Ever since the EV revolution began, there's been a lot of pressure on established automakers to push out models with no tailpipe emissions. Luckily, most automakers got on the train pretty quickly, and started releasing their own take on the EV. But almost none of these were quite as big of a deal as the Porsche Taycan sports car.
The Taycan was one of the most anticipated EVs ever since the release of the Mission E concept a few years ago, which previewed the production model. All the hype seemed to be worth it, though. Here are just a few reasons why the Taycan is better than any Tesla.
10 It Looks Fantastic
It's no secret that the 911 is the starting point for every single Porsche in history in terms of design, for good and bad. While that philosophy gave us the original Cayenne and the original Panamera, which didn't quite work to say the least, all is well with the Taycan.
It has a long, athletic, slender profile, and the influences from the 911 actually work very well this time around. What's more, a Sport Turismo wagon version is coming soon, and that should look even better.
9 Proven Build Quality And Luxury
While Tesla's interiors are nice, and they feature some pretty cool technology, the complaints about build quality and finishes aren't exactly scarce. Not so in the Taycan.
Despite being an EV, the Taycan is built like any Porsche, and this is especially noticeable in the interior. The finishes are gorgeous, the quality is completely off the charts, and it feels exactly as good as its price would suggest. And it's extremely unlikely to feature any creaks, rattles, or not properly glued panels.
8 You Can Still Get It With Sport Chrono
Yes, even though this is an electric car with no real need for launch control, due to the instant loadout of torque, it's still available with Porsche's Sport Chrono package.
In the ICE-powered Porsche models, as well as providing improvements to acceleration, Sport Chrono places an analog stopwatch (seconds only) on the dashboard with a small digital clock in the center. Even though the Taycan's instrumentation consists entirely of screens, the Sport Chrono stopwatch remains analog, and that's just a really cool piece of attention to detail.
7 New Levels Of Regenerative Braking
Most electric cars and plug-in hybrids have regenerative braking, whereby the car can use some of the energy generated by braking and then return it to the batteries to increase the range, but the Taycan takes this to a new level.
Porsche claims that over 90% of braking that's done during normal, everyday driving can be done simply by the electric motors alone, without having to use the actual brakes all that much. They add that the Taycan can regenerate up to 265 kW of energy while braking. That's a lot.
6 The Name Is Far Cooler
While Tesla's models are cleverly named to spell out SEXY whenever they're put together in a certain order (S3XY), the names of the models themselves are just a bit boring. Model 3, Model S, Model X, and so on. Porsche did it right by naming this car the Taycan.
It sounds cool, it sounds like it has presence, it sounds like a big deal. What's more, the Taycan has a unique distinction of being the only electric car currently available to offer a variation with "Turbo" in its name. Actually, make that two, because Porsche also offers a "Turbo S." Now compare that to "Tesla Model S." Taycan Turbo S seems to have a better ring to it.
5 It Has The Coolest Charge Port Ever
On other EVs, the charge port is a pretty standard affair. It opens by a button in the interior, by tapping it on the outside, and it just swings open. Maybe with a little bit of grace and dampening, like on Tesla. The Porsche Taycan's charge port makes all the other EV charge ports look vintage.
Beside the charge port door, there's a little winglet. Upon sliding your finger underneath the winglet, the door to the charge port slides downwards and folds away, revealing the charge port. This is space-age stuff, and it definitely makes the charging experience in the Taycan a lot more fun.
4 Really Fast Charging
And speaking of that charge port, the Taycan's charging speeds are one of its most talked-about features. Thanks to the 800V architecture, even when compared to Tesla's Superchargers, the Taycan can charge from almost empty to 80% juice in around 20 minutes, which is simply insane.
The good thing is, this offsets the seemingly low EV range the Taycan has, something that seemed to worry journalists back in the day, which was all later discovered to be nothing to worry about. However, should the range anxiety ever crop up, the newly launched base model, simply called the Taycan, solves the range problem to an extent, but it's unconfirmed for the U.S.
3 Insanely Cool Factory Colors And Wheels
Tesla's factory colors are, to say the least, very boring. The Taycan does this idea much better, being an EV and a Porsche as well. As well as various unique and eye-catching colors, including the new-for-2021 Frozen Berry Metallic, the Taycan is also available with some unique wheel designs.
The coolest of those have to be the five-spoke design that is color-matched to the exterior, mimicking the wheels seen on the Mission E concept, which previewed the production Taycan a few years ago.
2 Both A Regular Wagon And Off-Road Wagon Are Coming
Electric station wagons aren't exactly commonplace in the industry right now, but Porsche has promised that a wagon version of the Taycan, most certainly named the Taycan Sport Turismo will be coming soon. Due to the Taycan's design, it could be considered a "shooting brake."
As well as that, Porsche also promised an off-road-focused Taycan. Both the wagon and the cross wagon were previewed by the Cross Turismo concept. Think of the upcoming Taycan Cross Turismo as a Taycan Outback, or Taycan Allroad.
1 Dynamics Are Off The Charts
The most powerful version of the Taycan, the Turbo S, is terrifyingly fast. When overboost is activated, it puts down 750 hp. Combine that with the instant torque (of almost 800 lb/ft) from the electric motors, and the Taycan can shame some of the very best supercars out there in acceleration, even Porsche's own 911 Turbo S.
What's more, despite being very heavy, the Taycan's driving dynamics are uncompromised, and most journalists agree that it's not just one of the best handling EVs out there, it's one of the best handling Porsches. Ever. Considering what Porsche has made in the last dozens of years, that's high praise.
The Taycan, very expensive though it may be, has a lot of things going for it. Despite being new from a company that's unproven in the EV world, it's making a name for itself, and it has plenty of compelling attributes that could turn the potential Tesla buyer away. Perhaps then, it might just be worth its insane asking price in the long-run.