Porsche Taycan Achieves “Shortest Charging Time to Cross the US in an EV” New Guinness World Record

An EV charger network status and performance improvement project turns into a World Record setting, shortest time at the charger to cross the country.

Wayne Gerdes – CleanMPG – Jan. 28, 2022

2021 Porsche Taycan


Poised for duty at an Electrify America Charging Station in Baker, CA.​

New York City, NY -- As many here know, I was working on an Electrify America Charging Network status and improvement project with Porsche whose impetus was to complete a truly standout Guinness World Record (GWR) after the fact. Over the course of 6-weeks late last fall, I drove a 2021 Taycan over 20k miles to more than 80 Electrify America Charging locations and attached to over 200 individual 350 KW charge points in 22-states…

Before any project or GWR attempt was contemplated, there was a review soon after a Press Fleet Taycan was dropped off in the drive. The More Affordable All-Electric 2021 Porsche Taycan Ready for Launch posted back in January of 2021 was actually the beginning of this story.

My first question was to see if Porsche’s over the top published charging spec of 5 to 80% SOC in just 22-minutes was the real deal. After driving the Taycan down to 6 percent SOC and connecting to an Electrify America (EA) 350KW charger in Anaheim, CA, I was left speechless. Any Taycan owner who has experienced charging from a low SOC on a solid EA DC Fast Charger (DCFC) will surely corroborate the same jaw dropping experience that I had. This thing charges DAMN FAST!!!

2021 Porsche Taycan Charging from 6 to 87% SOC. Holy #*^@!

2021 Porsche Taycan Charging


This 251 KW charge rate is not even the fastest charging result.​

Within that exuberant charging experience, another aspect of the Taycan’s capabilities made its presence known. And what was that do you say? The RWD Porsche Taycan’s EPA range of 225-miles and combined efficiency of 2.22 mi/KWh were proven to be vastly short of its true capability. During the calibrated energy consumption calibration and final Speed vs Energy Efficiency curve testing, the Taycan achieved an EPA highway rating crossover of 86.3 mph which was 10.4 percent higher than the next best of all vehicles I have tested to date!

​

The EPA highway rating of 2.37 miles/kWh was deduced from the Porsche Taycan EVs 80 MPGe highway/33.7 kWh/gal.

The EPA Highway efficiency crossover on a straight-line estimate occurred at 86.3 mph indicating the 2021 Porsche Taycan EV is quite a bit more efficient than its 2.37 miles/kWh would indicate. In fact, this set a new CleanMPG record for how much more efficient the Taycan is vs its EPA rating when compared to our previous best, the 2017 Hyundai Elantra Eco at a staggeringly high 78.1 mph EPA crossover. In other words, the Taycan's EPA 80 MPGe highway and 239.7 miles all-electric range are officially rated far too low!

​

I also found the Taycan far more efficient than its 2.11 miles/kWh rating around town as well.

Back to the EA Charger Status and Improvement Project

Within the projects drive, charging time for my first internally recorded crossing of the U.S. between LA and NYC was achieved in just over 4.5 hours. While far ahead of the then current Tesla Model S’ record charging time of 12-hours, 48-minutes, and 19-seconds, theoretically, the Taycan should easily complete the charge time to cross in under 3.5 hours given how efficient the Taycan proved to be and if a majority of EA 350 KW chargers along a specific route output near their peak rates.

Porsche Taycan at Cajon Pass


From sea level to this summit on I-15 was completed more than a few times during the operational and GWR attempt drives.​

At the conclusion of the status project including charging profiles and overall performance details down to the cord/port level, several fixable shortcomings were documented and presented to EA. EA then created a software update to improve 350 KW charging experience for Taycan owners nationwide. Within minutes of receiving notice that the SW update was deployed, I was back out on another 1,000-mile RT retesting chargers all over the desert southwest to verify charging rates had improved at several previously documented slower charging cabinets. Before the day was out, I had sent a note to Porsche PR stating if Porsche wanted to complete a truly outstanding GWR to add to the Taycan’s already burgeoning trophy case – 4 total Guinness World Records to date, the “Shortest Charging Time …” in the low 3-hour range was a distinct possibility.

