• Porsche recently launched its new Taycan to local media
• There are three models available, each with different power outputs, and claimed range figures
• All models are fitted with launch control systems and the flagship Turbo S derivative has a claimed 0-100km/h sprint time of 2.8 seconds
If you haven't watched a video of either a Tesla, Jaguar I-Pace or the new Porsche Taycan race against a powerful combustion engine car then, my only question is, where have you been?
The absurdity that fully-electric cars launch off the line is in mind boggling. And it's all to do with the instant torque that the motors send to the wheels when the throttle is prodded, it's immediate. There's no lag.
I've driven the BMW i3 and Jaguar I-Pace, both fully-electric, and was shocked at how rapid these cars pull away. The latest electric car to launch in South Africa is from a manufacturer usually associated with sports car, particularly the 911. Yep, Porsche's new Taycan. The name is composed of two terms of Turkic origin, this word can be roughly translated as "soul of a spirited young horse."
Porsche's local arm invited motoring media to drive the new Taycan in the City of Gold a few weeks ago. Car launches have been postponed since lockdown and the Taycan launch is one of the first to happen in almost five months.
Nevertheless the media flooded Instagram and Twitter with videos and photographs of the silent four-door sedan.
Image: Wheels24 / Janine Van der Post
Wheels24 editor Janine Van der Post drove the Taycan in Cape Town, read all about her experience here.
The Porsche Taycan is the carmaker's first foray into a fully-electric production car and in Turbo S form (the irony isn't lost on us) the performance figures are startling.
It has 460kW (560kW with overboost) and 1050Nm, and is capable of reaching 100km/h from standstill in 2.8-seconds. The front and rear placement of the electric motors essentially makes it a four-wheel-drive but the driver can switch the motors on and off, this takes place in mere milliseconds.
Popular media from the launch was the way the Taycan launches off the line.
In4ride's Thami Masemola translates into words what the launch feels like: "That 0–100km/h launch – which I did three times – can be done over ten times straight without damaging the car. But what it feels like is possibly what fighter jet pilots feel like on take-off. Neck-snapping, jaw-dropping, eye-popping. Count to three now and just imagine it."
The Johannesburg-based motoring journalist said: "Nothing prepares you for the first time. And the second time. And the third time…Distance markers, like trees and Ferraris, arrive and disappear in a blur behind the car, as though they were some old memory. In complete silence."
The Taycan 4S priced at R2 586 000, the middle of the range Turbo model costs R3 426 000 and the flagship Turbo S model is priced at R4 027 000.
Porsche South Africa has confirmed that order books are indeed already open for the Taycan, and first deliveries are expected later this year, or early 2021.