Consistently one of the major gripes we hear about the inevitable and steady march of electrification is charging times. Consumers are worried, and rightfully so, that charging is going to end up consuming their entire day if they want to get somewhere farther than the range of the vehicle can take them. Porsche set out to alleviate some of that anxiety. A brand new Taycan just went from New York to Los Angeles only needing to be plugged in for a cumulative charge time of 2 hours 26 minutes and 48 seconds.
That’s astonishing. Being stopped for less and an hour per 1000 miles is pretty impressive. In the average gasoline car 1000 miles is pretty much an entire day of driving and at least two stops to fill up and grab snacks or meals. If you can time your meals with your charging, it’s possible you could even beat the gas car to the finish in your Taycan.
The previous charging record holder was Kia’s new EV6, which took just over 7 hours of plugged-in time to make it coast to coast. Not only does this showcase just how efficient the Taycan is, but it’s also a display of its range and superior charging speeds. The most interesting part of this is the fact that this record was set during the very cold winter, when EVs are at their least efficient.
This record was set by Wayne Gerdes, a hypermiling mastermind. Porsche claims that Gerdes spent the full trip driving at “normal speeds” and sometimes even a little faster. From my experience, a Taycan is at its most efficient around 75 to 80 miles per hour, so that checks out. It’s quite likely that Gerdes was using every bit of aerodynamic drafting as he could. If he found a semi truck running those speeds, it was probably more efficient to keep pace with that vehicle tucked in its aero wake than slower solo.
The car was an efficient Taycan with the larger Performance Battery Plus, with the added benefit of adaptive cruise control. That’s pretty much the ideal spec of Taycan for a cross-country drive. Gerdes claimed that on the first charge he watched the car zoom up from 6 percent to 82 percent in just 22 minutes! The record was set using Electrify America’s 350kW charging network, which is indeed the best one to use for a Taycan trip.
When you’re filling up your gas tank on a road trip, think about how long you’re actually at the gas station. It might only be a 6 or 7 minute fill up at the pump, but then you have to go inside to pick up a few snacks or use the facialities. Surely you’re stopped for 20 minutes or so. At that rate, there’s practically no disadvantage to a Taycan. Think about that!
