It's a great discussion. I have an R1S on order and hope to get the 400 mile battery. Don't know if I'll keep it or flip it but it looks impressive. Not so much from a luxury standpoint but Rivian is working to be a true lifestyle brand like an REI.

Their Adventure Charging Network is a bold move putting chargers on trails, in parks, etc. Hope they can pull it off!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/techcru...ous-twist/amp/

 

I will admit that every damn day some guy in a BMW wants to pull up and race me in the Taycan. It's almost wholely unsatisfying when all I have to do is touch the pedal and they're dust.

On an entirely different level, it reminds me of AFX electric slot cars that I loved as a kid. It's so planted like I'm stuck to the road with magnets.

We call it the spaceship and it's really the best description for it. Like we're on a different frequency.

You're not at all wrong to love ICE and how far Porsche has been able to take it. If the petrol GT4 doesn't find a way into your soul, you might be dead inside.

I am ready to admit though that, for me, I was wrong by brushing off EV until now. Maybe the novelty will wear off but I think I might be hooked.
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Yeah, I'm not seeing it that fast in my corner of the world. I'm looking forward to owning an EV, but I don't think things will expand that fast in the US. The Texas power grid has already experienced six brown outs in the Austin area this year. Demand is exceeding capacity (or I could rant about the local utilities being unable to expand fast enough for the change in demographics). Changing all (most?) vehicles to EV (including heavy consuming commercial trucks) is not something I predict the utilities will be able to support that fast. Legislation is easy, increasing the power distribution across the network is another thing. From power sourcing, to generation to distribution. It's a new uplift across the country. We have electrified the entire US pretty well but haven't done similar with high-speed internet. I suspect getting to "Electrical Grid 2.0" will be like the later, not the former.

FWIW - A friend of mine has two EV's in his garage. This is a sample of his energy monitoring. The small peaks are when his AC kicks in (it's already ~100 degrees in Texas). The two large peaks are when he charges his two cars. Basically, when a car is charging his entire house energy consumption doubles for the duration (inclusive of full AC). Scale that out and I think it's not just the Texas energy grid that won't be able to keep up. And I'm skeptical of how fast our utilities will build out given our current infrastructure efforts go.

 

Ok that's hilarious. Totally missed it.

 

You aren't wrong. Mine charges at 11 kWh. That's a big load.

Some states are much better off though. I couldn't, for a million dollars, remember the last brownout or blackout in Florida aside from a day or so after a hurricane a few years back. It's rock-solid here (thanks for the nat gas).

Idk about Texas, maybe someone's cooking a lot of meth because Good Lord you use a lot of energy. On a consumption list of 50 states, y'all came in at 51. Like they had to add DC in there just for an extra dig at Texas?



My uneducated guess is that much if it is being used to create more energy which gets exported? You can't squeeze industry to pay a little more to upgrade the system that they're overworking because they have too much political power?

 

Appears to be a lot of excitement for EV's here. OK, I'll be the curmudgeon and take the other side. It just seems like it's a half baked idea to me. The vehicles are too expensive, too heavy, take too long to charge and the performance is too one dimensional. Since when did acceleration become the only criteria for a performance car? Remember, the Miata was voted most fun car to drive under 65 mph, and I think the 0-60 time was measured with a calendar. Maybe it's because I raced both in SCCA club racing and IMSA GTU but acceleration wasn't a big deal, the cars were geared for top speed. Braking and cornering (due to light weight) were the impressive numbers. Our tube frame RX-7 put out nearly 400 hp but only weighed 1700 lbs with 6 piston calipers and 12" slicks. At that light weight, cornering and braking would rip your face off. Much more fun than just planting your right foot.

I was shocked to just look up the Taycan weight. Even the 2wd version is nearly 4,600 lbs with the AWD almost 4,800 lbs. The Rivian truck is 7,200lbs! If you really want to puke, look at the weight of the new Hummer EV.....It's over 9,000 lbs. Battery technology just hasn't progressed to where they can get decent range and light weight. Why do you think the Lotus Exige is so fun to drive? It only puts out 250hp, but it weighs less than 2,100 lbs.

I live in the Rocky mountains and the cold weather has a large effect on range. Sure, ICE vehicles suffer a little mileage degradation but nothing like an EV that loses up to 40% of their range. As others have noted while on trips, we're the type that while I'm topping off, the Wife is running in to pick up a couple of subs and we're back on the road in under 10 minutes....there's no way I'm hanging around for nearly an hour just to get another 250 miles of range.

The main concern I have is the spontaneous combustion of EV's while charging scares me to death in the wooded mountain home I live in. EV advocates love to point out that ICE vehicle numbers show they catch fire more frequently but this is only half true. The ICE fires happen during accidents while driving. I have never heard of an ICE vehicle just spontaneously catching fire while turned off and sitting in the driveway or garage.

I will admit I have only driven an EV (Tesla Model 3) a few times but it just seemed to me to be a glorified golf cart, completely souless. Until they get the infrastructure in place, address the weight, charging time, cost, and find a way to add a little fun into the driving experience, I'm not interest.

I guess this is why my Wife calls me Eeyore.

 

Allegedly - would you mind sharing which model of Taycan you purchased? I've casually been browsing them and it looks like the base Taycan with Performance Battery Plus (PBP) is a sweet entry point.

 

Too expensive is relative.

Too heavy actually feels planted, stable, and stuck to the road in the Taycan. It's hard to describe because no other car feels like it. You do sense the weight but it's centered so low and the car is so balanced that it just feels solid.

Agreed. Acceleration isn't the only thing that matters. It's fun to punch it while you're doing 50 and have it snap your neck back as it rockets faster but it also handles... like a Porsche. It goes exactly where you point it at almost any speed with zero sense that I've ever been close to its limits. If you want a legitimate complaint, I might only get 10k miles on the tires but those sticky 305's are the perfect match of comfortable and capable.

Range is fine in Florida and, when I need more, take the Defender. Honestly, you couldn't drive a Taycan in snow anyway. It's too low. You would be the plow.

The Tesla feels soulless... because it is. I hated it too. Porsche does not equal Tesla. All EV's can't be "lumped". Tesla is a software company that builds milquetoast cars to run their software. Porsche builds exceptional cars. Some happen to be electric.
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I think I'm way off topic here though. It is an LR forum. Can you imagine an every-Land-Rover-is electric world?

 

Yep. RWD with PB+

We drove the 4S and the RWD and we were up in the air. The 4S was 4 or 5 months out and the RWD was only a 6 week wait so we jumped on it and have absolutely no regrets.

 

I have no doubt the Taycan is the cutting edge of EV's and Porsche did it right. But at the price point of $100K plus, that certainly opens the door for all kinds of exciting cars to buy from 911's to my personal favorite a Ferrari 355. Cars that would fill your soul with the exhaust note alone.