Porsche unveils Taycan electric car headed to Chinese market

The automaker has revealed its base model for the EV which, so far, is headed exclusively to China.

Porsche unveiled early details of a version of its Taycan electric car in China on Monday. This vehicle hasn’t seen is official reveal in any other country.

The EV is a rear wheel drive, single motor version of the luxury automaker’s make.

As is the case with the 4S model, the Taycan electric car base model provides consumers with the option to choose between the 79.2 kwh battery pack (the performance battery) or the 93.4 kwh pack (the performance battery plus). It includes a 11 kw onboard charger, but the upgrade is available for a 22 kw charger.

The rear wheels are powered by a 469 horsepower (350 kw) single permanent-magnet motor. According to the automaker, the base model can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in 5.4 seconds. Its speed tops out at 149 mph. As is the case with other models of the Taycan, its strong launch and cruising speed efficiency low-speed acceleration response requirement is made up by a two-speed transmission.

Porsche says the Taycan electric car rear wheel drive can recuperate as much as 265 kw.

The recouped power occurs through regenerative braking just like the two-motor versions of the vehicle, and its corresponding resistance of 0.39 G.

It should be noted that the RWD models might not recoup that much through braking within that same operating span because of limited traction. The smaller battery RWD Taycan is listed with a range of 257 miles in China. The larger battery is listed with a 305-mile range. Both versions use the generous NEDC rating system.

The existing lineup in China has a range rated up to 287 miles. It’s possible that the rear wheel drive design in the new Taycan electric car could potentially provide a longer range than the existing 4S. That said, there isn’t a direct conversion possible to either the WLTP standard from Europe and the rest of the world (other than the US), or the EPA cycle from the United States. So far, there aren’t any signs of upcoming release anywhere else in the world.