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Porsche Taycan at the highest point on I-80 East of the Mississippi


In PA during the network status and improvement drive, I remotely fired up the Taycan's Ion Drive and was almost blown into next week from the blast! ​

Soon after, a new Guinness World Record Attempt was born with an additional 4 to 6-weeks of back and forth to have this specific record fully approved. During that time, Kia had set out on their own Guinness World Record attempt in their new EV6 and achieved a noteworthy charging time to cross the U.S. of 7-hours, 10-minutes, and 1-second.

Porsche Taycan


A fast coast down a portion of the San Bernardino Mountain Range.​

Porsche’s release: Driving across the U.S. is a bucket list item for most Americans, and many have made fond memories of doing just that. Today the nationwide Electrify America CCS DC fast charging network is ready to handle the charging needs for Taycan drivers to make new road trip memories of their own.

To that end, Wayne Gerdes, already a multi-GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title holder for efficiency and range in other vehicles, set out to make a unique memory for himself: break the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the shortest charging time to cross the United States in an electric vehicle – the benchmark being 7-hours, 10-minutes, and 1-second set by a Kia EV6 just days before.

Wayne completed the crossing from Los Angeles, CA to New York City, NY covering 2,834.5 miles in a 2021 Porsche Taycan with a cumulative charge time of just 2-hours, 26-minutes, and 48-seconds.

Like all GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS attempts, we are required to meet a daunting set of requirements, including meticulously noting every stop – with independent witnesses for each charge. Every mile covered was filmed, GPS tracked and accounted for before being certified by a panel of adjudicators before the record was accepted. As noted above, the car selected was a standard 2021 Taycan equipped with the Performance Battery and the Premium Package including Adaptive Cruise Control and Porsche’s Electric Sport Sound.

Porsche Taycan


A short stop at an EA Charging Station in Orange, CA.​

To prepare for the drive, Wayne plotted the route across America using Plug Share and the Electrify America app – Wayne benefitted from the ease of use of Plug-and-Charge for much of the trip.

On completing the record-breaking journey, an understandably tired but elated Wayne Gerdes commented:

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Here are the completed log book(s), witness form(s), and Cover Letter. What is not seen is over 200 GBs of video and pics, GPS files, port seals, and other additional documentation provided to the Records Team to confirm and announce the new Guinness World Record time of 2-hours, 26-minutes, and 48-seconds. What has not been posted is that it cost me just $76.82 in EA charging costs from coast to coast. I cannot drive a gas or diesel fueled anything across the country for that small amount today and I am driving a performance oriented exotic sports car!

Is that the end of the story? Of course not.

1. Records are meant to be broken so this one is in the crosshairs of any number of current or future OEMs. Good Luck with that.
   
   
2. Is the EA network now infallible? Of course not! It is doubtful it will ever reach the reliability of Tesla's network as DCFCing at a small sample of the thousands of EA chargers currently installed nationwide is just a snapshot. There are too many competing interests, limited funds, and an ever-larger number of current and future OEMs with varying charger configurations that will be connecting to their network. At least for now, I am confident that I can drive the country on a route of my choosing other than across the Dakota’s, Montana, and Wyoming. This is changing soon and if it is not EA, somebody else will.
   
   
3. Porsche’s performance persona is now more than just blistering acceleration, neck snapping deceleration, and ultra-stable all-around high G track performance. With their award winning Taycan and its 850V charging solution, they now provide one of the fastest if not the fastest overall EV charging experiences. Minimizing wait time at the charger and maximizing owners time on the road or at their destination is a benefit that will pay dividends for years to come.
   
