Porsche Taycan prototype sets ‘Ring record for EV sports cars

The Nürburgring records are coming at us faster than a prototype racer on the Nordschleife and the distinctions between them are getting finer and finer. Earlier today, we reported that the Lynk & Co 03 Cyan Concept has become the fastest four-door to have circled the ‘Ring’s northern circuit. Now comes Porsche with news that a Porsche Taycan prototype has set the ‘Ring record (on the shorter 12.8-mile version of the Nordschleife) for four-door, all-electric sports cars, 7 minutes and 42 seconds, with test driver Lars Kern at the wheel.

The run at the ‘Ring was the third stage in what Porsche is calling the Taycan’s Triple Endurance Run, having first completed 26 successive sub-10-second 0–124 mph full acceleration launches on a single battery charge, and then covering 2128 miles in 24 hours at the high speed Nardò track in Italy at speeds over 120 mph.

Before the Nürburgring attempt was made in real life, Porsche development engineers ran numerous runs in a simulator to fine tune the energy and thermal management of the battery pack for optimized power output over the duration of the lap.

The 591-horsepower, all-wheel drive, twin-motor Taycan is Porsche’s first pure battery electric production vehicle. As is expected in high-performance electric vehicles these days, the Taycan has torque vectoring to improve stability and handling, along with four-wheel steering, Porsche Active Suspension Management, and Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control Sport.

The Taycan is also the first production EV whose traction motors operate at 800 volts, twice the voltage used in electric cars from other manufacturers.

Just about all performance and luxury cars today come with selectable driving modes. The Taycan is no exception, and it adds an EV flourish to that feature. In Sport Mode, driver inputs are dynamically integrated with the battery management system to control the cells’ heating and cooling for maximum performance.

Just last week, Porsche revealed photos of the Taycan’s interior. No official performance figures have yet been released but the Taycan is expected to have at least 300 miles of range from a 90-kWh battery pack and be capable of 0-62 mph runs of 3.5 seconds, with a top speed north of 150 mph.

Porsche’s first all-electric sports car will go on sale at the end of this year.