Real-world tests of the Porsche Taycan show better range than EPA estimates

Jeff Glucker

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When the EPA stated that the range of a Porsche Taycan is 201 miles, the automotive world had questions. Well, not Tesla fans. They stood and cheered because their rising tide should only lift one ship. The rest deserve shotgun holes through their hulls. Regardless, everyone was shocked and confused that an extremely expensive electric offering from Porsche would return such a relatively dismal range. It’s not terrible, mind you, but it’s far less than everyone expected.

Still, Porsche is known for undertaking its metrics. The 0-60 mph runs happen more quickly than Porsche would admit. Sometimes there is more power on tap. The clear metric for this brand is both lap times for its top-tier sports cars, and units sold for its crossovers. Perhaps it’s not fazed by the EPA rating because it knows it’s being undercut there as well.

Some real-world figures

The Drive’s Alex Roy spent some time behind a Taycan recently. He set out to prove that the car is capable of more than was calculated by the EPA. Roy, over the course of the last few years, has become fully immersed in the EV (and autonomy) space. He owns a Tesla Model 3 and puts many miles on it on a weekly basis. He’s also owned a few Porsches, and he’s been known to make some long trips from time to time. Roy is uniquely qualified to run this Taycan through its paces.

To test the car, Alex started in Los Angeles with a full charge. He set out for Phoenix and then returned, which put Alex at 800 miles round trip. This required stopping at Electrify America charging stations in Indio, California and Buckeye, Arizona. Two stations I’m familiar with, as I used both during my Audi E-Tron cross-country run.

Electric Cannonball: NYC to LA in an Audi E-Tron

Better than the EPA says

Roy wanted proper data capture and posterity on his run. So he snapped pictures of indicated range displays, ran a GoPro during the run, and noted all the numbers. How did he and the Porsche Taycan do?  Roy saw 295 miles of available range during his return run from Phoenix to Los Angeles.

Using Range Mode, the Taycan limits top speed to 70 mph and reduces the flow of the air-conditioning system.  So Alex set the cruise control at 70, kept the car cool even with the limited cooling air flow, and had no problem seeing strong range figures.

You can read the full article at The Drive. There’s a video there as well. Go check it out.

About

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Hooniverse.com. He’s often seen getting passed as he hustles a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero up the 405 Freeway. IG: @HooniverseJeff

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6 responses to “Real-world tests of the Porsche Taycan show better range than EPA estimates”

  1. Wayne Moyer Avatar
    Wayne Moyer

    “Taycan do” just sounds like something I would have watched with bad dubbing and maybe Jet Li and Sammo Hung. So I guess we don’t know if Porsche nerfed the tests or if parent VW did in a just in case scenario. Better to say it does two hundred miles now in case they have a bad run of batteries than promise two hundred and fifty.

    Reply
  2. crank_case Avatar
    crank_case

    How does Porshes KW/h per mile efficiency compare with Tesla? ..because that’s the one thing Tesla really seem to have nailed and it’d be interesting to see if a conventional car manufacturer can match it. The focus has been pure on range for so long, but I think more and more people will start to look at efficiency as mere being electric won’t be enough to be seen as “green”, i.e. for every KW/h you put in at a charger, how many miles does it do?

    From a selfish pleasure standpoint, more kw/h per mile means smaller batteries which means edging closer to a proper light and cheap EV sports car.

    Reply
    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      This is what the Honda e tries to do, with a smaller battery and an efficient setup. Jalopnik said the Taycan used 0.2 kWh/km and considers that to be a lot. I use almost the same in our Leaf, so after that article, I checked my brakes. ? But they were quite recently greased and the wheels free turning, so I just decided that that is an ok “fuel” consumption.

      Reply
    2. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      This is what the Honda e tries to do, with a smaller battery and an efficient setup. Jalopnik said the Taycan used 0.2 kWh/km and considers that to be a lot. I use almost the same in our Leaf, so after that article, I checked my brakes. ? But they were quite recently greased and the wheels free turning, so I just decided that that is an ok “fuel” consumption.

      Reply
  3. outback_ute Avatar
    outback_ute

    I read that Porsche wanted a range figure that could be achieved in any condition, not a best-case. Although that efficiency is not as good as Tesla by a margin.

    Reply
  4. Vairship Avatar
    Vairship

    “Range displayed” is somewhat meaningless though, here’s a Bolt driver showing 372 miles of available range. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9MBf4C3gHE

    Equally meaningless as Alex’s Roy’s “I managed to get it to display 295”.

    The same goes for “I drove it xxx miles!” That may be true, but it’s not statistically significant. Did you go downhill? Did you have strong tailwinds? Were you drafting behind trucks? How many people did you have in the car? Did you have the A/C at the lowest setting (as Alex Roy admits), or did you have it at a “comparable” setting used in every EPA test?
    Much like MPG in an ICE car, the number itself is not that significant. But a car that does better in the current EPA tests is still likely to have a longer “real world” range/MPG than a car that did worse. Regardless of anecdotal evidence.

    Reply