The Porsche Taycan Turbo S Is Now Even Faster And Easier To Charge
The Porsche Taycan is almost unrivalled in its mini-class, so you’d forgive Porsche for resting on its laurels. We certainly didn’t think the mightiest Taycan needed speeding up. But Porsche has revealed a range of updates to make its halo EV just that bit better, including making it faster, easier to charge and introducing features on demand.
There’s no change to the 0-62mph time, but it’s a little faster when you keep your foot down. Zero-to-124mph now takes just 9.6 seconds (two tenths less than the current time), while quarter miles are also a whisker quicker at 10.7 seconds. All this while emitting little more than a faint whine.
When you’ve zapped all the charge from the battery you’ll notice a few improvements to the charging process, too. A new Plug & Charge feature aims to do away with all the different apps, cards and logins; the idea is that you simply plug it in, at which point charging and payment happens automatically. Brilliant - if it works.
You can now opt to charge the battery at a slower pace to extend the life of the battery and reduce long-term power loss. Porsche says it’s useful for drivers who want to take a longer break, but we’re wondering if it defeats the point of a fast-charger somewhat. Time and usage stats will tell. Meanwhile, a 22kW on-board charger is now an option - double the charging capacity of the current one.
Porsche, like BMW, is introducing a range of features that are included in the car, but need to be subscribed to. Initially, it covers extra driver assistance features, like active lane-keeping assist and the InnoDrive system that adapts the speed based on the road ahead.
You can pay €19.50 (around £18) a month for each of these systems, or pay €808.10 (around £750) upfront. Porsche’s Intelligent Range Manager function costs €10.72 (£9.70) a month or roughly £360 in one go. Hopefully Porsche won’t start charging for basic things like heated seats or Apple CarPlay (cough cough, BMW).
Meanwhile, Taycan buyers get seven extra paint colours to pick from, the Carbon Sport Design pack is available on all models and DAB radio is now standard - as it should be on a £14,000 car, let alone a car approaching £140,000 before options.
Do the upgrades make the Taycan more appealing, or would you still rather have the impressive range of a Tesla Model S?
Comments
Honestly speaking, is the Taycan actually a Model S competitor? The price difference is too much to justify a fair comparison. Of course nearly everything in the Porsche is better than the Tesla, you are paying a significant amount more.
I think the real Model S competition will come when the Audi E-tron GT is released.
It’s so weird to compare with other cars because the only other electric saloons are all planned by German brands afaik and those all offer significantly less performance OR range, but much more luxury and build quality.