IT'S AN EV 3-WAY DRAG RACE FEATURING THE PORSCHE TAYCAN TURBO GT, THE TESLA MODEL S PLAID AND THE AUDI RS GT
EVs are getting more and more popular, especially thanks to the bonkers performance they can offer. Many who hated the thought of a ‘soulless’ and noiseless EV have been swayed by the instantaneous torque and amazing traction. Many showroom fresh EVs have supercar-rivalling performance. In this match-up, Mat and the Carwow crew have assembled a few different and popular EVs to pit against each other in their regular heads-up drag racing format. There are two German competitors that will do their best against the old dog in the fight, a Tesla. The first one from Germany is the Porche Taycan Turbo GT, an EV that seems to appeal to many people now, but having a Porsche badge on it does add to the appeal. Back in 2023, nearly as many Taycans were sold as 911s, it does help that the car is one of the best-looking EVs available worldwide and that it also has performance that will make people sit up and take notice. The Taycan GT can reach the benchmark 100 km/h speed in a mere 2.3 seconds, and when that benchmark extends to the 200 km/h mark, the Taycan GT gets there in just 6.6 seconds. It’s expected though with up to 815 kW and 1,340 Nm of instantaneous electric power available. The regular Taycan Turbo GT also has a top speed of 290 km/h. The other German competitor comes in the form of the Audi RS e-tron GT, and this one is equipped with a permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PSM) on the front axle, producing 252 kW, while the rear axle houses a newly developed PSM that churns out 415 kW. Thanks to Launch Control, the RS e-tron GT can tap into its high-voltage battery and motors to briefly boost output up to a staggering 680 kW.
Even though the Audi RS e-tron GT Performance is close on 3 tonnes of German electric saloon, it can still get up to 100 km/h in as little as a claimed 2.5 seconds and is electronically limited to a 250 km/h top speed. Out of the three in this fight, this is the only one I’ve driven, and I can tell you that it;’s stupendously quick. The 0-100 km/h time is impressive, the top speed is par for the course these days, but it’s the “in gear” acceleration that’s just mad. I was cruising at 80 km/h and mashed the pedal previously known as the Loud Pedal into the floorboard, it felt like I blinked and the speedo was at 138 km/h and 2 seconds after that I was well beyond handcuff speeds. Slow it is not. Then, there’s the Tesla in the Model S Plaid configuration. It’s a beast of a car with less power than the Porsche at 750 kW, but more torque at 1,420 Nm. Plaid mode is when the car uses all the power it has available, and it results in some mad performance figures, it can hit 100 km/h in just 2.1 seconds, which is one of the fastest times in the world to that benchmark speed. It’s the only one of the three models in this UK-based test that’s not available here in SA because those Pretoria Boys High kids bullied Elon Musk so much that he doesn’t seem to want anything to do with SA. We’re surprised he hasn’t used all of his contacts and wealth to scrub the fact that he comes from SA off the interwebs. We’ve seen many videos of a Plaid tearing ICE-powered monstered a new hole, so we were expecting it to do the most in this comparison, even though we wanted the Porsche to be the top dog. You’ll have to watch to see what happens. Which EV is getting your money on a bet?
Take a look at the YouTube video that shows the Carwow crew pit three popular EVs up against each other in a heads-up drag race, the German entrants are brilliant with great performance, and arguably better build quality than the American entrant that will likely be the fastest in this match-up, but you gotta click through to see: Porsche Taycan Turbo GT v Tesla v Audi RS GT: DRAG RACE | Carwow
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