The production-ready Porsche Taycan was revealed at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show and by the end of 2020 more than 20,000 Taycans had been delivered globally. The name ‘Taycan’ can be roughly translated as “lively young horse” and it references the leaping steed at the heart of the Porsche crest.
To demonstrate the Taycan’s range and performance and the growing network of electric charging infrastructure across our country Porsche Australia recently completed a 5,000-kilometre adventure from the red dust of the Northern Territory to the golden sands of Bondi Beach in a Taycan 4S Cross Turismo. My time with this base model Porsche Taycan was a little less audacious, but no less meaningful, with electric vehicles becoming more a part of our daily lives they need to stand up to the mundane routines just as well.
Taycan owners in Australia have several ways to recharge including High Performance Charging, Home Charging, and Porsche Destination Charging. Taycan buyers receive a complimentary three-year subscription to Australia’s Chargefox and Ultra-Rapid DC charging network. You can ask the Taycan using the voice control to navigate to a ChargeFox location and it will display the results on the sat nav or if you ask to navigate to a charging station is shows a list for you to choose from. The sat nav displays details about the charger, but not if it is available or in use.
Two recharging ports are fitted to the Taycan with one on each side of the car, just forward of the front doors. There’s AC charging on both sides and a 150kW onboard DC charger for recharging at public stations with a voltage of 400 volts on the passenger side only. My Taycan was fitted with the optional ($1,310) electric charging door that is opened by sliding your finger under the sensor near the door. The Porsche Charging Dock and Home Energy Manager is a $1,150 option, but for my time with the Taycan I simply used the supply cable for a standard 230V 3 pin electrical outlet. When the charge cord is connected the light next to the plug is green to indicate that charging is in progress.
Charging time with an AC 11kW unit at home will take approximate nine hours according to Porsche. Charging with a DC 50kW charger from 5% to 80% is claimed to take 93 minutes and this reduces to 22.5 minutes with the maximum charging power of up to 270 kW at an 800-volt charging station. Environmental factors can impact the time taken to charge an electric vehicle with colder ambient temperatures meaning it will take slightly longer to charge, particularly when using a rapid charger. Colder temperatures also mean vehicles are less efficient, so less kilometres are added per time charging.
The base model Taycan has a single Permanent Magnet electric motor at the rear axle for rear-wheel drive only and a two-speed transmission. This Taycan is fitted with the optional Performance Battery Plus ($12,020) that increases the standard battery size from 79.2kWh to 93.4kWh. This increases the standard maximum power of this Taycan from 240kW to 280kW and up to 350kW on overboost power with launch control activated. The standard maximum torque is 345Nm and increases to 357Nm with the Performance Battery Plus. The 0 – 100km/h time is 5.4 seconds, with a standing-start quarter mile completed in 13.7 seconds and its top speed is 230km/h. Your acceleration time could be measured using this gorgeous TAG Heuer Carrera automatic chronograph ($9,350) that I chose to shoot with the Taycan and it just happened to perfectly match as well.
The claimed electric range of the Taycan with the Performance Battery Plus is 434km and for my time with the Taycan I used 21.8kWh per 100km giving me a maximum range of around 429km. The Taycan uses the Porsche Recuperation Management system that you can have set to On, Off, or Auto. Driving tests have shown that up to 90 per cent of everyday braking activities in the Taycan are done by its electric motors, not its brakes – leading to less brake pad wear. Because of this, the Taycan’s brake pad replacement schedule is now time-specified and they need to be replaced every six years.
On startup you press brake and the Taycan awakens across the 16.8-inch curved driver’s display, which has five different display modes to choose from. There are three drive modes on the base model Taycan being Range, Normal, and Sport with the option to turn Electric Sport mode on or off. Each Drive Mode applies different vehicle settings and in Normal, the Taycan’s basic setting, power is delivered in a linear manner. Sport mode is more dynamic and the chassis is adjusted to a sporty setup. There is also the option to adjust chassis independently of the drive mode between Normal, Sport and Sport Plus. I found that the Taycan drove nicely, but I did not feel the need to push this one dynamically as it is the base model.
My Taycan was fitted with the optional ($1,050) Porsche Electric sport sound that is meant to emit a driving sound that’s more “emotionally charged and richer” inside and outside the car. I didn’t like the noise it made though so I switched it off to enjoy the quieter driving experience of an EV and to enjoy some tunes from the optional ($2,840) BOSE Surround Sound-System with 14 speakers (including subwoofer) and 710 Watts . The Taycan’s inbuilt Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System, however, cannot be switched off at low speeds. This system emits sound for the safety of other road users, such as pedestrians.
