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The Porsche Taycan Turbo S has set a new record on the famous Nürburgring circuit among production electric cars, beating the previous champion, the Tesla Model S Plaid, by 2 seconds.
Porsche regains its crown. The all-electric sedan from the Stuttgart manufacturer, driven by Lars Kern, completed the 20.8 km lap of the Nürburgring circuit in 7 min 33 s, thus beating the Tesla Model S Plaid, previous holder of the record, who had achieved a time of 7 min 35 s in September 2021.
The Taycan Turbo S, which develops 616 hp against the 1000 hp of the Model S Plaid, was equipped with a new performance pack. Available from Porsche Tequipment (only for German customers at the moment, and for the sum of €13,000), it includes a set of 21-inch RS Spyder rims with Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires, specially designed for driving on track. Above all, this package incorporates a new dynamic chassis control system Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) which, according to Porsche, “analyzes and synchronizes all chassis and running gear parameters in real time“.
Also, although the car was fitted with a roll cage and racing seats for safety reasons, the Taycan retained the same weight as the production car, which was 2295 kg.
“In the past, only supercars could reach 7:33said Lars Kern, Porsche’s development driver. With this new performance kit, I was able to push even harder, and the car was even more precise and agile.“A comeback for the manufacturer, which already held the lap record achieved by a production electric car in 2019, with 7 min 42 s, before being dethroned by the Model S Plaid two years later.
“We are delighted that the Nürburgring record for production electric cars is once again in the hands of Porsche“said Kevin Giek, vice president of the Taycan lineup.”This lap time not only shows the full potential of our new performance kit, but also once again confirms the sporty genes of our Taycan.“
For information, if this time constitutes the record for a production electric car, it is not the absolute record for an electric car. The Chinese supercar NIO EP9, produced in only 16 copies, achieved a time of 6 min 45 s in May 2017. Subsequently, the Volkswagen ID.R (unique prototype of 680 hp for only 1100 kg) broke the record in 6 min 05 sec.
All categories combined and excluding technical regulations, the absolute circuit lap record is also held by Porsche, whose 919 Hybrid Evo set a time of 5 min 19 s.