Here's How The Porsche Taycan Won The Epic I-90 Surge

[@carolinebray82]

Experienced road tripper here and it was a joy to watch 😂it’s amazing how far technology has come and the infrastructure has improved!!

[@CheddarKungPao]

Thanks to Isaiah for this great conversation! So glad people are enjoying it. Trying to answer as many questions as I can but I'm leaving on a big trip tomorrow so answers may be more sporradic for the next week!

[@KyleConner]

Huge congrats to this team!

[@CheddarKungPao]

Thanks so much for the whole event Kyle! You rule!!

[@johnpoldo8817]

One of my observations for all teams was how much the charging infrastructure has improved in 2024. EVgo, EA, and others historically had low reliability, but most of them worked remarkably well during this race.

[@TheSpiritedTaycan]

Congratulations to the Taycan team for coming in 1st place 🥇. Also, very impressive performance from both the car and the team.

[@andyzegerman]

Sarah, David, Drew, you guys were rocking it. Sad we only saw each other in Seattle and then in Boston and not like all the others meeting at charging stops. Looking forward to another adventure.

[@CheddarKungPao]

Same Andy! It's been great to get to know you!

[@anton_grahn]

David sounds like a real pro with the planning/strategy, really impressive 🙌

[@CheddarKungPao]

Thank you! It was definitely a team effort and Drew knows his stuff too!

[@junehanzawa5165]

The 2025 Taycan is simply a gamechanger. A true gamechanger that has a ton of people out there really scared. It shows the next evolution of EV's, even though it's still using current bettery chemistry. This charging speed and technology is what inexpensive EV's are going to be using 4 or 5 years from now when the next generations of Taycans and other high end EV's will be using new chemistries with 700 miles of range and 500kW charging. As far as the race, the only mistake you guys made was unpluging too early when you were still getting 297kW and then had to slow down for 10 or 15 minutes of the drive to get to the next charging location on the route.

[@CheddarKungPao]

We only slowed down one time and that was in Indiana like we talked about in the video. We were not still getting near 300kW when we unplugged that time. And hindsight is 20/20. We didn't know how badly the weather would affect our efficiency. We thought we accounted for it, but obviously we didn't. We never made that mistake again. :)

[@junehanzawa5165]

@CheddarKungPao Yep. You learned from your one mistake. The Lucid team????... not so much.😁

[@ab-tf5fl]

Yeah, the way the Porsche is able to charge today, Bolts will be charging 10-15 years from now. New technology always starts with the most expensive vehicles, but eventually trickles down.

[@mojavelinux]

My greatest hope is that this performance sends shockwaves through the EV world and raises the bar for charging speed expectations. Cars should have a minimum of 300kW charging from here on out, full stop.

[@LindaCampbell-nz7mo]

19:00 Amazing fun journey to watch! Our e-tron has a 200-ish range and we are ready to stop. Not an easy trip, but now you have lots of great new friendships and memories too. 😃

[@ezpoppy55]

Fun to watch this surge series and also the debriefs by each team. But it’s not a trip I’d ever take in that manner, i.e., nonstop. (I understand that wasn’t the point.) I took a 5,500 mile r/t from CA to KY. Took me 21 days, minus 10 days in KY, so about 5 days out and 6 days back. Did some sight seeing, with one city each direction having a 2 night stay (Tulsa going to KY, St. Louis heading home). I drove my ‘21 M3 SR+, the cheapest, smallest battery pack, slowest charging tesla made. I had a lot of stops, but my average charging stop was about 22 min - time enough to take a real break. I wasn’t trying to set records and pretty much just followed Tesla’s route planner. My average distance between stops was about 90 miles. For the entire trip, I averaged 242 Wh/mile, in July, going about 10mph over limit and running my a/c a lot! Add that to also using AP, I arrived at each hotel stop feeling rested and stress free. To me, THAT is the way to travel! The way these teams traveled and listening to them talk and watching the videos, there was pressure, rushed stops, stress, mistakes (I had one 5 min wait at a charger in CO - ONE! I’ve waited longer in a line at the supermarket, and, back in the bad old days, at a Costco gas station) - I’d hate traveling that way, and no way would my family stand for it. I’d love to see this sort of “race” with families included - spouses, kids, maybe even dogs. That would give a real world experience! Great job Kyle, Jordan, and all the teams! Really impressive! 👏🏼👏🏼

[@panameradan6860]

Yep, cross-country trips in BEVs with families who aren’t into cars/BEVs make for good video content … one gal took her husband and infant from Chicago (I think it was) to Florida (or Georgia?) in their BEV and posted a KZbin video of the experience in the last year or so … verdict: they’ll take an ICEV next time …

