Marc UrbanoAutomobile and Driver
From the October 2021 concern of Automobile and Driver.
At 14,115 toes above sea degree in Colorado, we discovered ourselves in a pickle. A $136,190, 562-hp German pickle. Our Porsche Taycan 4S—with solely 6 p.c of the battery remaining and an indicated 12 miles of vary—wanted to cost. There isn’t any sensible place to plug in an electrical automotive on the high of Pikes Peak, however there’s loads of potential power in a 5128-pound sedan staring down a really lengthy hill.
For a lot of the 12 months, the Pikes Peak Freeway, positioned close to Colorado Springs, Colorado, is a scenic passage of paved hairpins caught to mountains of granite. However for at some point in June, it’s closed to the general public for a morning of high-speed, high-risk carving often known as the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb event. That is what introduced us right here, the 99th working of a real-life Gran Turismo that is not but tooled for electrification.
Infographic by Nicolas RappAutomobile and Driver
The closest charger from the Pikes Peak summit is 30 miles again into downtown Colorado Springs. Though the 12 miles of indicated vary was based mostly on driving up a volcanic wall for 20 minutes, we had been assured the detrimental grade would refill our batteries, or within the worse case situation, make pushing a 2.5-ton Porsche simpler.
Through the use of its electrical motors’ regenerative functionality, the Taycan can flip the hill’s 17 miles of descent into electrical energy to feed its 83.7-kWh lithium-ion pack with as much as 265 kilowatts. Regen peaks at 0.30 g, akin to the braking pressure you’d really feel when stopping from 70 mph on a flat 550-foot exit ramp. Any elevated must decelerate is dealt with by the friction brakes; staying off them maximizes power returned to the battery. Get it proper, and we might find a way coast downhill, brake late, and earn some electrical energy. Get it incorrect and we might convert a number of the Taycan’s now-kinetic power into warmth. Get it actually incorrect and we might fly off the mountain.
Marc UrbanoAutomobile and Driver
We received it proper, and all that regeneration meant we might barely pinched the discs on the way in which down. So, once we arrived at Glen Cove at 11,440 toes for a compulsory brake-temperature examine, we had a shock in retailer for a park ranger and his infrared thermometer. He mentioned he is seen front-rotor temps exceed 900 levels. The Taycan’s registered a cushty 67 levels—an unofficial Pikes Peak file.
Between the summit and the doorway gate, we had been in a position to cost the battery to 17 p.c and convert our vary anxiousness into 48 miles of optimism. Our vary as soon as we reached downtown Colorado Springs was over 100 miles, because of the grade of Freeway 24 that pours again into the town. We did not should plug-in once more till later that evening once we returned to the resort.
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