In the last article, we took a look at how Porsche put its pre-series Taycan through gruelling and rigorous tests in different climatic conditions. Thing is, they weren’t done yet. During an initial range test from Los Angeles to San Diego and back, pre-series models demonstrated their further improved efficiency.

The all-electric sports cars covered up to 587 kilometres on one battery charge on public roads. “For the particularly efficient Taycan sports saloon with the large battery, this practical, final test resulted in a total range of up to 587 kilometres,” said Vice-President for the model line Kevin Giek.

“A great result. The range test in Southern California impressively demonstrated how efficient the reworked Taycan is. We are continuing to focus on our ‘fast travel’ strategy for electric mobility: short charging stops paired with high real-world ranges thanks to efficient drives.”

The range test was carried out under everyday conditions. 12 international media representatives drove four Taycan sports saloons and a Taycan Cross Turismo across three days on Interstate Highway 405 and 5 between the Southern Californian metropolises of Los Angeles and San Diego.

The teams drove at the maximum speed of 75mph, or approximately 120km/h, permitted on interstates. All four test cars were equipped with the larger Performance Battery Plus.

The outside temperature peaked at around 26 degrees Celsius. The highway was dry on the first two test days and very wet on the last day, and wet weather typically reduces efficiency.

The cars were charged at the Electrify America Charger in Torrance/Los Angeles. Here, the Taycan demonstrated over 300 kW charging power for many minutes and was able to charge from 10 to 80 per cent state of charge several times in well under 20 minutes.

The charging performance, charging time and the time it takes to start charging were also greatly improved in this test.

Photo Credits: Porsche

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Porsche’s lap record for its Taycan Turbo S on the Nurburgring Nordschleife was 7 minutes and 7.55 seconds, set by Porsche development driver Lars Kern in August 2022 in a current-generation vehicle with the performance package.

On 2 January 2024, Lars walloped his own lap time in a pre-series next-generation Taycan Turbo S by an eye-watering 26 seconds, making this the fastest electric car from Zuffenhausen!

“Twenty-six seconds is half an eternity in motorsport. Lars’ lap time of 7:07.55 minutes on the Nordschleife is sensational, putting the Taycan in the same league as electric hypercars,” said head of the model line, Kevin Giek.

“And the impressive thing about it is that over several laps, Lars clocked almost exactly the same time.” Almost exactly within a second of one another.

“I pushed as hard as I could, but that was really all I could do,” said Kern. The Nurburgring-Nordschleife was at the exclusive disposal of the experienced racer for the day of fast laps.

For safety reasons, the test car was equipped with the legally prescribed roll cage, along with racing bucket seats.

Compared to the 2022 record, the times were significantly better. The pre-series car was a good 25km/h faster heading into Schwedenkreuz.

To illustrate the difference further, by the time Kern crossed the finish line near Grandstand 13 (T13) this time, he would have only just been passing the entrance to the Nordschleife, about to enter the Antoniusbuche section, during his record drive in 2022.

This put the distance between the pre-series Taycan and the current Turbo S at more than 1.3 kilometres – a figure that illustrates the leap in performance achieved on the 20.8km-long “Green Hell” in Germany’s Eifel region.

Photo Credits: Porsche

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