   
4. Since I was in NY and had to drive back to Southern California, there was another unofficial record of note that was possibly in the Taycan’s target environment. That being the C@nn0nb@!! … I will post more about that later today.

A huge thank you to Porsche's Calvin Kim for his assistance in procuring a Porsche Taycan for the EA Charging Network improvement project and Guinness World Records attempt. Also Electrify America's Ted Wallace for pushing through upgrades that will hopefully improve the charging experience for both Porsche Taycan and Audi E-Tron GT owners nationwide going forward.

Wayne

 

Hi Jay:

A few more interesting tidbits to that result. It was actually 22 stops and GWR will probably fix this shortly. I stopped at the last charging station in NJ ~ 100-miles outside of NY City in an attempt to organize all the files. The drive behind witness had an iPhone and I could not download his vids to my laptop which caused over 6-hours of consternation the following day at a Verizon, T-Mobile, and Apple Store. I did not arrive into NY City until after dark the following day and it was a needless waste of our time due to the inability to get those files off his phone. I had him upload everything to my Google Drive Account where I could organize them for the Guinness World Records adjudication.

Wayne

 

That's really impressive! I would have expected the total charging time to drive that distance would be at least 5 hours.

How do you find the EA charging experience to be compared to Tesla Superchargers?

 

Hi Mike:

The EA DCFC charging network will probably never match the overall reliability of the Tesla DCFC network but some of the individual EA cabinets attached to a small subset of vehicles available today (Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron GT, and Lucid Air) can easily exceed the charging capabilities of the latest Tesla V3 Superchargers attached to the latest Model S’ in terms of raw charging performance. The vehicles themselves have a say in that charging profile and if the new 4680 Tesla cells in their massively parallel configuration can absorb 3C charging to a higher SOC – 100 KWh pack at 300 KW from 5 to 60% for example, the Tesla network and the Tesla’s equipped with those new cells "may" own BOTH the charger reliability AND charger performance space once again.

2021 Porsche Taycan


Yours truly behind the wheel at speed while on the 15 and skirting the Mojave Desert.​

All told, while on the EA Charging Network Status and Improvement project, I was specifically searching out the most reliable, high charge rate chargers for a possible future GWR. With Tesla designing and maintaining their own network for their own known vehicle configurations, it is hard for me to believe that any current or future non-OEM DCFC based charging network will ever match theirs for the overall positive charging experience.

On the other hand, If Lucid, Toyota, or let us imagine a conglomerate of utilities were to build their own DCFC charging network(s), this would surely improve the overall charging network reliability and performance for non-Tesla owners. It is sad that the public DCFC networks do not work 100 percent of the time like the L1s and L2s in our homes and garages but even Tesla owners have felt the sting of an underperforming or inoperative Tesla charger from time to time. The EA network is an order of magnitude or more behind the Tesla network in terms of charging reliability at this time unfortunately.

I want to mention one other item here. A DCFC cabinet, cord and connector are exposed to the harshest climate extremes and in the case of those CCS handles, dropped from 2 to 3 ft onto hard pavement far more often than they should. There are temp sensors in those connectors and once that sensor is broken, the charger will not provide max current as the comms protocol will limit power flow due to a mismatch of sensors at the connector interface in comparison to the vehicle sensors and the cabinets sensors upstream. That is probably where the EA and just ramping up EVGo network is at a significant disadvantage to the Tesla V2 and V3 chargers. The EA/EVGo CCS connectors are heavier, the cables are bulkier, and the connections alignment makes it harder to connect and disconnect. This paragraph includes my own thoughts while providing some wild @$$ guesses as to where the weak link in the EA DCFC system is occurring when compared to the Tesla V2 and V3s.

