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The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

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Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#141

Post by theluketaylor »

detaro wrote: post #113
eldenbishop wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I (lol)ed because "turbo" and "turbo-s" are a naming convention from their conventional cars that is fairly non-sensical on an electric car given that they don't have turbochargers. Eg. Macan Of course, the two non-turbo Macan models above both turbochargers so the moniker really just means "the fastest model" in Porsche speak.

The combustion non-turbo 911s also have turbochargers, so yes, long time marketing label, not feature description.

Plus the GT2RS has a turbo but doesn't have a turbo trim. And the various GT3 cars don't have a turbo.

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#143

Post by NeedMoreTea »

newnewpdro wrote: post #45
dragontamer wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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). 0-60 times probably don't matter on the track. Its probably more important to optimize the 60 to 120mph time, which is where the torque of a (single gear) electric motor begins to taper off. I bet that Taycan has superior 60-to-120mph…

> The only reason to push 0-60 times is for drag-racing really. Wat? Most people care about accelerating from a standstill to the average legal speed limits. 0-60 captures that perfectly. It's incredibly relevant to the general public's driving patterns.

When, years ago, I had a performance car 0-60 was only useful for obtaining shock from first time passengers. Though 20-50 was far more reliable in getting surprised involuntary curses from the passenger seat, as was invoking wheelspin at 70. :) The fact it had a ludicrous 0-60 had plenty of kids revving engines trying to encourage a traffic light drag race. Usually this would have me driving off like an ageing vicar.

What was useful in real world driving was 40+ top gear roll on acceleration, or 70+ on the track, as was the enormous amount of engine braking. 0-60 really didn't matter other than as indirect indicator of capability. The fun, and performance was elsewhere.

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#144

Post by [deleted] »

davewritescode wrote: post #127
elonismycopilot wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There’s almost no chance Tesla is going to get anywhere near the Taycan. There’s been a few professional drivers who’ve given it a shot and breaking 9 minutes has been a challenge. For context, that’s the same lap time as a Mazda MX-5. There’s almost zero chance Elon is going to find another 1:20 with the existing Model S. Just not going to happen. https://youtu.be/Dphw4km60m4

[deleted]

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#145

Post by rodgerd »

whalesalad wrote: post #129
cat199 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

someone this close minded would likely not be considering electric in the first place (and would probably whine about porches being mostly v6 and not v8/10/12)

Close minded? Huh. You won’t find a CVT in anything but a budget economy vehicle. If you want performance, you don’t want a CVT. If you want to prioritize efficiency over everything else (including reliability), a CVT is fine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_FW15C

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#146

Post by userbinator »

Many years ago I remember reading about EV conversions, and besides direct drive or keeping the existing multispeed (manual) transmission, one of the other relatively popular options was a Chevrolet Powerglide with the torque converter removed. This is a two-speed automatic from the 1950s that's known for being simple and very strong, and remains quite popular for drag racing. I suspect its popularity for EV conversions also arises from being able to handle the huge amount of torque an electric motor can exert, and the better performance of 2 speeds, so it's interesting to see Porsche also choosing a 2-speed auto for its EV.

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#147

Post by userbinator »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #14
gleglegle wrote: post #5

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…

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.

Comparing Porsche and Tesla shows that the perception of performance applies to EVs too: European performance is more about the handling, while American performance is more about straightline acceleration. The reason for this difference becomes obvious if you compare what the roads are typically like between the two regions.

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#148

Post by [deleted] »

velp wrote: post #115
dragontamer wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. By accelerating dramatically off the line, you're telling the other cars that they are driving too slowly. 2. Alternatively: you may be sending a signal that you want to drag-race with someone. And nobody likes it when drag-racers start playing on public roads. Keep that stuff off the streets and on the track only. Now sure, if the cars next to me are driving slowly, I'll leave them in the dust. But its not someth…

If you take someone accelerating quickly from a light as a signal that you're driving too slowly, you probably drive too slowly. I don't think its a signal at all - and who really cares if it is?

[deleted]

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#149

Post by Dylan16807 »

lutorm wrote: post #108
chrisdhoover wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speed differential when driving in traffic, OP said to get away from traffic. There is no differential when there is no car near you

A rare road indeed where all other traffic is behind you...

Being first at a red light is not very rare.

And even if there are cars adjacent, you can scoot away just fine with a speed differential under 10mph.

Re: The Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox

#150

Post by solotronics »

ztjio wrote: post #136
compiler-guy wrote: post #109

The level of hubris here is pretty high. "No reason"? "No performance benefit"? Porsche is spending billions of dollars to bring a very high performance track-focused sports-sedan to the market. Hundreds of extremely good engineers are getting paid millions of dollars to figure this problem out. I'm sure the transmission is a giant set of engineering tradeoffs (what project isn't), and maybe it won't work out and wil…

So, I'll just hop in here and lay out the spoiler. There is a major performance difference in the Taycan, it's endurance, and it's highly likely this transmission is a key element to achieving it. For those that don't know, Tesla's cars can not keep their maximum performance up for a very long time. The battery gets hot and lowers power output until it cools back down. The Taycan, while not having as impressive max s…

Another reason the Taycan can output near maximum power for a much extended time period is it operates at 800v vs 650v as compared to the Tesla.
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