Taycan - Porsche's All-Electric Sports Car

The Porsche Mission-E will go into production next year and the German fast car maker has now given it an official name - Taycan. Yes, even our minds first went to the hit Liam Neeson movie, but Porsche says Taycan can be roughly translated as “lively young horse”. The name was announced during Porsche's “70 years of sports cars” ceremony. If Taycan would have been derived from Tachyon, the particle that supposedly travels faster than light, it would have sounded a lot more cooler.

The Taycan will be Porsche's first all-electric car and the first true rival to the Tesla Model S. It will pack at least 600 horses coming through two motors. Acceleration from 0-100kmph is expected to happen in under 3.5 seconds and the car will hit 200kmph in under twelve seconds. All this with a maximum range of over 500km, and the vehicle will get a range of 100km with a charge time of just 4 minutes. Here is what the press release has to say.

“Our new electric sports car is strong and dependable; it’s a vehicle that can consistently cover long distances and that epitomises freedom”, explains Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG. The oriental name also signifies the launch of the first electric sports car with the soul of a Porsche. Porsche announced the name for its first purely electric series as part of the “70 years of sports cars” ceremony.

Two permanently excited synchronous motors (PSM) with a system output of over 600 hp (440 kW) can accelerate the electric sports car to 100 km/h in well under 3.5 seconds and to 200 km/h in under twelve seconds. This performance is in addition to a continuous power level that is unprecedented among electric vehicles: Multiple jump starts are possible in succession without loss of performance, and the vehicle’s maximum range is over 500 km in accordance with the NEDC.

At Porsche, the vehicle names generally have a concrete connection with the corresponding model and its characteristics: The name Boxster describes the combination of the boxer engine and roadster design; Cayenne denotes fieriness, the Cayman is incisive and agile, and the Panamera offers more than a standard Gran Turismo, which is what allowed it to win the Carrera Panamericana long-distance race. The name Macan is derived from the Indonesian word for tiger, with connotations of suppleness, power, fascination and dynamics.

Porsche plans to invest more than six billion euro in electromobility by 2022, doubling the expenditure that the company had originally planned. Of the additional three billion euro, some 500 million euro will be used for the development of Taycan variants and derivatives, around one billion euro for electrification and hybridisation of the existing product range, several hundred million for the expansion of production sites, plus around 700 million euro for new technologies, charging infrastructure and smart mobility.

Extensive modifications and expansion at the Zuffenhausen headquarters
At the Porsche headquarters in Zuffenhausen, a new paint shop, dedicated assembly area for the Taycan and a conveyor bridge for transporting the painted bodies and drive units to the final assembly area are currently being constructed. The existing engine plant is being expanded to manufacture electric drives and the body shop will also be developed. Investment is also planned for the Weissach Development Centre. Production of the Taycan is creating around 1,200 new jobs in Zuffenhausen alone.