Porsche recently confirmed the production version of
the Mission E would be called the Taycan, and now the automaker has released
additional information about its upcoming electric vehicle. Set to debut next year, the
Taycan will have an 800 volt electrical system and two electric motors that
produce a combined output in excess of 592 HP. This will
enable it to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in less than 3.5 seconds and
0-200 km/h in less than 12 seconds. Furthermore, the model will
have a range in excess of 500 km in the New European Driving Cycle.
While the company has previously confirmed those
numbers, the automaker noted the Taycan will have two “permanently excited
synchronous motors, like those deployed in the Le Mans–winning 919 Hybrid.”
Billing them as the “turbos of the electric motor milieu,” the motors generate
a permanent rotary motion that can be applied at any time without needing to be
started. Porsche says they were able to achieve this by have a “permanently
magnetized rotor forced into a rotary motion by the magnetic field of the
stator.”
Despite their high-tech nature, the electric motors
are relatively lightweight and compact. Porsche didn’t go into specifics, but
said the motors have solenoid coils with a special hairpin design. Unlike a
conventional round design, they have a rectangular shape which “makes it
possible to pack the wires more tightly and get more copper into the coil
machines — increasing power and torque with the same volume.”
The Taycan also features inverters that use a
“steplessly variable pulse frequency” as well as a cooling system which works
in real time. Speaking of the latter, Porsche says sensors constantly monitor
cooling requirements and special software ensures water is immediately directed
to the right spots when required.
Porsche has been relatively tight-lipped about the
Taycan’s battery, although it revealed the lithium-ion unit has approximately
four hundred cells, which are connected serially and in parallel, and each has
a current of roughly 4 volts. The battery has an optimal operating temperature
of between 20° and 40° C and it can be charged to provide a 400
km range in just 15 minutes.
Speaking of charging, Porsche is part of a
consortium of automakers that have teamed up to launch the Ionity joint
venture. The firm aims to install a high-speed charging network across Europe
and approximately 400 fast-charging stations are slated to be completed by
2020.
That’s only part of the solution, and Porsche
acknowledged it will “take years to build a comprehensive charging network for
electric vehicles.” Instead, most Taycan owners will charge the vehicle at home
and the automaker hinted the model will be offered with inductive charging
technology.
Since it will be awhile before the Taycan is
launched, Porsche is extensively testing the model in extreme conditions. As an
example, the automaker said 21 prototypes and sixty employees traveled to South
Africa to test the car in temperatures of around 40° C. During that
trip, the team logged approximately 40,000 km on the prototypes.
By the time the Taycan is launched in late 2019, the prototypes will have
logged “millions of kilometers” during testing.
Porsche said it has already built over 100
prototypes. Although the company says the exact number is confidential, each
was manufactured by approximately 40 specialists.