Electric car of the year awards

10/8/2021

The Porsche Taycan 4S and Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid have won their categories in the What Car? Electric Car of the Year Awards 2021. The Taycan was awarded Best Electric Performance car and the Panamera Best Hybrid Performance car.

The Taycan is the first purely battery electric Porsche. Since it first went on sale in 2019, it has sparked a revolution in how EV sports cars perform and is the Stuttgart manufacturer’s top-selling model in the UK in 2021 to date.

The dynamic performance of the Taycan 4S appealed to the expert judges from What Car? magazine; “There’s no shortage of great electric cars now, but great electric driver’s cars that make battery power properly fun have been a bit thin on the ground. The Porsche Taycan is a notable exception.”

The Taycan is the first production vehicle with a system voltage of 800 volts instead of the usual 400 volts for electric cars. This is a particular advantage as in a little over five minutes, the battery can be recharged using DC direct current from a high-power charging network for a range of up to 62 miles (according to WLTP). The charging time for five to 80 per cent state of charge is 22.5 minutes under ideal conditions. Taycan drivers can also charge their cars with up to 22 kW of AC alternating current at home or at public charging stations.

The Taycan 4S is powered by two permanently-excited synchronous electric motors on the front and rear axles delivering all-wheel drive, and a two-speed transmission on the rear axle. Up to 390 kW (530 PS) overboost power output is available. Equipped with the optional Performance Battery Plus, it delivers up to 420 kW (571 PS). The Taycan motors have been tuned to deliver Porsche-typical breathtaking acceleration and outstanding performance. A sprint to 62 mph takes just 4.0 seconds, and where permitted the four-door saloon can reach 155 mph.

When the What Car? panel cast its votes for the Best Electric Performance car, the authentic Porsche sports car character of the Taycan and its quality design and engineering was a clear advantage. The judges concluded; “You get precise steering, taut body control and keen responses to all your inputs, and the car feels agile and engaging…For all its sportiness, the Taycan is still a comfy car. Very few performance cars are more welcoming to sit in or better finished inside.”

In presenting the Panamera with its Best Hybrid Performance car award, the dynamic qualities of the Porsche clearly resonated with the judges at What Car? The magazine also appreciated how the E-Hybrid complements the all-electric Taycan in the Porsche range. “The Taycan may be the Porsche performance car that’s attracting all the headlines right now, but the Panamera offers many of the same qualities to drivers who are not quite ready to go fully electric. In short, it shows that plug-in hybrids can be exciting, luxurious and easy to live with.”

The Porsche plug-in hybrid always starts in purely electric ‘E-Power’ and has a range of 30 - 35 miles and a maximum speed of 87 mph in this mode. The 2.9-litre twin-turbocharged V6 engine produces 330 PS and is combined with a 136 PS electric motor. The electric motor is supplied with power via a liquid-cooled lithium-ion 17.9 kWh battery.

In the Porsche tradition, the Panamera rewards enthusiastic drivers, a factor the What Car? judges underlined in their conclusion. “The Panamera is really impressive on twisty roads, too. The steering is beautifully weighted and lets you place this car with incredible precision, and the standard four-wheel drive system delivers terrific traction.”

To find out more about the Porsche electric vehicles, please contact  02392 212 350  or info@porscheportsmouth.co.uk to speak to a member of the Sales Team.