Optional Adaptive sports seats were fitted in the Taycan I drove ($800) and these have power adjustment for recline, forward/back, seat height rear only, front leg extension, cushion and seat back bolstering with 4-way lumbar support and three memory positions on both seats. The front seat heating ($910 option) allows you to adjust the heating balance for either back only, seat only or both. In the infotainment menus there is an option to allows the driver to adjust the passenger seat using the driver’s seat control this is a good for me for adjusting the seat for my mum. Unfortunately, the large panoramic sunroof that allows so much light into the cabin has no blind over it or electrochromatic dimming, so the sun can’t be blocked out if you want it to be.
The dash is dominated by a gloss black panel where the optional passenger display would be fitted and I didn’t like this element because my children immediately put fingermarks on it and it attracted dust. The other distinctive feature of the dash is the fixed air vents that are moved and air speed adjusted using a menu under the top 10.9-inch display screen. Voice control can be used with the infotainment system as well and worked well for me for changing the radio station or making phone calls, but only found point of interest locations that were already saved in the sat nav and could not enter a destination address. Under arm rest there is one 12V socket and two USB-C ports to connect Apple CarPlay/Android Auto to the infotainment system.
The partial-leather centre console also has irritating gloss black elements and incorporates two cup holders with grippy sides and a second 8.4-inch touch panel with haptic feedback. The bottom half of this lower screen is a touch pad used to navigate the top screen which results with many finger marks on it. Also, this screen is used for setting temperature and air speed only while the vent’s direction is controlled using top screen and I feel like this all should be done on one screen. The ledge under the centre console seems a bit pointless to me as it has a hard plastic slippery surface and no lip to stop items from falling off. Another odd feature I found in the Taycan wa a slim gap between the speaker in the door and the door cubby that is not good for anything except for catching dust and crumbs and I think it would be hard to clean out. The drink bottle storage in front door cubbies is at 45o angle and fits a larger sized drink bottle.
The rear seats are sculptured nicely and sit you back in them quite far, so I had adequate head and leg room, but taller people may find it a bit tight. For young children there are two ISOFix/three tether child seat restraint points, but only room for two seats most likely. The centre seat folds down as an arm rest with two shallow cup holders with grippy sides at the front, taller bottles may fall over in these. The drink bottle storage in door cubbies is at a 45o angle and is only suitable for small sized drink bottles. Rear seat passengers get two central air vents with individual direction and on/off controls and two USB-C ports at the front of the centre seat below which is a high transmission tunnel.
The Taycan has a front and rear boot with the rear boot having a powered open/close boot lid with a button located at the base of the boot, on the key fob or in the cabin under the bottom infotainment menu. The rear boot is deep and a good size even with the charge cords stowed in there and the boot space has four substantial tie down points, two lights and one 12V socket with an additional smaller amount of storage under the boot floor. The front boot has a manual open with the release on the key fob or under the infotainment menu and could fit some luggage or a small grocery shop and the tyre repair kit is located here.
The Porsche Taycan does not have an ANCAP safety rating, but does come with full-size and knee airbags for the driver and passenger, side airbags for the front and rear compartments and curtain airbags along the entire roof frame and side windows. Driver assistance systems fitted as standard include Lane Keep Assist, Collison and Brake Assist, Blind Spot Monitoring, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Exit Warning, and Adaptive Cruise Control that is set using a stalk behind the steering wheel. The rear-view camera combines a standard camera with a 3D surround view with front and rear parking sensors and for convenience you also get auto lights and auto wipers.
The Porsche Taycan comes with a 3-year/unlimited kilometre warranty and an 8-year/160,000km battery warranty. The service interval for the Taycan is 2-years or 30,000 kilometre, whichever occurs first. The service pricing varies from state to state due to different labour rates. For an indication of service pricing please visit the website of your nearest Porsche Centre.
The base model Porsche Taycan starts at $158,100 excluding dealer delivery and on-road costs and as tested my Gentian Blue metallic Taycan was $194,740 excluding dealer delivery and on-road costs. You can Configure your Taycan online or visit a Porsche Centre for more information.
| Pros | Cons |
| I almost matched the claimed driving range | Has wired Apple CarPlay/Android Auto |
| Charge ports located on both sides of the vehicle | Some of the interior design elements |
| The 2-year or 30,000km service interval | Adaptive cruise control set using a stalk behind the steering wheel |
Photographs by Driven Women Magazine.