Greased German Lightning

Porsche’s first electric car is more than a Tesla rival—it’s a brilliant Porsche in its own right.

- Daryl Lee

I’m very sure that in about two or three decades, automotive historians will look back upon the 10 years from 2010–2020 as the greatest-ever era for Porsche. In the past decade, Zuffenhausen can’t seem to put a foot wrong, releasing cars to both critical and commercial acclaim—even vehicles that run counter to its traditional sports car niche, like the Cayenne and Macan SUVs. Heck, Porsche has even managed to finally solve the vexed issue of the Panamera’s ungainly, bulbous caboose in 2017 with the second-generation model.

But one hurdle has yet to be surmounted, the rather pressing concern of pressing an electric car into service in double-quick time—tightening EU emissions regulations and all that jazz, plus in a post-Dieselgate world the internal combustion engine has become deeply un-sexy. Remember, it was just in 2015 that Porsche announced the forerunner of the Taycan, the Mission E concept car, during the Frankfurt Motor Show.

And here we are today, the Taycan, Porsche’s first electric car, and about as big of a milestone as the first 911 in 1964, and for a more recent example, that all-conquering cash cow, the Cayenne, in 2003. But the Taycan is about as controversial (to purists, anyway) as the Cayenne, since it’s the first Porsche in the carmaker’s 70-odd years of making road cars to not have an internal combustion engine… or for that matter, an analogue rev counter.