The 2019 Porsche Taycan: the full lowdown

It will do 0-62mph in ‘less than 3.5 seconds’, says Porsche officially. Is that a simulation or a real figure, Top Gear asks project head Stefan Weckbach. It was a simulation when they announced the number for the show car (above) in 2015, he says, but now it’s been proved. Oh, and he emphasises the ‘less than’ part of the claim. But refuses to answer by how much it’ll be quicker.

It’ll also get to 125mph in ‘less than’ 12 seconds and have a top speed of ‘more than’ 155mph. See a pattern here?

This whole lot is brought about by a pair of powerful motors, front and rear, totalling ‘more than’ (here we go again) 600bhp. They’re the permanent magnet synchronous type, as used by Nissan and others. They’re more power-dense and temperature-stable than Tesla’s induction motors.

Porsche has also said the acceleration figure will be repeatable, time after time, as the battery goes down. Again, temperature management is critical. Weckbach says the battery uses liquid cooling, as most other EVs do.

This claim about repeatability is surely a dig at Tesla. Ludicrous Mode on a Model S means a full charge. The Porsche, like the Tesla, will also need a battery conditioning interval, though. “You can’t beat physics,” he admits. So to repeat 0-60 in the three-second range actually means waiting several minutes in between goes, and that kinda defeats the point.

He says that the car will have multiple modes including Sport Plus that reconfigure its systems for when you want a blitz run.

To keep the acceleration strong all the way to top speed, two-speed gearboxes will be used. The 918 decouples its front motor at speed; it’s conceivable the Mission E will have a two-speed box at the back and a decoupling clutch at the front. It’s fundamentally a rear-biased car anyway, as the rear motor is more powerful than the front.

To a Porsche lover, acceleration comes with a sweet noise (well, unless it’s a 718 Boxster or Cayman, maybe). But the Mission E won’t have an engine sound. Because no engine. Porsche R&D chief Michael Steiner says: “It needs to be low noise, but with more emotion. But not a false V8 or flat-six sound. We could synthesise that, but it would be silly. The sound will be linked to the technology.”

It’s supposed to do 500 km, or 310 miles, but that’s on the NEDC cycle. The real-world will be a lot less. Maybe 220 miles at UK motorway speed. (A Tesla Model S 100D is 393 miles NEDC but even Tesla says 279 miles at a steady 75mph). So that 80 per cent charge would be 175 miles. Now your route planning would have to be perfect (and your bravery gigantic) to arrive at the charge point with zero miles on the range-meter.

All EVs have that trouble, mind. And if you want to get to a destination 220 miles away, and then trickle-charge when you got there, well you could do it non-stop.

Forget the raised chassis and body cladding of this year’s concept car (above). The Taycan will be sleek and low, like the very first Mission E concept from September 2015. It won’t get the clap-hands doors, though, or quite such wide hips. Because, you know, it’s not actually a concept car.

In fact, it will have pretty much the same body shell as the Cross Turismo, but on lower springs, and without the extended roof. Think of how the Panamera came as a base car and then a Sport Turismo. As Porsche design chief Michael Mauer told Top Gear: “If we do a concept and it comes to production it doesn’t look so different.”

The Taycan has a unique floorpan. Apart from high-performance suspension parts, one of its features is a contoured battery rather than a simple sandwich shape. It has cut-outs in the rear foot-wells, so all four people in the car will sit very low, meaning an overall height of just 1.3m.

Weight? We don’t know an exact figure, but Weckbach says the body will be built of a combination of materials – aluminium panels, magnesium castings, high-strength steel – just like the 911. And remember, the 911 somehow manages to be lighter than its pure-aluminium rivals.

Partly, that lightness will come by avoiding bloat. The Mission E is shorter than a Panamera.

Steiner also confirms that this is separate from the crossover electric platform Porsche is co-developing with Audi.