Porsche Taycan launches on an aircraft carrier, stays dry
A new generation of car requires a new generation of publicity stunt, and this one requires an aircraft carrier.
Electric cars offer many advantages over their internally combusted counterparts -- no emissions, cheaper running, minimal required service, etc. -- but for enthusiasts, chief among those advantages is acceleration. EVs launch harder than just about anything short of a US Navy aircraft off the deck of a carrier, and that comparison was not lost on Porsche when dreaming up a new way to show off the Taycan's quickness.
If you're getting images of Top Gear-style antics involving a steam-powered catapult resulting in a very large splash, think again. Porsche's demonstration relies entirely on the Taycan's own power and, thankfully, takes place entirely on the ship's deck.
Porsche driver Shea Holbrook launched the car from a standstill up to 90 miles per hour (90.58 to be exact) before getting hard on the carbon-ceramic brakes and coming to a complete standstill. The entire process -- acceleration and braking -- took just 10.17 seconds and, more importantly, covered a distance shorter than the length of the deck on the USS Hornet.
While that figure is impressive and points to a very, very fast 0-to-60 mph time, it's a little hard to compare this performance to other machines, as the figure more commonly utilized for performance entails accelerating to 100 mph before braking. However, for context, 2017 test conducted by Motor Trend indicated that a Model S P100D made the 0-100-0 run in 10.2 seconds. That means the Tesla is certainly quicker, but Porsche has said again and again that the Taycan is about sustained performance not single bursts of speed. Exactly how that translates to real-world performance remains to be seen.
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