The Tesla Model S range is what several electric cars aspire. The Model S Long Range has 373 miles of range, while the Model S Performance offers 348 miles of battery juice in a single charge. In comparison, the Porsche Taycan electric car which competes with the Model S in the premium EV segment can only manage a range of 201 miles.
The battery range is based on the EPA cycle, which is pretty accurate to real-world driving. Porsche Taycan is the most inefficient electric car, according to EPA ratings. However, several Porsche fans argue that the battery range of 201 miles is more than enough if you’re driving to and from home.
“Porsche Buyers are wealthy people who don’t care about battery range” is the usual sentiment among Porsche fans. However, efficiency for an EV is of paramount importance. This is because electric cars are innately heavy due to the presence of a big battery pack. Now, if these cars were to be inefficient, then an even bigger battery pack would be required to compensate for that.
Currently, the Porsche Taycan Turbo S weighs around 5,132 pounds and offers 201 miles of battery range. If it were to have the Tesla Model S range capability, then the Taycan would need to be 6,321 pounds, which is an insane amount of weight for a sports sedan.
Jason Fenske, from “Engineering Explained,” demonstrated the ill effects of an EV being inefficient in his latest video.
Porsche Taycan VS Tesla Model S Range
Jason explains that three main factors can present the case of why being inefficient is bad for Porsche Taycan electric car. The factors are money, range, and weight.
He explained that due to the exceptional Tesla Model S range, a user only needs to spend $700 per year while driving the car. Whereas, the same user would’ve to spend $950 to drive the Porsche Taycan.
But considering that Taycan owners are wealthy people, they won’t mind paying an extra 250 bucks to get their car rolling.
Jason then moves on to the second point – range – which is interlinked with the third one, which is the weight. Porsche Taycan delivers around 201 miles from a battery that weighs 1,389 pounds. On the other hand, the Model S has a range of 373 miles (Long-Range version) and 348 miles (Performance version), respectively, and the weight of the Tesla Model S is 4,883 pounds.
Now, if the Porsche Taycan wanted to go as far as the Model S Long Range, then it’d need to add a 1,200 pound of the lithium-ion battery pack to its current capacity.
Already, the Porsche Taycan weighs more than a Ford-F150, Jason Fenske explained, and with 1,200 pounds of additional weight, it’d be insanely heavy for any vehicle, let alone a sports sedan.
“Adding range to an electric car is difficult to do because that makes the car heavy,” said Jason. “Doing so in a Gasoline car isn’t that big of a deal even if it’s only getting 14 mpg.” Jason further said by giving the example of Shelby GT 500.
In the Mustang, only 67 additional pounds of weight is required to add enough fuel for it to have a Tesla Model S Range capability. Whereas in the Porsche Taycan, it’d require adding another 1,200 pounds.
Why Is Porsche Taycan So Inefficient?
Jason also revealed why the Porsche Taycan has such a low range despite having a 93.4 kWh battery. Around 12% of that battery is locked to protect it from overcharging, and to meet the 8-year extended warranty.
That’s not the case with Tesla, as you can access 100% of the Model S Range without any problem. Tesla leaves a lot of choices for the customer. It has its positives and negatives depending upon the customer.
However, it doesn’t negate the fact that Tesla is still providing more miles/kWh than the Porsche Taycan. Because even if a 100% of Porsche Taycan battery range was unlocked, it’d only deliver 225 miles, which is less than the most affordable entry-level electric sedan Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus, which offers 250 miles of range.
Jason also explained that the difference in regen strategy is also the reason why Porsche Taycan has such a less range. You can watch the video above to find out about it in detail.
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