Porsche Taycan review - Range, charging & running costs

Fitting the large 105kWh Performance Battery Plus pack and efficient motor has allowed Porsche to give the Taycan a very usable driving range in the standard rear-wheel drive model, and it gets up to 421 miles – this is the model you want if range between top-ups is your top priority. As standard, however, entry-level cars get an 89kWh battery pack, which is good for up to 367 miles.

Porsche Taycan range & charging

While the entry-level rear-wheel drive model’s range is the most impressive, elsewhere in the lineup this can vary. In the four-wheel drive 4S, range drops slightly to an official 399 miles with the larger battery, while the smaller battery delivers up to 346 miles to a charge. Turbo models and above are fitted with the larger unit as standard, but the extra performance comes at the cost of some range, so none of the four-wheel drive models are more efficient than the 4S. Turbo and Turbo S get an official 391 miles to a charge, while the Turbo GT and Turbo GT with Weissach Package get up to 344 and 345 miles respectively.

When we tested the Taycan Performance Battery Plus on a warm day in the UK, we found it was achieving around 4 miles/kWh during a motorway run and a very impressive 5.7 miles/kWh efficiency over a suburban route of around 15 miles, making a real-world range of around 400 miles seem feasible.

The Taycan’s charging speed has been increased by 50kW in Performance Battery Plus models – that means it can now charge at up to 320kW with a compatible charger, for a 10 to 80% top-up in just 18 minutes. Maximum charging speeds for the smaller battery are up to 270kW. When we plugged in our test car with a quarter of its charge remaining it hit speeds of 262kW and charged from 24 to 82% in 18 minutes.

Charging from home with an 11kW home wallbox charger will take 11 hours for the larger battery, while the smaller battery takes nine hours to charge.

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Insurance groups

As expected, the Taycan slots into the current highest insurance classification, group 50. All versions of the Tesla Model S find themselves in group 50, and even the cheaper Jaguar I-Pace with just over half the Taycan's power is in group 49.

Warranty

The Taycan gets the same three-year warranty as other Porsche models but the battery pack is covered by its own eight-year warranty for added peace of mind. Porsche also guarantees it won't drop below 70% of its original capacity during that time.

Servicing

Porsche says its Taycan models require routine maintenance and servicing every two years or 20,000 miles. During a service, Porsche will replace your cabin air filter, flush and replace the brake fluid and check the tyres.