Porsche Taycan claims new Nürburgring racetrack record with 7:42 time

Porsche has been hyping the Taycan, its first all-electric car, with some test results ahead of the unveiling planned for next week.

In its latest test, Porsche says that a Taycan pre-series prototype set a new Nürburgring-Nordschleife racetrack record.

The German automaker says that a Taycan electric car driven by Lars Kern completed the notoriously difficult 20.6 km track in seven minutes and 42 seconds — claiming the “fastest four-door, all-electric sports cars” record.

Kern commented on the experience:

The Taycan is also suitable for racetracks and it convincingly proved that here on the world’s most challenging circuit. Again and again, I am impressed at how stable the all-electric sports car handles in high-speed sections, such as Kesselchen, and how neutrally it accelerates from tight sections, such as Adenauer Forst.

Porsche released a video of the accomplishment:

Stefan Weckbach, vice president product line Taycan, also commented on the record lap:

The Taycan mastered its Triple Endurance Run superbly. First, our electric sports car demonstrated the reproducibility of its performance as part of a strenuous test involving 26 successive acceleration runs from zero to 200 km/h. Then it completed 3,425 kilometers within 24 hours in Nardò without any issues and now the record at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. Numerous factors contribute to this performance and the efficiency of the powertrain, also at high speeds. These include the chassis systems that react within a fraction of a second, as well as the outstanding aerodynamics.

Several Porsche Taycan prototypes had been spotted testing on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife track for years now.

The automaker made it an important test ground for its first all-electric vehicle.

The production version of the Taycan is set to be unveiled on September 4.

Electrek’s Take

We are as excited as any for the Porsche Taycan at Electrek, but I am not sure how impressive that record actually is in the grand scheme of things.

You can always claim a record when you get specific enough. In this case, I don’t know a lot of four-door all-electric sedans attempting a Nürburgring-Nordschleife record lap.

Maybe Tesla Performance vehicles could have tried, but that’s about it.

Earlier this year, we saw a Tesla Model 3 Performance complete a nine-minute lap on the Nürburgring racetrack, but it was on a public driving day, and there was a lot of traffic on it slowing them down.

However, four-door record aside, the time is objectively good and beat several gas-powered sports cars. It’s also about one minute from the overall production car record.

Other electric vehicles have also performed well on the track. The NIO EP9, an electric supercar, beat every production car ever a few years ago with a Nurburgring lap record of 6:45.90.