[@voksic81]

Congrats! Best team and car won! 😉

[@andyzegerman]

Not that the other teams weren't the best, but team Taycan was "bester" 😅

[@voksic81]

@ for sure, all teams made a giant effort. It's not an easy feat, I admire all the participants. I actually think it was the hardest for the ICE team; 40+ hours in a constant noise, vibration and stiff chassis. But in the end, in EV segment, there's one winner and Taycan would be very hard to beat, despite all the Tesla and Lucid hype. If they had cross turismo 4s, they would still win and be more comfortable while doing it. But again, I admire everybody for doing this.

[@mojavelinux]

Everything about this performance was incredible. You should have seen my spouse and I watching it. Every time we saw that car charging, we were hooting and hollering. It never got old to see it suck in that juice.

[@dianewallace6064]

Congratulations Team Taycan

[@newscoulomb3705]

I definitely think it's a good thing for Tesla folk to experience the public charging in a real way because it's still difficult having conversations with people who have zero experience but insist that the public CCS charging infrastructure isn't capable.

[@andyzegerman]

It was/is that capable, that even we in the Model S Plaid chose to use it.

[@newscoulomb3705]

@andyzegerman Yeah. I think a lot of people soured on Electrify America several years ago, but they've made huge improvements to their reliability. The next few years will be interesting, too, with the rise of chargers at travel plazas. No more driving three to four miles off the freeway to get a charger.

[@YeOldeTraveller]

I have multiple road trips in my Mach-E Rally now, and I have only had a couple instances over 10K miles that were other than plug in and it just works, and I have never not been able to charge. I wish all chargers had working card readers, so we didn't need all the apps, but I expect that day to come.

[@FitzieJJ]

Congrats to team Taycan. You ran a perfect race. The way I road trip is better suited to a Lucid. But I certainly respect the he// out of that Taycan.

[@YeOldeTraveller]

Having a car that is ready to go before you are is the key. For normal road trips, anything more is effectively overkill. The Taycan is the king for the non-stop run, but I suspect the Lucid is the best road trip car due to range and fast enough charging. If you have get 4 hours down the road, you can pick your stop to match your next meal, and be ready to do that again when you are done eating. On one 2400-mile road trip in a MYLR, we only had to wait on the car once (and that was by choice to avoid a detour at the destination). One thing that is important to most folks is the comfort of the car. I've now done 2 trips in the Model Y and two trips in the Mustang Mach-E Rally. I find the Mach-E more comfortable, but the Model Y is faster. However, limiting the days to 600 miles with overnight charging would reduce the advantage of the Tesla.

[@EhabAboud]

Great interview! Nice work 😁

[@KyleBrightman]

What was the actual time game to Boston between the Acura and Taycan? I would love a final wrap up with all the numbers (total time, charging time, charging stops, etc) for each of the teams.

[@CheddarKungPao]

It's in the end of the last video. Around 2.5 hours from TLX to Taycan. :)

[@johnpoldo8817]

In this race it was important to eat light and minimize time in bathrooms. I’ve seen a line a the lady’s restroom when the men’s room is empty.

[@Longsnowsm]

Congrats team Taycan! Not sure how you guys managed to miss so many of those EA sand traps. You guys appeared to really be moving at a good clip and weren't having some of the problems the other teams were having. By getting into those chargers first you dodged some bullets. Great all around. All the other EV's in the market have a lot of work to do to catch up with that Taycan's charging speed.

[@markfitzpatrick6692]

Love the taycan

[@Swapnil638]

Awesome stuff to watch Maybe each team can be handed a GoPro-type cam and a mount so they don’t have to use phones

[@Swapnil638]

Meanwhile the Model 3 team was having a banquet at a buffet 😂

[@TheSpiritedTaycan]

Also, everything seemed to go very well for team Taycan. To me, the worst thing which seemed to happen was when Drew said “you ripped the bumper off” at the end. I was worried that the taycan’s bumper was actually damaged lol.

[@CheddarKungPao]

Hahah thankfully no! That was a crazy bit of pavement though. :)

[@TheSpiritedTaycan]

@CheddarKungPro good. I would love to buy a Taycan someday because it’s my dream car and one of my minor concerns about it would probably be its low ground clearance but I think it has an available air suspension option so I can raise the ground clearance with that option. The Taycan’s performance in the i90 surge race just confirmed that the Taycan is my current favorite ev by the way. Y’all are so lucky you got to drive that car.

