Luxury carmaker Porsche has given fans a glimpse of it’s all-electric Taycan as it gears up to debut its premium electric vehicle this September 2019.
With the carmaker reporting that over 20,000 people have pre-ordered its first full electric vehicle, the Taycan will come equipped with an 800-volt system that will charge at rates of 350 kW – making recharging its battery a task that will take as little as 4 minutes to add an extra 100km range.
The interest has been so great that Porsche have already doubled initial production from 20,000 to 40,000.
Stefan Weckbach, head of battery electric vehicles at Porsche, says the emphasis in creating the Taycan has been on ensuring it is not set apart from its ICE counterparts by virtue of its electric powertrain.
“As the first fully electrical Porsche, the Taycan has to show that it is a fully-fledged member of the Porsche brand,” he says. “Of course, this is a great challenge – and a huge expectation, both internally and externally.”
The camouflaged image appears to show a vehicle that differs somewhat from its concept version, the Mission E (although granted, this could be due to its wrap).
As part of a €6 billion ($A9.6 billion) investment in electromobility, the Taycan will Porsche says will also be joined by its second electric mode, an all-electric Macan, and will also be produced as in a crossover GT style.
It will be produced at Porsche’s Zuffenhausen car plant, which it has been readying for production and says will eventually operate as a totally carbon neutral factory and will provide an additional 5,000 jobs.
In addition to its pure electric drivetrains, Porsche says its hybrid models are also doing well – 60% of its Panameras sold in 2018 were “e-Hybrids”.
“In the 2018 financial year, our attractive product range enabled us to once again significantly increase deliveries. Porsche is synonymous with emotional petrol engines and high-performance plug-in hybrids; in the future it will be just known as well for pure electric drive systems,” said chair of Porsche AG’s executive board, Oliver Blume, in a statement to the press.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.