Porsche’s Taycan has been a point of contention among automotive enthusiasts lately, arguing that it’s too expensive, or has too short of a range, or that it’s not a “real Porsche”. We truly loved the Taycan Turbo S when we got an opportunity to test it last year. And it feels like the future of not only Porsche, but sports cars in general. Even if sporty EVs never get better than this, is it really that bad? Heck, it’s not even as bad as the numbers might indicate.
The new Taycan 4S has an EPA-rated range of 203 miles. But that doesn’t paint the full picture. Many EV drivers have said the rating is too low, and does not represent real world driving scenarios. So, what better way to test that claim than by driving one in the real world? Matt Farah of Road & Track and The Smoking Tire fame set out to find out a more realistic number.
Beginning with a “long range” Taycan 4S with the large battery option, Farah decided to take the car on a near-300-mile highway road trip to find out how far it could go. He hopped on the 10 and headed east from the Pacific Ocean to Palm Springs and back, taking a longer route on the way home. For the sake of simplicity, he set the air conditioning to a steady 70 degrees, put the car in “Range” mode, and took off. No hypermiling, no tricks, just regular old cruise control at 70 miles per hour as often as possible.
The journey began with a displayed available range of 257 miles, which on its own is far better than the EPA rating on the Monroney. Even better, without even trying, Farah managed to smoke even Porsche’s projected range by a good bit.
Getting to Palm Springs, 125 miles away from the start point, the Taycan’s readout said 167 miles to empty! After adding several miles to the second half of the journey, the Taycan returned to where it had started just shy of 5 hours later with 275.6 miles on the clock. The computer still claimed another 18 miles were possible.
The Taycan 4S can almost do half again the range that it is rated for. At high speed, where EVs aren’t the most efficient, no less. Given a flatter route, a lower cruise control speed, and a few minor hypermiling efforts, I’m willing to bet it’ll easily hit the 300 miles number. Great, now I need to go out and buy a Taycan…
View Comments (4)
When the mileage is similar to that of gasoline engines, or when fast chargers are routinely available, I'll consider it. As it is, even 275 miles won't get me where I want to go. It's 400 miles to visit the kids, for example, one tank full in the Macan. And 250-275 is a routine club drive, I doubt it would get that mileage given the hills and twisties where we go, with constant acceleration and braking. Sorry, but not going to save my nickels right now.
I dont see what was achieved by the drive to Palm Springs and back, if you were going to do the same in a fuel driven car i would have filled up in Palm Springs before coming home, you would do the same thing in a electric car just top it up and have a bite to eat and drink before the drive home and the people with Range Anxiety would enjoy the drive home, simple.
ill just buy a used Cayman for way less than this, shift it manually, and be happy.
Patrick good to see you are happy when you are happy it makes someone else happy and enjoy the Porsche Cayman i would prefer a Boxster. Cheers.