[@lemongavine]

In the real world, a trip like this would include at least two overnight hotel stays. In this case, the Taycan would charge overnight and probably would have beaten the gas car or it would have been much closer. Add the need for an oil change and it’s game over 😊

[@lemongavine]

Actually most of the cars in this race would have come close to the gas car with overnight stays so EVs really aren’t much slower than gas on a trip like this

[@Mark-rt6fy]

I think it comes down to the mental stress of planning for stops, controlling optimal battery percentage to start and to unplug, and most importantly pray for chargers to work.

[@pppscooby]

True, most of these cars would have finished around the same time if there were a couple overnight stays. Also agree you do have to plan the trip in an EV, but for some that just adds to the fun of it.

[@Cyrribrae]

​@@Mark-rt6fyif the infrastructure lets you down, then indeed, you're kinda screwed. But, while you need some planning for the optimal road trips, you still get pretty decent results without too much thought through most of this race. The exceptions are some of the more pronounced charging deserts I do think the Taycan, Tesla, Ioniq, and especially Lucid would have done better with overnight hotel stops (with charging). I'm curious how much closer those cars would have been to the gas one in that scenario.

[@junehanzawa5165]

​@@Mark-rt6fyNot with a Tesla. There's no stress. Superchargers are everywhere you're going and they always work. And now with every other manufacturer getting access, that stress is gone, even if it's not their primary choice.

[@Cyrribrae]

Planning and experience definitely showed out on this team. Congrats! I'm curious if any of you expected to come that close to the gas car at the outset?

[@CheddarKungPao]

I wasn't sure how close we'd be to the gas car because it really depended on so mant variables. Traffic plus how many non-fueling stops they'd need to make. I thought it was a great idea to show that even in a fairly hardcore situation the difference is not anywhere near as big as anti-EV people like to pretend. And the more normal/casual your road trips are, the difference basically disappears.

[@raptor8844]

Hi, big fan from France here! I have a couple of questions about the Taycan. You mentioned that the car felt a bit tight in terms of space, but could you talk more about the comfort? Was it a quiet ride, or was there noticeable wind noise in the cabin? Also, how did the advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) perform? Were there any issues, or did everything work smoothly? Overall, did you find the Taycan easy to drive? Thanks for the great content and I’m excited for your next race!

[@CheddarKungPao]

Bonjour! :) Great questions: The front seats are comfortable but much more cockpit like than something like the Lucid. The back seat area is small and for someone my size was not my favorite place to be. But obviously we made it work. The wind noise was not intense but also more present than in say my iX. But I don't recall if we had the noise insulating glass option. The ADAS was ok. Not as good as BMW but I prefer it to Tesla autopilot personally. But that is personal taste. We didn't really have any issues with the car. It was very easy and fun to drive. I have strongly considered trading my i4 in on one but I think I need the infotainment updated before I'd feel comfortable with that transaction.

[@Mark-rt6fy]

First gen taycan owner here. Seats have less padding and harder than competitors, typical Porsche fashion. Pretty quiet when equipped with laminated windows, negligible wind noise below 200kph, outweighed by tire noise since Porsche put on summer performance tires. Handling is no match to 911 but much better than panamera, or any other EVs I've tried below $200,000. It is neutral at turn in and out of corners. Throttle is linear, brake is linear, with 3 times the regenerative brake power of concurrent tesla. Steering is precise and weighed properly, feedback on load is better than any 4 door performance EV and ICE car on sold today. Air suspension is much more responsive than ICE equivalent, filters bumps, keeps the car flat around mild corners, but does not feel floaty at all. I'm sure the new hydraulic active suspension is even better. Ultimately the car is limited by its EV tires, yet it's a cost every EV has to pay for the sake of range. To release the full potential of a high horsepower and extremely heavy car, you'll need *at least* a set of Cup 2

[@Indypacecar82]

What would you choose for a middle of January I90 surge? Taking into account possible inclement weather. What tire choice to optimize the trip?

[@CheddarKungPao]

@@Indypacecar82 i'd still wanna be in the Taycan probably. Nokian winter tires would be best for grip but I might trade off for efficiency and run all seasons for an event like this.

[@carolinebray82]

Congrats 🎉😂I love the one liner the chocolate milk and gas station food !! 😂

[@rocketrollsvlogs7625]

As impressive as the Porsche was, i was more impressed with the Tesla Model 3 performance considering it is so much cheaper. The canon-balls are fun to watch, but i still find myself charging longer than i need to on roadtrips, just because it's more convenient. And if a trip requires more than 2 or 3 stops, I'm flying anyway.

