Porsche Taycan sets 13 new EV endurance records

The Porsche Taycan has managed to set 13 new British endurance records for electric cars, adding to its other achievements that include the world’s longest drift with an EV as well as the fastest street-legal EV to lap the Nurburgring.

The new records were ratified by Motorsport UK and were set at the historic Brands Hatch circuit, a venue where Porsche has had quite a bit of history with when it comes to endurance racing. In April 1970, a 917 won the 1,000-km race by five laps despite wet conditions, and the carmaker would later claim the top six places at the same event in July 1984 with a 956 taking the top spot.

For the attempt, Porsche wheeled in two versions of the Taycan, including the Taycan 4S and the Taycan Turbo S. Behind the wheel of the cars were Le Mans legend Richard Attwood, ex-Formula One and Porsche racer Jonathan Palmer, 2020 Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion Harry King and 2020 Cayman Islands Porsche Sprint Challenge GB champion James Dorlin.

The record runs began at 7am and were completed at 8pm, with each driver completing around two or three stints of around 90 minutes on a mostly damped track. Balancing pace and efficiency, the Taycan 4S took records in the category of “electric cars over 1000 kilograms” for the time taken from a standing start to cover 50 km, 50 miles, 100 km, 500 km, 500 miles and 1000 km, plus the record for distance covered from a standing start in one hour at 98.192 km.

Meanwhile, the Taycan Turbo S claimed the records for time taken from a standing start to cover 200 km, 100 miles and 200 miles, along with the records for distance covered from a standing start in three hours (252.356 km), six hours (450.065 km) and 12 hours (915.762 km).

The run also showcased the Taycan’s impressive cooling technology that ensured optimum thermal management on track and during charging. Minimising power losses due to excessive heat is important, particularly during charging, which the Taycan supports up to 270 kW, allowing the 93.4-kWh Performance Battery Plus to be charged from 5-80% in just 22.5 minutes under ideal conditions.

According to Porsche, the Taycan models spent a total of three hours and three seconds during their runs entering or exiting the charging area and charging. On average across six stops, each “refuel” lasted around 30 minutes, with the cars charging from around 5-85% each time.