Test drive Porsche Taycan on Lake Baikal

Is it better to ride sideways on the slippery ice in the world: a Porsche 911 or a Taycan? How many electric cars can withstand at -20 Celsius and why a trip to Baikal can relieve children's fears

What was the most terrifying movie you ever made as a child? "Alien", "Jaws", "Fly", "Omen"? The old Soviet painting "Empty Flight" instilled in me a universal fear. Specifically, the part where the two main characters get stuck in a stalled car in the middle of a frozen river. Not a soul around, overboard about minus 45 degrees Celsius and a blizzard. I imagined how much suffering and what painful death such a test would prepare for me.

Now imagine: frozen (and, of course, incredibly beautiful) Baikal, crazy cold and a car that does not make a single sound - go understand whether it is turned on at all or not. A nice (no) attachment to this is the lack of a cellular network. A great excuse to plunge headlong into childhood fears for a paranoid like me.

When I first saw the Porsche Taycan, I literally fell in love with it. A silent electric car with crazy dynamics, all the trademark Porsche manners and tidying up from the most daring pictures about a technologically advanced future is a dream! But the place of our first meeting was sunny Los Angeles. A date in Eastern Siberia made me look at the car differently.

It is unlikely that it will be possible to find one suitable epithet by 2020 and early 2021. Obviously, the pandemic has taught us to think and relate differently to the things we used to do. Free time, travel, in the case of our profession - for example, to test drives. The geography of travel has changed a lot, actually narrowing down to the size of Russia. However, what was on Lake Baikal was even out of this framework.

Flight to Irkutsk, then a helicopter flight to Olkhon Island, where we changed to the long-familiar Porsche Cayenne and Cayenne Coupe and went to Aya Bay. As it turned out - just to meet my childhood fears: the lack of communication and the sound of a running engine on the crystal-clear ice of the deepest lake on the planet.

It was there that the main characters of the event were waiting for us - all four-wheel drive modifications of the Taycan: 4S, Turbo and Turbo S. Acceleration time to 100 km / h: 4,0, 3,2 and 2,8 seconds, respectively. To compare the behavior of electric cars with classic Porsche models, the 911s were also brought to Baikal: Turbo S and Targa models.

In general, to call what happened next a test drive - to go against the truth and offend the organizers. It was fun for petrolheads, people who love cars and driving, car freaks - whatever you name it.

For a while, we had to pass the track in the style of dzhimkhan. You've probably heard the term, at least thanks to Ken Block or the Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift movie. The general meaning of the race is to pass the road, which consists of a huge number of obstacles, in our case in the form of cones and barrels, in the shortest possible time. Most of the test takes place in drifting, 180 or even 360 degree turns. Ideal entertainment for Baikal, because the ice on the lake is unique. It is much more slippery than normal. The creator of our track, the head of the Porsche Experience Center Russia, honored racer Oleg Keselman, generally compared it to soap.

On the one hand, there is no doubt about the ability of any Porsche when it comes to driving. On the other hand, we have all seen in the movies and on Youtube what cars they use to conquer dzhimkhana. Here is a car weighing almost 2,3 tons. Will it be able to easily spin around cones and barrels, turn 180 degrees on the go?

Even at the training session, which took about half a day, it became clear - definitely, yes. A low center of gravity (thanks to the lithium-ion batteries located in the floor), fully steerable chassis, fully deactivating stabilization system, exorbitant power - all this makes the Taycan close to ideal drift shell. Yes, the winner of our time trial showed a slightly better time on 911 than on an electric car, but in some elements the Taycan even surpassed its well-deserved relative. Although at fast turns of 180 degrees, the mass makes itself felt: the car flies out of the trajectory much farther than the lighter Targa. A classic with a short wheelbase and a motor in the back is generally much clearer: he sat down and drove to the best of his ability. You need to get used to "Taikan".

Overall though, this is a typical Porsche in the best possible way. Clear and transparent steering, precise throttle response. By the way, an important point: electric cars in general and the Taycan in particular react to pressing the gas pedal in a completely different way, the maximum torque is immediately available here, which provides a powerful jerk from the start. And this is despite the fact that they tried to bring the behavior of the car closer to that of gasoline models of the brand.

One and a half to two hours is enough, albeit in super extreme conditions of incessant sliding and axle boxes, to fully understand the car. Learn to drive as fast as possible for your capabilities, while understanding exactly when to skid the car in order to quickly make a circle around a cone or barrel, at what speed you can turn 180 degrees and not skid too much at the start in a straight line.

And now - back to my paranoia. Laugh as much as you like, I was really afraid that the batteries were about to run out, and we would stay in the middle of Lake Baikal. Yes, I understood that death from the cold did not threaten us and generally assessed the situation as adequately as possible, but try to explain this to your childhood fears. That is why I followed the charge scale most closely.

Each segment on the track lasted about 4 hours. So, after 2,5 hours the battery is discharged by half, the next 1,5 hours it leaves 10-12% of the charge. And this is in conditions of cold, constant sliding - in general, in the most energy-intensive mode. I think (although I did not check) that the 911 was burning almost a full tank of fuel during this time.

By the way, you can charge the Taycan from a regular outlet. It will take 12 hours, although on special high-speed charges, you can get by in 93 minutes. The problem is how to find one. In Russia, there are only 870 of them so far, half in Moscow and St. Petersburg. And, of course, not a single one on Lake Baikal. 

As a result, in two sessions, between which the electric cars were charged from the generator, none of the Taycans was completely discharged. This lowered the degree of my anxiety to the lowest possible level. It turned out that Baikal is an ideal place not only to fully feel the capabilities of one of the most, if not the most, perfect electric car, but also to get rid of some of children's fears. It's time to review the "Empty Flight".

A type	Sedan	Sedan	Sedan
Length Width Height, mm	4963/1966/1379	4963/1966/1381	4963/1966/1378
Wheelbase, mm	2900	2900	2900
Ground clearance, mm	128	128	128
Cargo space, l	407	366	366
Curb weight, kg	2220	2305	2295
engine's type	Электрический	Электрический	Электрический
Maximum power, hp	571	680	761
Max torque, Nm	650	850	1050
type of drive	Full	Full	Full
Maximum speed km / h	250	260	260
Acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h, c	4	3,2	2,8
Price from, $.	106 245	137 960	167 561