With all of the above, I was never stranded at an EA Charger location while traversing those 22-states during the charger network status and improvement project. I had to move from cord to cord or cabinet to cabinet at some locations, but I was never stranded. I was arriving at a given EA charging location with between 1 and 20 percent SOC 80+ percent of the time to ensure the Taycan would reach theoretical maximum charging rates. In other words, I had few options to reach the next one so hopefully that provides a broader picture of my experiences and trust of the EA network. In a nutshell, I would not hesitate to drive the country while relying on the EA DCFC network, but I have seen enough underperformance and outright charger failures to know there is still apprehension when I arrive with a range less than 50-miles and am in the middle of nowhere.

Wayne

 

Hi All:

As my last few minutes with this beautiful and powerful sexy beast comes to a close, the best is always saved for last. In the website upgrade thread, I posted that I purchased a GoPro mini-tripod earlier this month. Well, I set that up to record video of the Taycan's Internal central display and used my Galaxy S20 FE to record an Electrify America display while I started charging from 5 percent. Remember that the Taycan is spec'ed for 22-minutes from 5 to 80% SOC. Let us just say my last smile was a big one as I have Hi-Def footage of the entire charging process from beginning (5%) to end (80%) in just 19-minutes, both within and outside the 2021 Porsche Taycan. I have some work to do on that video but here is the final pic of the EA charger display as a preview.

2021 Porsche Taycan on a 350 KW Electrify America Charger


Oceanside, CA was the place, 19-minutes was the time. Good god this thing charges FAST!!! Wait until you see the video(s)!​

Last pic as I say goodbye to a trusty steed after 10s of thousands of miles...​

Wayne

 

Hi All:

It is finished!

Porsche Taycan achieves Guinness World Records for "Shortest charging time to cross the US in an electric vehicle"

The YouTube vid Includes a detailed overview of how to achieve the fastest charging in a Porsche Taycan.

Porsche Taycan "Shortest charging time to cross the US in an EV" Guinness World Record - Table of Contents

00:00 to 00:05 - Porsche Taycan Intro
00:05 to 00:08 - CleanMPG.com Intro
00:08 to 00:16 - Porsche Taycan Clips
00:16 to 02:25 - Short Porsche Taycan Overview, Guinness World Record, and charging overview!
02:25 to 06:00 - Demonstrate how to maximize charging rate and shorten your charging time in the Porsche Taycan
06:00 to 08:27 - Porsche Taycan fast charging from 5 to 80% SOC at an Electrify America 350 KW DCFC in Oceanside, CA. Int. and Ext. displays in Hyperlapse
08:12 to 09:27 - Porsche Battery purpose preconditioning/preheating Review
09:27 to 10:48 - Porsche Taycan equipment, Guinness World Record, 1/2 a Cannonball, final thoughts

10:48 to 22:54 - Bonus Hyperlapse Footage of entire 1/2 Cannonball Run covering 1,430-miles in 21-hours and 5-minuites from Vinita, OK to Hesperia, CA

a. 10:48 - Departing Vinita, OK
b. 11:39 to 12:10 - Electrify America 350 KW in Weatherford, OK
c. 12:34 to 12:42 - Crossing Oklahoma/Texas border
d. 13:07 to 13:28 - Electrify America 350 KW in Amarillo, TX
e. 13:47 to 14:25 - Crossing Texas/New Mexico border
f. 14:33 to 14:51 - Electrify America 350 KW in Tucumcari, NM
g. 15:37 to 16:34 - Electrify America 350 KW in Albuquerque, NM
h. 17:05 to 17:28 - Electrify America 350 KW in Gallup, NM
i. 17:39 to 18:58 - Crossing New Mexico/Arizona border
j. 19:21 to 20:33 - Electrify America 350 KW in Winslow, AZ
k. 21:33 to 22:00 - Crossing Arizona/California border
l. 22:54 - Arrive in Hesperia, CA

Wayne

 

Hi Edwin:

I am a raw amateur compared to most of these guys nowadays.

Here is the Porsche Taycan - Guinness World Record route map I built under Garmin Base Camp that was followed verbatim.

