 Hey everybody, this is Sean from The Verge and I'm standing in front of Porsche's first electric car, the Taycan. Now, we've known about this car for a few years, but today we're actually going to spend about five hours taking it on a road trip outside of Los Angeles to really get a sense of what it's all about. So, let's go. So one of the first things you notice when you sit down in the Taycan is that it's just full of screens. The sort of crown jewel of all of that is this big boomerang-shaped display up behind the steering wheel. I actually really, really like it. It's probably my favorite thing about the car so far. Everything is crisp and sharp. Then we have the main information touch screen in the center of the dashboard. That's where all the infotainment stuff happens, this is where car play happens. There's no Android Auto on the Taycan, just so you know. And then there's this touch screen in the center console, which is for climate settings and some other car settings and things like that. What's interesting about this center console touch screen is that it has haptic feedback. It has also a little bit more give to it, so there's a sort of thunking that's happening, like a little buzz that's happening to give you some feedback and let you know that your taps are being registered. So while the haptic feedback on this center console is nice in theory, it's not really doing a lot to help me solve the problem of not really knowing exactly where I'm tapping. It also doesn't help that I'm still not familiar with the infotainment system and everything, and I'm sure you could get more used to it. So electric cars are relatively quiet, but what Porsche did, it created this thing called the electric sport sound. It is a $500 add-on to the Taycan, so 150,000 or 180-some thousand plus $500, and this is the result. I actually kind of like it. It's louder than I expected. Ready? Let's go. It's this very futuristic, smooth, almost like sing-songy sound. It's kind of wild. For $500, it better be. All right, so we are at about the halfway point. We've driven for about two hours now. The car's down to 52% battery, 121 miles. We actually don't have the full EPA estimate for range, so it's mid to high 200s right now based on the European model, maybe a little bit less when the EPA finally releases its range figure. The best part about this drive is that the rest of it is going to be almost completely through this really twisty mountain road with lots of elevation changes, which is wonderful because everything we've talked about up until now is really all about the creature comforts of the car and the technology that you'd use every day. This is ultimately a performance car, a sports car with how fast it is. That's what a lot of the people who are going to be buying this car are really going to be buying it for. This is going to be a good chance for us to put some of that performance to the test. All right, ready? Zero to 60 in three seconds. Oh, man. Yeah, that'll move you. Tesla's similar launch mode, definitely is as powerful as this. There is something about this one though. What Porsche did is it put a two-speed gearbox in this one almost specifically for those moments where you're taking off from zero so that there's one gear dedicated to getting you off the line as quick as possible. I have not felt something that snaps like that, even in another electric car. That was really wild. Porsche has spent a lot of time actually working with electric motors. This may be its first electric car, but Porsche has spent years putting electric motor technology into its motor sports division and then transferring that to the road with some of its hybrid cars like the Porsche Panamera SE Hybrid. All of that is really coming together here in the Taycan as the first electric car from Porsche built to perform like crazy. This car has got the lowest center of gravity out of any Porsche ever made, which is great because that means that it's a little bit easier to make it through these turns than it normally would be in a car that weighs over 5,000 pounds. The battery being all across the floor like is the case in a lot of EVs means that it's just going to settle right wherever you want to put it. You have to be a little careful on the brakes because the braking isn't rock solid like you would expect in a super car or something built for the track, but the weight helps you out with that. Braking is not what's fun about this car. What's fun is hitting the accelerator and going fast, and that works pretty well. We've made it to nearly our final destination. We are clearly in a big box parking lot getting some charge from the Electrify America Chargers, which is the network being built out by Volkswagen, which is a Porsche's parent company. We came out of the mountains with about 24-ish percent of the battery left after a good solid four plus hours of driving. In just under 20 minutes, we've just added 50% of the battery back to it. It's not even reaching the full charge rate that this thing can take. For whatever reason, we're not getting it from the charger right now. In the mountains, I was working the car pretty hard and at one point got the battery down to about low 70 miles and low 20% battery capacity. The good thing is that we were coming down out of the mountains, so the car was regenerating a bunch of energy back into the battery. For a good 45 minutes, we didn't lose any range. Everything we were using to go fast, we were making right back up by going right back downhill. Big picture, a lot of people aren't going to own this car. It's a very expensive car. This wasn't even the most expensive spec by any stretch of the imagination. Even the cheaper version that's going to be coming out that is slightly under the performance capabilities of this is still going to cost around $100,000. We're talking about cars that are at or even in some cases more expensive than the other best performing electric cars on the market. A lot of people have asked me who I think this car is for. It's for people who want to own a Porsche and maybe want to change up how that Porsche is powered. That's basically the simplest way to put it. This is not necessarily something people are going to run out and buy because they want to feel a little bit better about the environment. This is something that people with the money to buy a top tier Porsche are going to buy. The good thing is that it feels very much like a car that makes no sacrifices compared to other Porsches. As for the really big questions like is this better than a Tesla, I can't really answer those after just five hours in the car. What I can tell you for sure after driving this car today is that we're going to be asking those questions for a very long time. Thanks everybody for watching. Make sure you like and subscribe. If you're really curious about Tesla and you haven't seen our video about the Gigafactory last year, we did a whole big feature on what they're doing out in Reno, Nevada with batteries, electric cars, and the future of the company. Go check it out.
 Hey everybody, this is Sean from The Verge and I'm standing in front of Porsche's first
 electric car, the Taycan.
 Now, we've known about this car for a few years, but today we're actually going to spend
 about five hours taking it on a road trip outside of Los Angeles to really get a sense
 of what it's all about.
 So, let's go.
