Is This The Best Electric Car In The World?

FIRST DRIVE We find out if the Porsche Taycan redefines the EV as we currently know it

- Richard Ingram

EVERY time a new electric car launches, the clichéd ‘Tesla killer’ catchphrase rears its head. The US tech giant is the benchmark against which all new EVs are measured – and never has this been more true than with Porsche’s inaugural electric sports saloon: the Taycan.

Despite the fact it was only revealed at this month’s Frankfurt Motor Show, we’re already behind the wheel of Porsche’s first EV. It’s based on a completely new platform, which will later underpin cars like Audi’s sleek e-tron GT.

On paper, the Porsche has more than enough power to rival the quickest Teslas, yet bosses insist there is more to the Taycan than speed. That bespoke platform immediately elevates it above many of the latest luxury EVs; cars like the Mercedes EQC, based on petrol or diesel models, feel heavy and cumbersome in a way that the Taycan does not.

It’s agile, like any Porsche should be. The Taycan is squat and wide, so it cuts a sharp and recognisable shape, and this lowers the centre of gravity, too. Its driving position has more than a whiff of 911 to it; you sit inches from the ground, with the upright wheel close to your chest. There’s precision to the controls, and weight to the steering.

Acceleration is violent. The innovative two-, rather than the usual single-, speed transmission is designed to offer brutal power, as well as maximum efficiency at high speed. With 751bhp and 1,050Nm there’s no scenario where you could wish for more punch; away from the line the Taycan leaves your breakfast behind – it is savagely quick. Porsche claims that the 0-62mph time of 2.8 seconds is repeatable, too, in a way that it might not be in a Tesla Model S.