2020 Porsche Taycan Gets a Workout at Nardo and the Nurburgring

• The 2020 Porsche Taycan completed 2128 miles in 24 hours, running between 121 and 133 mph, around the Nardò Ring in Italy.
• It also lapped the Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany in seven minutes and 42 seconds.
• The multitasking EV makes its official debut on September 4, a week ahead of the Frankfurt auto show.
  

Porsche is keen to prove that the Taycan is a track-worthy EV. During a ride in a prototype earlier this year, Porsche's battery-electric-vehicle product line director, Robert Meier, claimed that the Taycan had already lapped below eight minutes on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Now, just days before the new model's big reveal, and after a 24-hour run at the Nardò Ring in Italy where it covered 2128 miles, Porsche has announced the actual time: 7 minutes and 42 seconds over the 12.8-mile circuit, which is the quickest ever recorded on a production EV.

Running an electric car at high speeds tests the vehicle's range, how long it takes to charge, and how well it deals with the heat generated by discharging and charging the battery. Warm weather made the Taycan’s thermal challenges even more difficult. Track temperatures at the Nardò Ring in Italy shot as high as 129 degrees Fahrenheit during testing. Nardò has been used for high-speed testing for decades for endurance testing of supercars including the Bugatti Veyron and the Koenigsegg CCR. Porsche Engineering Group purchased the track in 2012.

Porsche wouldn’t reveal how much time during the 24 hours was spent charging, or how many times the team had to plug in the Taycan. Porsche did claim that the Taycans only stopped to recharge and swap drivers, however, and from its claims of speeds between 121 and 133 mph when it was running indicates that the car spent between six and a half and eight hours stopped and presumably charging.

C/D saw a predicted 234-mile range from a fully charged Taycan during a ride in a prototype earlier this month. Going by those numbers means that Porsche could have completed 2128 miles in as few as nine stops depending on how far they let the battery discharge. But that range is very likely based on speeds well below the triple digits sustained during the endurance run. The key element to this run is the Taycan's quick charging times, which is possible because of the car’s 800-volt electrical architecture. Porsche claims that the Taycan can add 62 miles of range in only four minutes when plugged into a 350-kW charger.

Using 800 volts, which is far higher than competitors use, allows the Taycan to do a lot of things that EVs haven’t been able to do until now. Porsche claims that the Taycan will do 10 launch-control starts in a row without power degradation whereas Teslas slow down after just a couple of runs.

Porsche developed the Taycan's battery and EV technology on the racetrack. Lessons learned from the 800-volt Porsche’s 919 hybrid system have transferred to the street car. And while a Taycan is unlikely to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times, it’s good to know that it can go 2128 miles in 24 hours.

By: Car and Driver