Porsche Taycan electric car promises super fast charging

PORSCHE has revealed vital details of its new electric sports car, which manages to beat the Tesla Model S in one crucial category.

PORSCHE has revealed vital details of its coming Taycan electric sports car.

The Tesla Model S rival falls short in comparison to the spritely American in many areas but sets a benchmark in one key area.

The Stuttgart maker has announced that the Taycan can recharge its batteries to 80 per cent in just 15 minutes when hooked up to a high-capacity charger.

This is less than half the time it takes Tesla to achieve the same level of charge when plugged into to its supercharger.

Porsche achieves this feat via the addition of a new 800-volt battery pack — compared to the 400V industry standard.

Porsche is collaborating with major brands BMW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and the rest of the Volkswagen Audi Group to expand charging infrastructure. Initially the focus of the growth will be in Europe and China.

Charging ahead: The Taycan has a higher capacity battery than other electric cars.

The German maker believes that the planned growth in electric cars would have minimal impact on existing electricity infrastructure with moderate growth expected until 2025. However, the brand expects the following decade to put more stress on the grid especially in high-growth areas.

The Taycan’s claimed 500km driving range might ease potential buyers’ range anxiety but it falls short of the almost 600km claimed by the range-topping Tesla Model S.

Porsche features a similar all-wheel drive layout to the high-powered Teslas with a motor powering each axle. The powertrain makes a combined 440kW in the Taycan, meaning the sprint from 0-100km/h takes just 3.5 seconds.

The Model S P100D claims superior figures, producing 568kW and clocking 2.7 seconds for the a 0-100km/h sprint.

Supercar performance: The Tesla Model S P100D sets the electric performance benchmark.

Porsche is expecting to build up to 20,000 examples of the Taycan a year. Global sales start next year and the car will arrive here in 2020.

Over the next two years, Tesla faces a fresh wave of electric competitors. The Jaguar I-Pace arrives in Australia in the coming months, while Mercedes-Benz is in the late stages of bringing the EQ C electric SUV to market. Volkswagen and Hyundai will bring more affordable electric options in the next few years as the major brands battle for market share.

Tesla also faces internal headwinds as it struggles to build the Model 3 compact sedan in sufficiently large numbers to make the company profitable.

Late last month the company built 5000 cars in a week, reaching the mark it set to get back in the black. However, the car making minnow achieved this only by building a third production line under a tent in the car park of its California factory.