Tesla Model S Tops Porsche Taycan In Survey

More than 700 horsepower, ultra-fast battery charging, a sultry exterior, a high-tech cabin, four-wheel-steering. On paper, Porsche’s new Taycan electric sedan has plenty going for it. 

Set to go on sale in the U.S. in 2020, the Taycan officially debuts this week as Porsche’s first-ever electric car. Arguably one of the most eagerly-anticipated vehicle reveals of the year, it’s expected to start around $90,000 and eventually go all the way up past the $200,000 mark. 

But will it be enough to sway buyers away from the Tesla Model S?

Autolist.com recently conducted a survey that delved into exactly that question, asking consumers which of the two models they would choose and why. 

The results bode well for Tesla. Forty-five percent of respondents said they would choose the Model S over the Taycan, 33 percent said they’d prefer the Porsche and 22 percent were unsure. Autolist polled 1,500 current car shoppers for the study in late August. 

While that’s good news for Tesla, it’s also a bit of a surprise. 

The Taycan seems like it could be Tesla’s first true competitor because it offers much of what has made the Model S so popular. It’s fast, sexy, modern and offers a host of high-tech features. What’s more, it comes from Porsche, a company that has a legendary reputation in racing and sports cars. 

Some of this likely boils down to familiarity. The Model S has been around since 2012, an eternity in new-car land. But it’s stayed current with a cosmetic refresh, a wide variety of powertrain options and countless minor tweaks and upgrades to its software and hardware. 

Being first has its advantages. Tesla has now had years to build up considerable brand cache in the luxury automotive space, its rocky financial picture notwithstanding. 

The numerous reasons why people chose the Model S shed more light on its strengths. 

Here’s a look at the top reasons and the percentage of respondents who chose that in their top three reasons:

• Tesla’s brand reputation: 41 percent
• The Model S’ performance: 34 percent
• The car’s efficiency: 24 percent (tied for third place)
• Model S exterior styling: 24 percent (tied for third place)
• Greater trust in Tesla to build an EV: 24 percent (tied for third place)
• Tesla’s Supercharging network: 24 percent (tied for third place)

What stands out about those that preferred the Tesla is the number of people who cited the company’s Supercharging network as a key reason. 

No other automaker has anything comparable to this system of charging stations spread out across the U.S. at the moment. Clearly, the very existence of it goes a long way in easing range anxiety in consumers. 

Turning to the Porsche, respondents were more united than the Tesla fans in their reasons for preferring the Taycan. The top three most popular reasons and the percentage of respondents who chose them were:

• Porsche’s brand reputation: 59 percent
• The Taycan’s expected performance: 46 percent
• The Taycan’s exterior styling: 37 percent

This is more in line with what one would expect for a sleek new EV hitting the market from Porsche. It’s also notable that there was a considerable gap between these top three choices and the remaining answer choices. 

No wonder then that Porsche announced in July it had 30,000 global deposits for the new Taycan, a significant portion of its 40,000-unit goal for the model’s first year. 

In order to combat Tesla’s Supercharging advantage, Porsche — and indeed every other automaker looking to crack into the EV market in the U.S. — has its work cut out for it in building a comparable network of EV juice. 

Porsche’s solution is the Taycan’s cutting-edge 800-volt electrical architecture, double that of other EVs. This system lets the Taycan add a whopping 60 miles of range in just four minutes of charging; it will recharge the battery to 80 percent capacity in under 20 minutes. 

But a quick-charging car is useless if there’s nowhere to plug it in. Porsche is working on that too — or, rather its parent company Volkswagen Group is. As a result of a settlement over VW’s Dieselgate scandal, the company created Electrify America, a charging infrastructure company. 

This outfit is currently building 300 charging stations along major U.S. highways in 42 states, plus another 180 stations in and around 17 urban areas. (Go here for an excellent and detailed dive into the disparate world of charging standards).

Whether that will be enough to keep Taycan drivers as juiced as their Model S counterparts remains to be seen. 

But it’s clear that the battle for EV supremacy — and EV network supremacy — is just charging up.