Porsche Taycan tears up Nürburgring Nordschleife, sets electric-car record

Porsche is keen to build up the hype for its first electric car, the Taycan. We’re just over one week away from the Taycan’s full reveal, but ahead of time, the German marque decided to share some additional news: the electric sedan has set a new lap record.

Not just any lap record, but a lap record for the quickest four-door electric car around the 12.8-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife. With a lap time of 7:42, the Taycan didn’t come close to the top of the leader board overall, but it held its own. The clocked time makes it just a smidge slower than a C6-generation Corvette ZR1 and ties the 997-generation Porsche 911 GT3. Those aren’t exactly slow cars.

Porsche test driver Lars Kern piloted the electric sedan around the track to achieve the time, praising both the powertrain and the handling in a statement. And yes, the Taycan can repeat this kind of performance — it doesn’t need any sort of cool-down period after a lap like this. Previously, Porsche showed off the electric car’s performance credentials at the Nardo test track in Italy. There, it ran 2,128.1 miles over 24 hours with stops only to charge the battery. The average speed? Between 121 mph and 133 mph.

Although the Taycan is Porsche’s first electric car, the company has largely subjected it to the same rigorous tests its gas-powered sports cars undergo. From the start, Taycan prototypes tested at the Nürburgring in the virtual world to understand electric energy and thermal management. Those simulations led to this real-world run with very positive results.

We’ll likely see a few more nuggets of information released as Porsche prepares to unveil the Taycan on Sept. 4. At the reveal, we expect to see the range-topping model with at least 600 horsepower and a 300-mile driving range.

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News Source: Sean Szykowski
Image Credit: Porsche
Full Article: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/porsche-taycan-nurburgring-electric-car-record/