 So one of the first things you notice when you sit down in the Taycan is that it's just
 full of screens.
 The sort of crown jewel of all of that is this big boomerang-shaped display up behind
 the steering wheel.
 I actually really, really like it.
 It's probably my favorite thing about the car so far.
 Everything is crisp and sharp.
 Then we have the main information touch screen in the center of the dashboard.
 That's where all the infotainment stuff happens, this is where car play happens.
 There's no Android Auto on the Taycan, just so you know.
 And then there's this touch screen in the center console, which is for climate settings
 and some other car settings and things like that.
 What's interesting about this center console touch screen is that it has haptic feedback.
 It has also a little bit more give to it, so there's a sort of thunking that's happening,
 like a little buzz that's happening to give you some feedback and let you know that your
 taps are being registered.
 So while the haptic feedback on this center console is nice in theory, it's not really
 doing a lot to help me solve the problem of not really knowing exactly where I'm tapping.
 It also doesn't help that I'm still not familiar with the infotainment system and everything,
 and I'm sure you could get more used to it.
 So electric cars are relatively quiet, but what Porsche did, it created this thing called
 the electric sport sound.
 It is a $500 add-on to the Taycan, so 150,000 or 180-some thousand plus $500, and this is
 the result.
 I actually kind of like it.
 It's louder than I expected.
 Ready?
 Let's go.
 It's this very futuristic, smooth, almost like sing-songy sound.
 It's kind of wild.
 For $500, it better be.
 All right, so we are at about the halfway point.
 We've driven for about two hours now.
 The car's down to 52% battery, 121 miles.
 We actually don't have the full EPA estimate for range, so it's mid to high 200s right
 now based on the European model, maybe a little bit less when the EPA finally releases its
 range figure.
 The best part about this drive is that the rest of it is going to be almost completely
 through this really twisty mountain road with lots of elevation changes, which is wonderful
 because everything we've talked about up until now is really all about the creature comforts
 of the car and the technology that you'd use every day.
 This is ultimately a performance car, a sports car with how fast it is.
 That's what a lot of the people who are going to be buying this car are really going to
 be buying it for.
 This is going to be a good chance for us to put some of that performance to the test.
 All right, ready?
 Zero to 60 in three seconds.
 Oh, man.
 Yeah, that'll move you.
 Tesla's similar launch mode, definitely is as powerful as this.
 There is something about this one though.
 What Porsche did is it put a two-speed gearbox in this one almost specifically for those
 moments where you're taking off from zero so that there's one gear dedicated to getting
 you off the line as quick as possible.
 I have not felt something that snaps like that, even in another electric car.
 That was really wild.
 Porsche has spent a lot of time actually working with electric motors.
 This may be its first electric car, but Porsche has spent years putting electric motor technology
 into its motor sports division and then transferring that to the road with some of its hybrid cars
 like the Porsche Panamera SE Hybrid.
 All of that is really coming together here in the Taycan as the first electric car from
 Porsche built to perform like crazy.
 This car has got the lowest center of gravity out of any Porsche ever made, which is great
 because that means that it's a little bit easier to make it through these turns than
 it normally would be in a car that weighs over 5,000 pounds.
 The battery being all across the floor like is the case in a lot of EVs means that it's
 just going to settle right wherever you want to put it.
 You have to be a little careful on the brakes because the braking isn't rock solid like
 you would expect in a super car or something built for the track, but the weight helps
 you out with that.
 Braking is not what's fun about this car.
 What's fun is hitting the accelerator and going fast, and that works pretty well.
 We've made it to nearly our final destination.
 We are clearly in a big box parking lot getting some charge from the Electrify America Chargers,
 which is the network being built out by Volkswagen, which is a Porsche's parent company.
 We came out of the mountains with about 24-ish percent of the battery left after a good solid
 four plus hours of driving.
 In just under 20 minutes, we've just added 50% of the battery back to it.
 It's not even reaching the full charge rate that this thing can take.
 For whatever reason, we're not getting it from the charger right now.
 In the mountains, I was working the car pretty hard and at one point got the battery down
 to about low 70 miles and low 20% battery capacity.
 The good thing is that we were coming down out of the mountains, so the car was regenerating
 a bunch of energy back into the battery.
 For a good 45 minutes, we didn't lose any range.
 Everything we were using to go fast, we were making right back up by going right back downhill.
 Big picture, a lot of people aren't going to own this car.
 It's a very expensive car.
 This wasn't even the most expensive spec by any stretch of the imagination.
 Even the cheaper version that's going to be coming out that is slightly under the performance
 capabilities of this is still going to cost around $100,000.
 We're talking about cars that are at or even in some cases more expensive than the other
 best performing electric cars on the market.
 A lot of people have asked me who I think this car is for.
 It's for people who want to own a Porsche and maybe want to change up how that Porsche
 is powered.
 That's basically the simplest way to put it.
 This is not necessarily something people are going to run out and buy because they want
 to feel a little bit better about the environment.
 This is something that people with the money to buy a top tier Porsche are going to buy.
 The good thing is that it feels very much like a car that makes no sacrifices compared
 to other Porsches.
 As for the really big questions like is this better than a Tesla, I can't really answer
 those after just five hours in the car.
 What I can tell you for sure after driving this car today is that we're going to be asking
 those questions for a very long time.
 Thanks everybody for watching.
 Make sure you like and subscribe.
 If you're really curious about Tesla and you haven't seen our video about the Gigafactory
 last year, we did a whole big feature on what they're doing out in Reno, Nevada with batteries,
 electric cars, and the future of the company.
 Go check it out.