Misconceptions About the Taycan.

Porsche Taycan.

About 10 years ago, in 2015, the concept car “Mission E” was unveiled, and later, the Taycan was first revealed at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show as Porsche’s first electric vehicle. (Though Porsche apparently released electric cars even earlier.)

I have test-driven the Taycan several times and was always deeply impressed by its performance.

But when it came to actually owning one, concerns about resale value and charging issues always crossed my mind, leading me to the conclusion every time: “After all… I just won’t buy a Taycan.”

However, this January, due to a combination of timing and circumstances, a Taycan 4S Cross Turismo came home to us. I fell in love with its ride comfort and driving experience, and now I use it almost daily for commuting and work. Nearly two months after delivery, last weekend I finally experienced my first long-distance drive in the Taycan.

To attend the 911DAYS driving event (I didn’t participate, but my husband drove his Cayman T there), we challenged ourselves with a round trip of about 1,000 km from home to Fuji Speedway.

As a result, we completed the 1,000 km drive without any issues. (On the way back, we only charged once at 90 kW and still arrived home with over 30% battery remaining.)

There are persistent prejudices and misunderstandings about the Taycan (EV) such as “The Taycan’s range is too short and not practical,” “Charging is inconvenient and time-consuming.”

Having actually purchased a Taycan, I now clearly understand these are nothing but baseless prejudices and misunderstandings.

So this time, I want to address these misconceptions based on my real long-distance driving experience with the Taycan.

Misconception 1: The Taycan’s range is too short and not practical?

Regarding the Taycan, I often saw opinions online like:

– The actual range is shorter than what the full charge display shows
– If caught in traffic jams, the battery drains quickly
– For long distances, you have to stop and charge many times, so it’s impossible

But none of this was true.

Maybe for the initial Taycan models or two to three years ago when charging infrastructure wasn’t as developed, this might have been the case… but at least for our 2023 Taycan, it’s not.

I even feel frustrated enough to say, “Please don’t spread negative campaigns based on baseless prejudices and images without actually owning a Taycan.” (laughs)

For our Taycan, when we set the navigation to Fuji on the first day and departed, the displayed remaining range was 375 km.

“We have 450 km to the hotel, so we’ll have to charge at least once somewhere. Let’s aim for Hamamatsu SA on the Shin-Tomei Expressway (which has 150 kW charging). If possible, it’d be great to reach Numazu.”

We talked this over as we set off.

Since it was Saturday, the Meishin Expressway was heavily congested, so we detoured via the Keiji Bypass but still got caught in traffic. We probably crawled for about 10 km.

I was worried about energy consumption but surprisingly, the battery didn’t drain much. In traffic jams, energy consumption seems to be suppressed, so the impact on remaining range was almost none.

On the other hand, once out of traffic and driving at a steady speed, the battery drained faster. Also, the highway was slightly uphill on the way there, so the battery drained quicker than expected, but after about 200 km, 49% battery remained.

This was better than our initial plan.

Since I used cruise control a lot on the way, the remaining range was probably calculated based on “how far you can go at the current speed,” which made the displayed range much lower than the actual battery percentage, causing some anxiety. So we decided to charge once at Kariya PA.

The charger at Kariya PA was 90 kW, and honestly, 90 kW is more than enough. The Taycan’s battery capacity is about 90 kWh, so in 30 minutes you can charge roughly half (actual output is a bit lower).

Each charging session is limited to 30 minutes (it stops once after 30 minutes), but in that time, the battery recovered to about 85%, which was enough to reach the hotel.

We ended up charging a second time at Numazu SA the next day, but since the driving was better than expected, I thought, “We probably didn’t need to charge at Kariya and could have just stopped once at Hamamatsu.”

One thing to note is that the day was very warm, so we didn’t need any heating, which probably helped extend the range. In the middle of winter, the pace might not have been this good.

Misconception 2: Charging the Taycan takes too long and is inconvenient?

I realized during this long drive that the concept of “charging” is very different from refueling a gasoline car. Unlike stopping at a gas station to refuel, with an EV you can charge during other activities or breaks, which is a huge advantage.

During this long-distance drive, we charged while having lunch, so there was no feeling of “wasting time to charge.”

In fact, since charging stops after 30 minutes, I had to check the car midway while still eating.

Also, during the second charging stop on the way there, we took a restroom break, browsed souvenirs, and the kids begged for soft serve ice cream — before we knew it, 30 minutes had passed and we hurried back to the car.

With a 150 kW charger, you can charge from the 20% range to 80% in about 30 minutes, which felt surprisingly quick.

Also, since EV adoption is still relatively low, rapid chargers at SAs and PAs are almost always available. Occasionally one or two spots were taken, but most SAs and PAs with decent output have multiple chargers, so it’s never a problem.

For daily use, I often charge at free 200V normal chargers installed at places like Times parking lots, and these are always available too (laughs).

I probably shouldn’t say this, but I kind of hope EV adoption doesn’t skyrocket too fast. If charging spots were always full, it would actually become inconvenient to use.

The Taycan’s Real Performance

Since delivery, our Taycan has covered 2,917 km.

We don’t have a rapid charger at home and usually charge slowly on 100V normal power, but even with me commuting to Osaka 2-3 times a week (about 50 km round trip), it’s no problem. I’ve only used rapid chargers at nearby dealers three times so far.

Common misconceptions about the Taycan turned out to be completely unfounded once I actually owned one.

Especially the persistent prejudices like “It can’t handle long distances,” “Charging is inconvenient” were just needless worries. In fact, one EV advantage is that on downhill slopes, regenerative braking recovers energy back into the battery, which I find quite nice.

That said, resale value is still not great, which is unfortunate because it distorts the perception of the Taycan’s true appeal.

I hope to continue sharing what I learn from owning it through this blog. (Though updates will be at my own relaxed pace, so please bear with me…)