Porsche Taycan Slapped With Disappointing 201-Mile EPA Range Estimate

Porsche Taycan Slapped With Disappointing 201-Mile EPA Range Estimate

For the last few years, Tesla has owned the high-performance electric vehicle market. Even the company’s mid-range Tesla Model 3 has better acceleration and a higher top speed than some more expensive gasoline-powered sports cars. Porsche, not accustomed to being outperformed by a cheaper car, is preparing to release the all-electric Taycan in 2020. However, EPA mileage testing showed surprisingly poor performance. It was so bad, in fact, that Porsche hired a private firm to do additional tests.

The Porsche Taycan sounds impressive on paper. It’s a 4-door sedan about the same size as the Tesla Model S. It features two electric motors with 523 horsepower in the base model. The top-of-the-line Taycan Turbo S has a whopping 751 horsepower with a maximum speed of 162 mph. Porsche also offers a up to 93.4 kWh of battery capacity in the Turbo and Turbo S variants.

As Porsche gets ready for launch, the EPA has completed its testing. Unfortunately for Porsche, the agency strongly disagrees with its claim that the Taycan can run for around 265 miles on a charge. The EPA reports the Taycan Turbo manages just 201 miles with that huge 93.4 kWh lithium-ion cell. To put that in context, the most expensive Tesla Model S with a similarly sized battery manages 315-370 miles on a charge, according to the EPA.

Porsche is banking on a charging network that will make the low range less of an issue, but the EPA numbers will probably hurt sales.
Porsche is banking on a charging network that will make the low range less of an issue, but the EPA numbers will probably hurt sales.

This puts the Taycan behind virtually all other electric cars, including the Tesla Model 3, Chevy Bolt, Nissan Leaf, and Jaguar I-Pace. Granted, some of those cars focus on efficiency rather than power, but the Taycan is a luxury vehicle that starts at around $100,000. It shouldn’t be that much worse than the competition.

The EPA numbers were so bad that Porsche hired vehicle testing firm AMCI to conduct a new assessment. The results of that test look much better for Porsche, showing a range of 275 miles. AMCI says its testing more accurately replicates real-world conditions, but this isn’t much help for Porsche. It still has to report the official EPA numbers to buyers, and it makes the Taycan look like it’s lagging behind the competition. The EPA is conservative when it comes to EV mileage ratings, but other carmakers have figured out how to get well above 200 miles in testing.