The reason behind Porsche Taycan’s 201 miles EPA range, Tesla + Panasonic batteries rule
Porsche Taycan Turbo received its disappointing all-electric rated range of 201 miles from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just a couple of days ago, what did Porsche AG do wrong with their ambitious project that took years of development and a huge budget?
In 2019 – 2020 having a range of 201 miles (323 km) for a $150,000 price tag is just unnatural, Tesla delivered way more than that in 2012 with their first mass-production car, the Model S Sedan having 265 miles of range — 7 years later, Porsche’s EV plans seem in hot water.
The credit for traditional automakers losing the electric vehicle battle goes to their battery suppliers, they are supplying them the cells that are not at par with what Tesla and Panasonic had achieved years ago, in the case of Taycan, LG Chem is to be blamed for the disaster — thinks Sean Mitchell, an EV enthusiast and YouTuber and we strongly agree with him on this.
The following comparison table from the EPA website should worry the top executives and engineers at Porsche — we compared the Porsche Taycan with the Tesla Model 3 Performance with 20 in wheels (least efficient variant) and the Tesla Model S Performance with 19 in wheels.
Taycan’s range of 201 miles vs. Model S P100D’s 348 miles is totally disproportionate, is there even a comparison of the two in this regard, even the Model 3 has 299 miles of range, this is all because Tesla has the edge in battery chemistry, battery pack technology, battery management system’s software and hardware components being next-level and constant innovation.
Video: Are legacy automaker’s EVs officially screwed?
Advice to Legacy Automakers
As Sean said in the video and we fully endorse the idea that the legacy auto manufacturers should make their own battery cells, in addition to that they should get the license to use Tesla’s old battery tech, obviously Tesla won’t be opening up their latest findings in battery chemistry and technology but at least with older formulas, cars like Porsche Taycan would have a far better range.
Depending on the existing battery cell providers is resulting in constant failures of new EVs introduced by the traditional car companies, for example, the Jaguar iPace and Audi e-tron SUV having just above 200 miles of range resulted in tanked sales, at least in the United States.
Not just range, recently the Porsche Taycan received a 5-star crash safety rating from Euro NCAP but the scores lacked behind the Tesla Model 3 numbers in every category, looks like there is a drastic need of changes at Porsche and re-thinking their thought process and strategy when it comes to next-generation electric vehicles.
Update: Important conversation on Twitter on the topic
But Tesla batteries have their own 'secrect sauce (chemistry)', not sure if GF3 LG Chem batteries will have that, if not how would they perform at par with the Made in U.S. Model 3/Y cars?
— X Auto - Tesla & EVs (@XAutoWorld100) December 14, 2019
I have not heard a rationale as to why Tesla would change fundamental chemistry
— JPR007 (@jpr007) December 14, 2019
They have every reason to maintain the same cell chemistry worldwide, even though different production operations may yield different performances
“The cobalt content of our Nickel-Cobalt-Aluminum cathode chemistry is already lower than next-generation cathodes that will be made by other cell producers with a Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt ratio of 8:1:1.”
— JPR007 (@jpr007) December 14, 2019
You really do not want to have two completely different chemistry types in your vehicles if you can avoid it
— JPR007 (@jpr007) December 14, 2019
- different Battery Management Software required
- duplicate engineering teams working separately on developing and maintaining each chemistry
No Comments