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The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

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21–30 of 219 posts

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#21

It's a little surprising that even with a two-speed Gearbox the Taycan has neither better range nor low range 0-60 acceleration than the Tesla P100D (which has the same size battery). Obviously spec comparisons aren't the whole story and the handling and high-range acceleration may be better on the Taycan. Looking forward to seeing more comparisons and already glad to see more EV models in this category. Edited incor…

I believe they just didn’t give the option to wreck your car by overclocking.

Their selling point is repeatability, so overloading the systems is not part of the Taycan experience.

Probably it’s possible to push the car to higher performance and risk performance degradation later on as with Tesla. Would be fun when people start playing around with these cars’ systems.

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#22
post #16
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Porsches have never really been about straightline speed. Always about overall performance and a sports-car feeling. I'm guessing they optimized things like power, gearing and weight placement to offer good acceleration through a range of speeds with amazing handling and decent range at speed.

True, and the Taycan may well be a better car in many ways. But a discussion of the gearbox has nothing to do with handling or sports car feeling. I'm wondering what we're missing here. 5% efficiency improvement at high speeds isn't anything to write home about today. The transmission is a known quantity -- it's just gears, it won't get more efficient as they develop it. The efficiency of the whole system (battery/dr…

>True, and the Taycan may well be a better car in many ways. But a discussion of the gearbox has nothing to do with handling or sports car feeling.

There isn't a single published metric in which the Performance Model S doesn't trounce the Taycan.

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#23
Once upon a time there were cars with a "normal" 4 speed (+reverse) gearbox and an added "overdrive" box (that if I recall correctly could only be used in 3rd and 4th gear), surely there were a few Triumph's and some Volvo station wagons, they had a button/switch on the gear stick that activated it electrically.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdrive_(mechanics)

This device (with all the possible evolutions in these 30 or 40 years) sounds a lot like this "overdrive" box.

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#24
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, and the Taycan may well be a better car in many ways. But a discussion of the gearbox has nothing to do with handling or sports car feeling. I'm wondering what we're missing here. 5% efficiency improvement at high speeds isn't anything to write home about today. The transmission is a known quantity -- it's just gears, it won't get more efficient as they develop it. The efficiency of the whole system (battery/dr…

>True, and the Taycan may well be a better car in many ways. But a discussion of the gearbox has nothing to do with handling or sports car feeling. There isn't a single published metric in which the Performance Model S doesn't trounce the Taycan.

How about 0-60 or 1/4 mile where you haven’t spent 10 minutes warming the batteries first?

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#25
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, and the Taycan may well be a better car in many ways. But a discussion of the gearbox has nothing to do with handling or sports car feeling. I'm wondering what we're missing here. 5% efficiency improvement at high speeds isn't anything to write home about today. The transmission is a known quantity -- it's just gears, it won't get more efficient as they develop it. The efficiency of the whole system (battery/dr…

>True, and the Taycan may well be a better car in many ways. But a discussion of the gearbox has nothing to do with handling or sports car feeling. There isn't a single published metric in which the Performance Model S doesn't trounce the Taycan.

if you're looking for the best car on paper, Porsche is probably not for you.

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#26
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>True, and the Taycan may well be a better car in many ways. But a discussion of the gearbox has nothing to do with handling or sports car feeling. There isn't a single published metric in which the Performance Model S doesn't trounce the Taycan.

How about 0-60 or 1/4 mile where you haven’t spent 10 minutes warming the batteries first?

Not a published metric and Teslas can pre heat anyways. Just more anti Tesla bias from the normies.

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#27

It's a little surprising that even with a two-speed Gearbox the Taycan has neither better range nor low range 0-60 acceleration than the Tesla P100D (which has the same size battery). Obviously spec comparisons aren't the whole story and the handling and high-range acceleration may be better on the Taycan. Looking forward to seeing more comparisons and already glad to see more EV models in this category. Edited incor…

>has neither better range

any additional gear is an additional loss of efficiency. One gear engagement results in up to 10% of loss.

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#29
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, and the Taycan may well be a better car in many ways. But a discussion of the gearbox has nothing to do with handling or sports car feeling. I'm wondering what we're missing here. 5% efficiency improvement at high speeds isn't anything to write home about today. The transmission is a known quantity -- it's just gears, it won't get more efficient as they develop it. The efficiency of the whole system (battery/dr…

>True, and the Taycan may well be a better car in many ways. But a discussion of the gearbox has nothing to do with handling or sports car feeling. There isn't a single published metric in which the Performance Model S doesn't trounce the Taycan.

Nurburgring Ring times. P100D has terrible thermal management and goes into limp mode before completing the course. If people really cared about 0 to 60 times, we see a lot more Dodge Demons on the road instead of 911s and Corvettes.

If Porsche can get price point for a regular Taycan below $100k, i'll gladly trade in my Porsche and Tesla for one because it does everything i want. I can drive canyon roads and never have to fill up.

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>True, and the Taycan may well be a better car in many ways. But a discussion of the gearbox has nothing to do with handling or sports car feeling. There isn't a single published metric in which the Performance Model S doesn't trounce the Taycan.

if you're looking for the best car on paper, Porsche is probably not for you.

Well in terms of looks, charging network, city driving, autopilot, price and drag racing I'll take the Tesla. So far we've just seen a bunch of hand waving about how Taycan is better on the track... looks like there is a Model S being sent to Nurburgring to lay that to rest.
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