Watch: Porsche Taycan shows that 145km/h on an aircraft carrier is easy

Andrew Sluys
  • Sign in required

    Please sign in to your account to add a vehicle to favourite

  • Share this article

Porsche is pulling out all the stops to build hype around their four-door electric car before its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show tomorrow. 

Just last week it set a blistering pace around the Nürburgring, claiming the four-door electric sports sedan record, and then on an aircraft carrier today, showing just how fast it can go in a straight line. 

Despite the fact that the Bugatti Chiron stole the spotlight today with its 490km/h run in Germany, the Taycan has certainly shown its worth on a 27,500-tonne floating platform of all places. 

With Shea Holbrook behind the wheel, the challenge had been set — she had to hit 145km/h in 265 metres, or the safety crew would be fishing both her and the electric Porsche out of the bay. 

Luckily for everyone involved, traction control worked a treat and the EV was able to get up to 145km/h and slow back down to a stop in just 128 metres and took only 10.7 seconds to do so.

Don't miss a thing, click here to follow Driven on Instagram for news, behind the scenes, and much more

It has been questioned as to why Porsche didn't opt for a 0-100mph test on the boat, but available space might've been a factor here. Taycan line Vice President Stefan Weckbach explained what happened.

"On a tough, changeable surface the Taycan’s composure, its incredible acceleration and stopping power were absolutely impressive – though we decided not to take it to the max, just to reach the 0-100 mph margin," Weckbach said. "While I was completely sure both Shea and the car could achieve something special, I’m really relieved no one went for a swim."

Shea also revealed after the run that the deck of the old boat was a lot bumpier than what was shown in the video. 

"Deliberately accelerating towards thin air and the ocean is a new experience for me, but the Taycan gave me a huge amount of confidence — it was really stable but under acceleration and, more importantly, under braking," she added.

Now let's wait and see if the Bugatti Chiron can hit 400km/h on an aircraft carrier or not...