Porsche and the EPA are at it again. The US federal agency started raining on the much ballyhooed electric sedan’s parade shortly after its unveiling by dramatically cutting down its range estimate to 201 miles for the mid-line Turbo model. Undaunted, Porsche commissioned its own testing agency for a “real world” range, and now comes even worse news for the top-dog Taycan Turbo S model ... it's even lower!
Range Anxiety
According to the EPA,the $189K, 750hp Porsche Taycan Turbo S carries a paltry 192-mile range on a full charge. Not unexpectedly, Porsche once again commissioned a third party, AMCI, to do an evaluation of the model’s range, and unsurprisingly, it has come out with a 278 mile figure for the high-performing electric sedan. What’s surprising is that in those tests, the Turbo S model’s range turned out to be even higher than the Turbo model's (275). Porsche is claiming that the seemingly counter intuitive result is due to the all-season tires used on the Turbo S.
Measuring Up?
The news is even more alarming considering the fact that the 2020 Tesla Model S Long Range has a 373 mile EPA-rated combined range, which is just shy of double the range of the car from Stuttgart. In other words, your Taycan Turbo S will cost nearly double the price of the Tesla and offer half the range. No one can truly claim that the Model S offers the driving dynamics that are built into every Porsche, but we are still scratching our heads at this one.
All credit to Porsche though, as they have never dismissed EPA’s estimates, but feel that their numbers are more representative of the actual range consumers can expect from their Taycans. We are anxious to see what type of range actual consumers and others will experience once the model is available for long-range and real-world testing, and whether or not they can save the brand new all-electric Porsche sport sedan. Until then, we are willing to give Porsche the benefit of the doubt.
Sources: Car and Driver, Motor Trend