2021 Porsche Taycan Guinness World Record


Start in LA and finish at NY City Hall.​

#00 - EA Charger at BOA - 850 N Broadway in Los Angeles, CA (Chinatown) 90012

Guinness World Record Attempt begins

Guinness World Records mandatory waypoint - LA City Hall in Los Angeles, CA
Rest stop at Desert Oasis Eastbound Rest Area I-40 in Newberry Springs, CA

#01 - EA Charger at Kroger Smiths in Kingman, AZ - 05:16 charging time
#02 - EA Charger at La Quinta in Williams, AZ - 03:38 charging time
#03 - EA Charger at Walmart in Winslow, AZ - 10:57 charging time

Overnight at a Quality Inn in Winslow, AZ

#04 - EA Charger at Walmart in Gallup, NM - 06:12 charging time
#05 - EA Charger at Walmart in Albuquerque, NM - 05:59 charging time
#06 - EA Charger at Love's Travel in Santa Rosa, NM - 02:17 charging time
#07 - EA Charger at Love's Travel in Tucumcari, NM - 04:42 charging time
#08 - EA Charger at Sam's Club in Amarillo, TX - 06:37 charging time

Overnight at Drury Inn & Suites in Amarillo, TX

#09 - EA Charger at Love's Travel in Erick, OK - 06:26 charging time
#10 - EA Charger at Walmart in Weatherford, OK - 10:03 charging time

Rest stop at Love's Travel Stop in Hinton, OK

#11 - EA Charger at Walmart in Bristow, OK - 03:58 charging time
#12 - EA Charger at Walmart in Vinita, OK - 05:32 charging time
#13 - EA Charger at Walmart in Mount Vernon, MO - 11:25 charging time

Overnight at a Best Western in Mount Vernon, MO

#14 - EA Charger at Walmart in Sullivan, MO - 07:43 charging time
#15 - EA Charger at Firefly Grille in Effingham, IL - 07:28 charging time
#16 - EA Charger at Walmart in Terre Haute, IN - 04:35 charging time
#17 - EA Charger at Walmart in Indianapolis, IN - 11:04 charging time

Overnight at Comfort Inn in Richmond, IN

#18 - EA Charger at Walmart in Columbus, OH - 05:33 charging time

Rest stop at I-70 Rest Area in Hebron, OH

#19 - EA Charger at Walmart in Cambridge, OH - 10:37 charging time
#20 - EA Charger at Sheetz in Bedford, PA - 04:25 charging time
#21 - EA Charger at Sheetz in Carlisle, PA - 06:50 charging time
#22 - EA Charger at Brixmor Village West in Allentown, PA - 05:31 charging time

Trivet Diner in Allentown, PA
Verizon Store in Allentown, PA
Apple Store in Whitehall, PA

Guinness World Record Attempt is completed at the mandatory waypoint - NY City Hall in New York City, NY

Wayne

 

Hi All:

I finally have the time to compare the Ioniq 5s 800V charging solution to the Taycan's 850V Charging solution on two excellent EA 350s.

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 uses a smaller 77.4 kWh/~ 72.0 KWh useable so to protect the battery, you would expect to see a lower charging rate across its SOC range. The Porsche Taycan with the extended range battery, 93.4 KWh/~ 83.7 KWh useable provides a higher charge rate.

2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 vs 2022 Porsche Tayccan 350 KW (KW rate at a given SOC) Charging Performance

Charging the 2022 Ioniq 5 from 9 to 80% in 18-minutes and the 2022 Porsche Taycan from 5 to 80% in 19-min on a 350 KW Electrify America Charger.