[@TheReal_JG]

It was the Model 3 RWD, not a performance spec.

[@CheddarKungPao]

The Model 3 was definitely very impressive. Its performance was down to efficiency, charger location and a great, super experienced team piloting it. I love that it and the Ioniq 6 both show there are afforsable options that perform amazingly well.

[@newscoulomb3705]

In regards to how "realistic" this trip was, I'd still say not very. The busiest, most populated routes in the country won't let you drive those speeds without the risk of a significant ticket. Also, the regular 10 to 15 minute stops aren't as realistic as making a mixture of shorter and longer stops. Most people still have the expectation of driving between 2 and 4 hours between stops, and of course, you'll rarely see people on the road for 46 hours straight without some longer breaks for meals and sleep. EV, gas, or otherwise, there's no reason to drive 46 hours across country with only short breaks when you can hop on a plane and be to your destination in 3 to 5 hours max.

[@CheddarKungPao]

I've driven all over the country 10+ mph over the speed limit, so I don't really agree with that part. Not saying you should or have to, though. I think most people would definitely fly rather than drive but of course they self select out of caring about road trips. This info is for people interested in road tripping, which personally I prefer.

[@newscoulomb3705]

@CheddarKungPao Oh, I'm not saying people don't break the speed limit, just that it risks a ticket. One of the teams on this race actually got a speeding ticket. Also, to me, this isn't "road tripping." This is "cannonball running," which is a very different thing. Most people road trip or travel, they don't cannonball run.

[@CheddarKungPao]

@@newscoulomb3705yeah i agree most people will at least stop to sleep and probably also stop for meals and stuff. I certainly will on the trip I'm starting tomorrow. :)

[@andyzegerman]

And if you don't drive 10mph over the speed limit, you even have a little more range and could shave of a minute or two on charging stops.

[@ab-tf5fl]

I think the idea was that different people drive at difference paces, so by driving at the fastest possible pace, the result is the largest possible difference between the cars. Still, I think a version of the race where drivers are required to spend nights at hotels would be more realistic - and also much safer.

[@markfitzpatrick6692]

Sarah people way over blow the charging. Ea has been replacing old with All new units. Drew did the trip from New York to la and they set a record in the winter 4 years ago . And even when Kyle had a few problems he always made it across country in a I. D 4, he did a partial trip in a Mach e from Colorado to la and back and made it ok. He drove a Hyundai Kona from Connecticut to Oklahoma and only had one problem

[@CheddarKungPao]

I have done lots of road trips on CCS as I mention in the video. Things are better this year than last year for sure. But CCS infrastructure is still not as plentiful or reliable as Tesla in the US. Part of this is due to EA's hardware choices, going with fewer dispensers and less ability to distribute power across a site. Things are better but it's still not uncommon to see 1 charger completely offline at an EA site and that often represents 50% of the 350kW capacity offline. 25% of the total dispensers. That's not something you see with Superchargers. The Flying J and Ionna projects will help with this, though. I am not a Tesla fanboy, but I think we always need to be honest about these things.

[@jerrymildredpetersen3177]

I totally agree. Not perfect, but improving. We just drove our Ioniq 5 RWD LR from north central Ohio to our home just north of Tampa. We spent way more time on the way home in traffic jams than at chargers. 2:01 at chargers, and about 3:00 just sitting on the highway waiting for people to get out of the way. Our longest charge was a pair of 21 minute stops. We only had to change chargers once. And that trip home was 100% EA chargers since we still have the free EA account. When that's over, we'll get back to those fabulous Pilot/Flying J chargers and it'll be even better. But right now, I'm planning a trip from Tampa to south east Arizona. A little over 2,000 miles each way.

[@dyhppyx]

Sooooo the answer is a lot of EA luck... And a good charging curve

[@CheddarKungPao]

I prefer to think of it like Poker or something. It's not pure luck, we definitely made a lot of strategic choices. But there is definitely a role that luck plays in anything like this. We could have run into bad traffic and lots of other things to slow us up besides charging problems.

[@ronb4633]

I agree with David, it was an excellent job of planning and a very efficient car for that speed as well as phenomenal charging. It’s not simply luck picking the chargers that have good ratings and recent successes with high charging speed vehicles. Great job team Taycan, great job Taycan.

[@BMWI35433]

Gotta love BMW!

[@panameradan6860]

I think the aero wheels are the best-looking wheels for the Taycan and have them on my CT4… Porsche makes the only BEVs (now with the Macan 4, also) that even remotely interest me … If I couldn’t have a Porsche BEV, I wouldn’t have a BEV at all (i.e., PHEV)…