When the Porsche Taycan first burst onto the scene, its Turbo S variant was the quickest accelerating and most powerful EV on the market. Around two years have passed since, though, and now it has been dethroned by two sedans with over 1,000 horsepower, one of which is the new highly acclaimed Lucid Air in its top Dream Edition P guise.
The Lucid Air Dream Edition has a pair of electric motors that combined can deliver a peak of 1,111 horsepower and 1,025 pound-feet (1,389 Nm), enough for a sprint time to 60 mph (96 km/h) of around 2.4 seconds. The Porsche Taycan Turbo S, with its 761 horsepower and 774 pound-feet (1,050 Nm) needs around 2.6 - 2.7 seconds to reach sixty.
Both vehicles are quite heavy, but the Lucid is about 150 pounds (70 kg) heavier.
The difference in performance is not huge, but it’s still noticeable, as you can see in this video uploaded by DragTimes. It features these two electric cars in a series of drag, as well as rolling start races, all of which are taken by the Lucid.
Even with the extra complication of having a two-speed gearbox between the rear motor and the wheels, the Taycan looked slower than the Air in all the races, always falling behind immediately after launching off the line. In the second race, the Taycan starts first, but is quickly reeled in by the Lucid; it has no problem passing it before the end of the run.
The overall impression is that the Taycan never looks quicker than the Air - it simply cannot make up for the power difference, no matter how much Porsche magic is hiding under its sheetmetal. Perhaps with the power boost that Porsche is expected to give the Taycan with its mid lifecycle refresh, it could come closer to out-accelerating the Air.
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Source: DragTimes / YouTube