The Porsche Taycan electrifies Manila

IF it didn’t accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in an astounding 2.8 seconds, the groundbreaking new Porsche Taycan will still be an electrifying experience.

The Taycan is Porsche’s first fullelectric four-door sports car — and it has finally landed on Philippine soil. The new Taycan comes in three variants, and now available locally is no less than the flagship version, the Taycan Turbo S.

We first featured the Taycan when we covered its Star Wars-themed Southeast Asian debut in Singapore late last year. And now it’s here (minus the stormtrooper escort).

The flagship Taycan Turbo S can generate up to 761ps with overboost and has a combined power consumption of 26.9 kWh/100 km. Embodying Porsche’s concept of Soul Electrified, the four-door sports car brings supercar performance and matches it with a driving range of up to 412 kilometers — the distance from Manila to Vigan. The Taycan is the first production electric vehicle with a system voltage of 800 volts instead of the usual 400 volts for electric cars, allowing for quick battery-charging times.

To support the Taycan’s operation in the country, Porsche Philippines has partnered with ABB, a SwedishSwiss multinational technologies company which at present counts more than 10 years of expertise in the electric vehicle charging market. The Taycan Turbo S uses the high-powered ABB DC Charger that can deliver up to 175kW of power — the first of such type in the Philippines. Fitted with a 15-inch touchscreen display interface and a Combined Charging System Type 2 plug, this ABB unit can charge the Taycan Turbo S from 10-percent to 80-percent charge in about 30 minutes, which is good for a range of nearly 300 kilometers. A charging time of around five minutes using the 175-kW charger can yield up to 65 kilometers of driving range — allowing it to traverse the whole length of EDSA back and forth almost three times in a single fiveminute charge.

ABB, which operates in more than 100 countries, including in the Philippines, provides warranty coverage and will service the Taycan’s DC Charger. ABB also supplies the Taycan’s DC Charger in other markets, like Japan, Thailand and New Zealand.

Each Taycan from Porsche Philippines comes with a Porsche Mobile Charger Connect, an AC charger with a five-inch touchscreen display including smart features such as adjustable current rating, charging history and PIN lock. The charger can be plugged into any household socket, or into an industrial socket for faster charging time — or as quick as nine hours.

The Taycan is built at the automaker’s bespoke, CO2-neutral production facility in Zuffenhausen, Germany. Unlike hybrids or other electrified models — meaning vehicles with some type of electrical power assist fitted to their conventional internal combustion engines — the Taycan runs solely on electric motors which draw power from batteries. The Taycan uses a pair of permanently excited synchronous motors, or PSM. Fully electric vehicles are widely considered as the ultimate goal in eco-friendly mobility as these have zero emissions.

Despite its four-door configuration, the Taycan is a genuine sports car closely related to the legendary Porsche 911. The Taycan pairs typical Porsche performance and connectivity with everyday usability, and its advanced production methods and features set new standards in sustainability and digitalization.