Porsche Taycan Set to Strike Australia

The Porsche Taycan connects the company’s past with its future. The first all-electric Porsche sports car is available to order now, with Australian deliveries to commence from December 2020. It’s not often that Porsche adds a new nameplate to its model line-up, let alone a revolutionary technology masterpiece such as the Taycan. The four-door sports sedan offers typical Porsche performance and connectivity with everyday usability. It has the soul of a Porsche, electrified.

“The highest compliment you can afford the Taycan is that it is a true Porsche sports car,” said Sam Curtis, CEO and Managing Director, Porsche Cars Australia. “It has the soul of a Porsche and all of the performance and luxury you would expect from one of our sports cars.”

The fast sloping roof line is inspired by the 911. A typical Porsche feature is the active aerodynamics, including the rear spoiler, which can be extended in three stages depending on the driving situation. The Porsche Advanced Cockpit signals the start of a new era with its clear structure and a completely new architecture. The free-standing, curved instrument cluster forms the highest point on the dashboard. This places a clear focus on the driver axis. A central, 10.9-inch infotainment display and an optional passenger display are combined to form an integrated glass band in a black-panel look.

All user interfaces have been newly designed for the Taycan. The number of classic hardware controls such as switches and buttons has been greatly reduced. Instead, control is intelligent and intuitive—using touch operation or the voice control function, which responds to the command ‘Hey Porsche’.

The Taycan has two electric motors, one on the front axle and one on the rear axle, thus making the cars all-wheel drive. Both the range and the continuous power of the drive benefit from the high efficiency of the permanently excited synchronous motors.

The motors, two-speed gearbox and pulse-controlled inverters are each combined into a  compact drive module. The modules have the highest power density (kilowatts per litre of package space) of all electric powertrains on the market today. The two-speed gearbox installed on the rear axle is an innovation developed by Porsche. First gear gives the Taycan even more acceleration from a standing start, while second gear with a long gear ratio ensures high efficiency and equally high power reserves. This also applies at very high speeds.

The Taycan uses a centrally networked control system for the chassis. The integrated Porsche 4D Chassis Control analyses and synchronises all chassis systems in real time. The innovative chassis systems include adaptive air suspension with three-chamber technology including Porsche Active Suspension Management, electronic damper control, as well as the Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control Sport electromechanical roll stabilisation system including Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus.

The all-wheel drive control with two electric motors and the recuperation system are unique. At up to 265 kilowatts, the potential recuperation power is significantly higher than that of competitors. Driving tests have shown that approximately 90 percent of everyday braking is performed by the electric machines alone—without the hydraulic wheel brakes needing to be activated.

As well as the Chargefox network, Porsche is also partnering with premium lifestyle destinations such as luxury hotels, theatres, restaurants, shopping precincts and cellar door locations to install ‘Porsche Destination Chargers’. These destinations can be viewed on porsche.com.au. But the majority of charging will most likely be done at home. When purchasing a Taycan, Porsche Centre sales consultants are able to arrange a Home Check service from JET Charge in order to determine installation requirements for charging at home.

Performance from race to road

To be a true Porsche sports car, performance not only has to be available, but also repeatable. Australian racing star and Porsche brand ambassador Mark Webber was involved in the development and testing of the Taycan. His experience driving the Porsche 919 Hybrid, a car that influenced much of the technology in the Taycan, was invaluable when it came to his input. As was his skill at pushing cars to their absolute limit—something Porsche encouraged.

“I’ve driven it a lot on the race track. As usual, the brief was ‘go out there and drive it as hard as you want, as quickly as you want’,” said Webber.

“You need to have an underlying brutality of performance. As Porsche drivers, we want to have our cake and eat it too. We want high-end performance, but we want to be able to take it on the street.

“The highest compliment you can afford the Taycan is that it is a true Porsche sports car.” Sam Curtis

“How does it stop? How does it turn? What is the response like? How is the body roll? How is the 4WD component? How is the torque distribution? The R&D process has been extremely challenging. But because of our racing history and the resources that Porsche has thrown at this, we have landed on something unique.”

Webber admits that he was no electric vehicle evangelist initially. But his time in the 919 Hybrid was a turning point.

“Before I drove race cars with electric power, I was on the fence at best. I’ve driven some seriously, seriously impressive internal combustion engine cars in my life. But when I got the chance to sample the 919 Hybrid for the first time, the sheer torque and the four-wheel drive acceleration of the car was massive. In testing, none of the drivers wanted to drive the car if the electric component of the powertrain was disabled. It was only half the car without it.”

Webber says that Taycan owners will not be disappointed, with elements of the 919 Hybrid, including the use of an 800 volt architecture, transferred over to the Taycan.

“What makes the Taycan a Porsche is its performance. The driving experience, how engaged you are with the car—despite no noise.

“The aerodynamics and the drag coefficient are extremely slick. The seating position, the finish of the interior … all of the Porsche DNA is in there. I’m confident that Taycan owners in Australia are in for a pleasant surprise.”