Smaller battery option means lower price tag
As expected, Porsche is filling out the Taycan all-electric four-door sports coupé range. The new addition is the Taycan 4S which offers both reduced performance and a smaller standard battery than the Turbo and Turbo S models which Porsche used as launch models. However, a larger battery is available for the 4S as an optional extra.
As standard, the new Taycan 4S packs 79.2kWh of available battery capacity and a basic list price in the UK of £83,367. The Performance Battery Plus, as fitted to the Turbo and Turbo S and with an increased available capacity of 93.4 kWh, adds a further £4613 and puts the basic price for the big battery 4S at £87,980. That compares with £115,858 and £138,826 respectively for the Turbo and Turbo S.
Of course, those more expensive models aren’t just about battery capacity. There’s also performance to bear in mind. The 4S offers 530 metric horsepower from two motors in overboost mode. The Turbo and Turbo S are rated at 680hp and 761hp. However, with the Performance Battery Plus option also comes an increase in output to 571hp for the 4S.
With the bigger battery likewise comes more weight, so both 4S variants are rated at four seconds dead for the sprint to 62mph and can achieve a maximum speed of 155mph. The difference, inevitably, takes the form of range. The standard 4S is good for 252 miles on the WLTP cycle, with the bigger battery bumping that to 287 miles and thus making it the longest lasting of the current Taycan range. For context, the figures for the Turbo and Turbo S include sprints to 62mph of 3.2 and 2.8 seconds, while their range is rated at 279 and 256 miles.
Finally, in the spec department, the basic 4S is also the lightest Taycan, clocking in at 2140kg. Not exactly Lotus-like, admittedly, but some 155kg lighter than the Taycan Turbo S. Elsewhere, the 4S offers much the same proposition as existing Taycan models, including a touchscreen-infested interior and ultra-fast 800-volt charging, the latter admittedly dependent upon the availability of compatible charging stations, which are pretty thin on the ground for now.
Overall, and given that the 4S is still a very quick car, we suspect the big battery 4S will be the pick of the range. It’s not far off £30,000 cheaper than the Turbo and over £50,000 less than the Turbo S.
