Get Used To This Picture. The Porsche Taycan Turbo S' Range Is Made Public And You WON'T Believe It...

What started out as an awesome vehicle has slowly devolved into one of the most perplexing. That would be the all-new electric Porsche Taycan.

In theory, it sounded brilliant. Finally, a Tesla Model S competitor!

Slowly though, the narrative shifted. It went from being a Model S competitor to "something else." A driver-oriented, high-performance electric vehicle. At least that's what Porsche wanted journalists to publish.

To me it looks like a slick four-door with seating for up to five passengers. In other words, a daily driver that can put a smile on your face after a bad day at the office.

Meaning via the "Spy before you buy," decoder: A Model S rival.

But that's being eroded away due to poor range. It wasn't too long ago that the Taycan Turbo's range was published by the EPA. 201 miles on a full charge. The Taycan Turbo S' range was just published and it gets worse. 192 miles on a full charge. Keep in mind, the first takes we've posted from early reviews made note that the miles just peel off the Taycan. Meaning, its range isn't exactly surefooted if you get carried away. While this is to be expected, reviewers noted it was happening at an extremely rapid rate.

If this was an all-electric 911 or Cayman or the like, I'd get it. It's a weekend toy. But we're talking about a daily, folks.

The Taycan Turbo S is rated at 68 MPGe combined. This officially makes it the least efficient EV on offer in the States. The Model S Performance (with 21-inch wheels), on the other hand, achieves 97 MPGe.

SanJoseDriver - 1/16/2020 2:48:44 AM

+4 Boost

192 miles is less than a 2012 1st gen Model S P85. I think that range is actually fine for 95% of the population, but if you take this to that track that is going to be like 20 minutes of driving.

Sidenote, my 2013 Model S "60" with 100,000 miles on the battery gets 198 miles of range. (60 is in quotes because it looks like I got a free upgrade from a 40)

pcar4evr - 1/16/2020 3:37:33 AM

+4 Boost

192 miles is almost exactly how often I had to put a quart of oil in my brand new 996 turbo twenty years ago. Porsche ain't perfect - not surprised early t-can has teething problems.

runninglogan1 - 1/16/2020 5:36:48 AM

+6 Boost

Just shows that when it comes to EV tech, Tesla is way ahead of the competition.

jeffgall - 1/16/2020 6:16:46 AM

-4 Boost

It’s easy when you forgoe engineering quality at the expense of customer safety.

skytop - 1/16/2020 7:12:43 AM

+1 Boost

192 miles was what I bicycled to school to (uphill both ways) when I was a kid.

MDarringer - 1/16/2020 8:06:40 AM

0 Boost

How is it possible for Porsche to come to market with class training technology?

vdiv - 1/16/2020 10:10:15 AM

+3 Boost

They had to trade in battery capacity for vehicle performance, they leaned on performance. People need to look at the vehicle wholistically, this is not a family minivan. Now missing on range with the e-tron, that has been more problematic.

Agent00R - 1/16/2020 5:47:38 PM

+2 Boost

Pst.

The e-tron SUV achieves a paltry 204 mi on a full charge.

They missed BIG!

countguy - 1/16/2020 8:41:32 AM

+5 Boost

Looks very nice. If I wanted an EV it would be my pick.

Truthy - 1/16/2020 9:54:10 AM

-1 Boost

Again, there are more reasons than range to buy an EV. Porsche intentional limited the amount of batteries for weight and to accommodate cooling of the batteries and electric motors. The cooling helps deliver performance that Tesla cannot in hard driving - witness the teslas being towed at the track.
Elon will forgo thorough engineering to have something to crow about. Taycans will not catch on fire and will deliver better high performance driving.

vdiv - 1/16/2020 10:13:58 AM

+2 Boost

Right, Porsche has no history of pushing the envelope and getting their cars extra-crispy, none at all!

1lostVW - 1/17/2020 11:47:08 AM

+2 Boost

If Taycan's wont catch fire, then why is Porsche demanding all dealers build fireproof separate stand alone battery storage units on all dealerships properties and mandating that Taycan only be worked on in a fireproof room that has to be built into ALL Porsche shops. I do not think Porsche has any magic in their mix of engineering... and the range is insulting on the new Taycan's all models when measured against the cost of the product compared to ALL other electric cars.

Truthy - 1/16/2020 1:17:03 PM

0 Boost

Tesla sales in California drop in half in the 4th quarter. Yep, when incentives end sales dry up. 7 investment house have downgraded Tesla stock to "sell" this week. Could be indicative of another quarterly loss.

Agent00R - 1/16/2020 5:48:44 PM

0 Boost

After the run the equity has had, I don't think I'd be holding it much longer.

Too volatile of a play, for my risk appetite.

SanJoseDriver - 1/18/2020 3:36:49 AM

+1 Boost

Given Q3 was profitable, I would be shocked if Q4 wasn't as well with much higher sales and costs that shouldn't be dramatically higher.

TSLA is a long-term play. Will be a fun ride but I expect in the long term you'll be kicking yourself for not holding a bit longer. 2020 has at least 4 big events going for the stock:

1.) China will be a goldmine with higher margins and perhaps the strongest brand of any relatively affordable car company in China.

2.) Model Y - it appears it will be on schedule for once and it will open up the market greatly.

3.) FSD - wildcard, if Tesla can pull this off this year it will be an epic first for any automotive company. I finally got a ride in someone's car with HW3 and FSD preview turned on and the accuracy for rendering stop lights, stop signs, and street markings was shockingly good. I would expect auto stopping at lights and stop signs within weeks and hopefully some limited city Nav on Autopilot soon after.

4.) Motor & Battery Investor Day - Tesla has something up their sleeve. Last investor day, they unveiled a chip 20 times better than their current autopilot hardware. What will they announce for motors and batteries? The 3-motor Plaid Powertrain is a given, but even a 10% improvement in battery tech would be a major shakeup in today's market.

If you're sick of Tesla articles, you have a painful year coming =)

1lostVW - 1/16/2020 4:56:03 PM

+1 Boost

Taycan is a fool's errand... Porsche family has egg all over their faces and will no doubt blame the EPA. Not themselves or the idiots they browbeat to death that have once again over promised and under delivered... For all the billions they claim to throw at EV development to make up for lying about the diesel engine software, someone at the top may want to ask the easy questions, can I drive from my office in Stuttgart to my Castle in Salzburg at Autobahn speeds without needing a charge? Simple answer, NO... it 230 miles.... unbelievable.