers. The roughly $1,100 option enables passengers to search for music and enter destinations or waypoints independent of the center screen.

The 2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo and Turbo S will arrive in dealers later this year, with pricing beginning at $150,900 for the Turbo and $185,000 for the Turbo S if you reserve a car now. Both figures do not include $1,350 for destination. When the car officially launches, the starting price tag for the Turbo will increase to $153,310 and the Turbo S to $187,610.

While Porsche officials won't yet confirm if less potent versions of the Taycan sedan are in the pipeline, nobody has outright denied this fact, either. Judging from the multiple iterations of every other Porsche model in production, it's a safe bet that more Taycan models are on the way. What we do know, though, is a production car based on the Mission E Cross Turismo concept will hit showrooms by the end of 2020.

New entry-level Taycan 4S provides 523bhp and a 252-mile range for £83k

Hurrah! It’s a Porsche Taycan whose price doesn’t comprise six figures. Savage depreciation already? Nope: meet the Taycan 4S and yup, it’s not wearing any Turbo misnomers like its pricier stablemates.

It still has twin motors, one on each axle (for four-wheel drive) producing a total of 523bhp on overboost. That’s down notably on the 671bhp Turbo that sits above it, adding almost a second to the 0-62mph time which now sits at four seconds dead. Hardly slow, mind, and that Turbo does sit a whole 32 grand above it.

This 4S is the entry-level Taycan – for now – and costs £83,367 before government subsidies, and before you’ve inevitably scoured the Porsche options list and ticked lots of boxes.

One of which is for the £4,613 Performance Battery Plus, which replaces the 4S’s 79.2kWh battery with the 93.4kWh unit from the Taycan Turbo, lifting the 4S’s power output to 563bhp in the process.

It also lifts the range; 252 miles as standard, 287 if you’ve upgraded, a smidge more than the Turbo itself claims. Both figures will need judicious use of the Taycan’s mighty handling prowess to prove realistic, we suspect.

The exterior styling is simpler – again, before options – but all of Porsche’s clever chassis systems remain intact beneath.

Porsche is finding out that it is quite difficult to produce an all-electric vehicle. The German automaker announced that the Taycan, its first all-electric car, is facing some production delays.

After unveiling the Taycan in September, the company quickly announced the start of production at a new plant at their Zuffenhausen site, which they have been working on for the past four years.

That was two months ago, and yet Porsche hasn’t started deliveries of the Taycan.

Now Porsche says that they are facing some production delays with the electric car.

The German automaker has been sending a message to reservation holders warning them of the delay, which should push deliveries to around March 2020 (translated from Norwegian):
Delays in production

Taycan is our first fully electric sports car. The car is developed from scratch and manufactured in a brand new factory. All Porsche employees have worked with full pressure to start delivering Taycan as scheduled in January. Still, as a result of the enormous complexity surrounding the production of Taycan, we must report that unfortunately the delivery dates are somewhat delayed.

We currently expect delays of around eight to 10 weeks, and a new production time for your car will be communicated through your seller as soon as this is ready. We strongly apologize and guarantee that we will do everything we can to deliver your Porsche Taycan as soon as possible.
The German automaker initially unveiled the two higher-end versions of the Taycan: the Turbo and Turbo S, which start at $150,000.

Those versions are going to be the first to be delivered.

Last month, Porsche also unveiled a new entry-level Taycan 4S with smaller battery pack for $104,000.

At the time, the automaker said that it will arrive in European dealerships in January 2020, and it should arrive in the US a few months later, but it’s not clear how the production delays are affecting the timeline for the 4S.

Porsche had originally planned a production capacity of 20,000 units per year for the Taycan, but it recently said that it is increasing Taycan production capacity after seeing high demand.

Electrek’s Take

I don’t understand how the production and delivery schedules work for those German automakers.

We have seen the same thing happen with the Mercedes EQC, VW ID.3, and now the Porsche Taycan, where the automaker announces the start of production, and yet deliveries don’t start until months later.

It’s not always due to “production delays,” but it seems like it is in Porsche’s case.

Hopefully they can work through it quickly, because I really want to see the impact of this electric vehicle on the market.