SOC - H I5/P T (Rate)| Delta

05% - NA /246 KW | NA
10% - 220/250 KW | -30 KW
15% - 230/255 KW | -25 KW
20% - 230/260 KW | -30 KW
25% - 230/260 KW | -30 KW
30% - 230/265 KW | -35 KW
35% - 235/255 KW | -20 KW
40% - 235/260 KW | -25 KW
45% - 235/260 KW | -25 KW
50% - 190/250 KW | -60 KW
55% - 190/205 KW | -15 KW
60% - 185/180 KW | +5 KW
65% - 170/170 KW | 0 KW
70% - 120/160 KW | -40 KW
75% - 120/120 KW | 0 KW
80% - 120/120 KW | 0 KW

Here is a key metric... The Ioniq 5 took in 59 KWh between 9 and 80% into its smaller battery while the Taycan took in 65.7 KWh between 5 and 80% into its larger one. I suspect the Ioniq 5/EV6 Inverter is a lot less efficient than the Taycan's given the actual large charging rate (KW) delta from 10 to 55% SOC on both.

The Ioniq 5 was charged on an EA 350 KW in downtown Los Angeles, CA while the Taycan was charged on an EA 350 KW in Oceanside, CA. Both appeared to me to work at their peak charging rates.

All in, the overall rates while higher with the Taycan, the Ioniq was just a few KWs behind with its 15% smaller useable battery.

Wayne

 

Hi All:

I broke out the 21 Taycan w/ 93.4 KWh total/84 KWh useable battery and Ioniq 5 w/ the 77.4 KWh total battery - charging profiles into more discrete details.

2021 Porsche Taycan


Blasting down the 15 along the Mojave in the California Desert.​

Porsche Taycan (5 to 80% SOC ) Charging Profile

SOC - Rate | KWh added | Min

05% - 246 KW | 00 KWh |00-min
10% - 250 KW | 04 KWh |01-min
15% - 255 KW | 08 KWh |02-min
20% - 260 KW | 13 KWh |03-min
25% - 260 KW | 17 KWh |04-min
30% - 265 KW | 21 KWh |05-min
35% - 255 KW | 25 KWh |06-min
40% - 260 KW | 30 KWh |07-min
45% - 260 KW | 34 KWh |08-min
50% - 250 KW | 39 KWh |09-min
55% - 205 KW | 43 KWh |10-min
60% - 180 KW | 47 KWh |12-min
65% - 170 KW | 52 KWh |13-min
70% - 160 KW | 56 KWh |14-min
75% - 120 KW | 61 KWh |16-min
80% - 120 KW | 66 KWh |19-min

2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5


At Hyundai US HQ in Fountain Valley, CA.​

Hyundai Ioniq 5 battery (9 to 80% SOC) Charging Profile

SOC - Rate | KWh added | Min

09% - 220 KW | 00 KWh |00-min
15% - 230 KW | 07 KWh |01-min
20% - 230 KW | 09 KWh |02-min
25% - 230 KW | 14 KWh |03-min
30% - 230 KW | 16 KWh |04-min
35% - 235 KW | 21 KWh |05-min
40% - 235 KW | 25 KWh |06-min
45% - 235 KW | 28 KWh |07-min
50% - 190 KW | 32 KWh |09-min
55% - 190 KW | 37 KWh |10-min
60% - 185 KW | 42 KWh |11-min
65% - 170 KW | 46 KWh |13-min
70% - 120 KW | 49 KWh |14-min
75% - 120 KW | 54 KWh |16-min
80% - 120 KW | 59 KWh |18-min

Wayne

 

Hi All:

While on the half cannonball, I had to charge to 80% twice given the offline chargers ahead and the results show the Taycan's 5 to 80% SOC in 22-min spec is not a one off as these additional two chargers were even faster.

2021 Porsche Taycan during Half Cannonball


3 to 80% SOC in 20-min and 38-sec.


6 to 82% in 21-min and 13-sec.


1,395.5 miles in 20.5 hours indicated/1,430 miles in 21.083 hours actual.​

I had to shut down the car at two locations - Amarillo, TX and Tucumcari, NM, to lock it up and head to the restroom. That 35-minutes did not appear in the display since the car was shut down while charging. The 2.8 mi/kWh is solid, however. 2.7 to 2.8 mi/kWh anyway.

Wayne