Porsche set a new record for four-door, all-electric sports cars on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. Test driver Lars Kern circled the legendary track known as the “Green Hell” in seven minutes and 42 seconds.The lap time was set over the 20.6-kilometre course that’s usually used for record attempts. During the attempt, Lars Kern drove a pre-series Taycan.
Said Kern, “The Taycan is also suitable for race tracks and it convincingly proved that here on the world’s most challenging circuit. He added, “Again and again, I am impressed at how stable the all-electric sports car handles in high-speed sections, such as Kesselchen, and how neutrally it accelerates from tight sections, such as Adenauer Forst.”
The first fully electric sports car of the Stuttgart-headquartered carmaker, named Taycan, means “lively young horse,” giving tribute to the imagery in the Porsche crest. The Taycan is the first production vehicle with an innovative 800V technology rather than the normal 400 volts for electric cars. It produces over 600ps, and attains a top speed of 250kph. It reaches 100kph from standstill in less than 3.5 seconds.
This full-electric sports car is an all-wheel drive with two efficient electric motors on the front and rear axles. The AWD, integrated Porsche 4D-Chassis Control, operates significantly faster than conventional systems. Its chassis system includes adaptive air suspension with three-chamber technology including electronic damper control PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management), as well as the Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control Sport (PDCC Sport) electromechanical roll stabilisation system, including Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV Plus). The record-breaking car also featured rear-axle steering and 21-inch tires.
The driving modesof the new Taycan offer special settings to make full use of the all-electric drive’s properties. In “Sport Plus” mode, driver requests are implemented in an extremely dynamic way. As a result, the battery’s cooling and heating strategy has been designed for maximum performance. At the same time, the cooling air flaps are opened, the rear spoiler is extended early on for minimal lift, while the chassis set-up becomes optimized for maximum race track performance, and the suspension permanently set in the lowest position. “The Taycan mastered its Triple Endurance Run superbly. First, our electric sports car demonstrated the reproducibility of its performance as part of a strenuous test involving 26 successive acceleration runs from zero to 200kph. Then it completed 3,425 kilometers within 24 hours in Nardò without any issues and now the record at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife,” declared Stefan Weckbach, vice president for the Taycan product line. “Numerous factors contribute to this performance and the efficiency of the powertrain, also at high speeds. These include the chassis systems that react within a fraction of a second as well as the outstanding aerodynamics.”