Having long-distance charging is even less relevant for Porsche owners, Zellmer said, since most will own multiple cars and could take another out of the garage if they’re worried about needing to plug in. Still, he said, Porsche has to do it to “comfort” potential buyers.
Driven by regulatory mandates and a profound sense of existential anxiety over Tesla’s market capitalization, automakers are pouring billions into the battery-powered cars. Porsche will spend 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion) by 2022 on electrification and has said more than half its line up will have a plug by 2025.
Porsche hasn’t disclosed pricing for the Taycan, but it’s clearly gunning for the Tesla Model S, which starts at $94,000. Teslas will no longer be eligible for federal tax credits after this year, whereas Porsche has a long way to go before worrying about the cap of 200,000 electric-vehicle sales that triggers a ratcheting down of the incentive. The company sold 57,202 vehicles in 2018.
As for old-fashioned specs, the Taycan is expected to have a total system output of more than 600 horsepower and will accelerate to 62 mph in faster than 3.5 seconds. It can go about 310 miles before it runs out of juice, a bit short of the 335-mile range for the base Model S.
Porsche is feeling confident, boosting global production capacity for the Taycan to 40,000 from an original 20,000 units. The company says it’s responding to strong demand.
Zellmer won’t say how many people in the U.S. have coughed up the $2,500 refundable deposit for the Taycan, but he happily mentions that two-thirds aren’t existing Porsche owners. Among those, he says Tesla is the most common brand.
Marc Cohen, who owns a Porsche dealership in Towson, Maryland, says he has 25 or 30 names on his waiting list. They’re a mix of Porsche owners and general sports-car enthusiasts, rather than EV evangelists hoping to save the planet. “None of the ones I know are Tesla owners or actual EV kind of people,” he said. “These people are luxury owners that understand that it’s the next wave of tech and what’s coming, so they’re just getting in line.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.