The Taycan electric supercar: a fresh, green start for Porsche

German sports-car firm Porsche is to launch the Taycan, its first all-electric motor. And it’s sensational. 

"Porsche and electricity seem as natural a fit as fire and ice," says Andrew Frankel in Autocar. But "if Porsche really can pull it off and produce the world's first electric production driver's car, the ramifications could be enormous". The electric car market, and Tesla in particular, had better watch out. Until the official big reveal on 4 September, much of the detail surrounding the new Porsche Taycan (pronounced "Tie-can") was still under wraps. The German carmaker did, however, lend it out for a few teasing laps of its Weissach test track.

Rumour had it that the two models of Taycan that Porsche had owned up to would be called the Turbo and Turbo S, says Frankel. It seems "absurd to use combustion engine terminology" ("turbo") on an electric car, and for one that is "so clearly a fresh start for Porsche", says Jack Rix in Top Gear magazine. Somebody had clearly decided that Turbo S was "the only way to tell its most loyal (read: wealthiest) customers to forget the rest, this is the one you want". But "my word it's quick a proper fairground slug of G-Force, not a chirp from the wheels, no gearchanges to give your organs a breather My testicles are still finding their way back down and the blood has only just returned to the front half of my body."

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

You can follow Chris on Instagram.