The Porsche Taycan has broken another record, this time driving at over 100 mph inside of a building. The German automaker achieved a new Guinness World Records title by hitting a top speed of 102.5 mph with its first series production electric car, the Taycan, indoors.
An electric car allows for such a feat because, as with traditional ICE vehicles, the building doesn’t have to be properly ventilated in order to safely conduct such a test. The unspoken perk of EVs eases those worries when cruising inside four walls. The outcome may have be a lot different had they tried this with a gasoline-powered vehicle.
Some of you may be thinking, how often are people driving indoors? Maybe not too many as of now, but with the development of tunnels and loop systems, some companies are already benefiting from the lack of emissions seen from EVs.
For example, Norway recently realized that it was able to slash millions of dollars in unnecessary ventilation shafts that were included in the budget for a new tunnel project in the country. If you didn’t know, you learned during the Super Bowl, Norway currently has the highest number of electric vehicles per capita. The amount of emissions at any given time in the tunnel won’t require the number of shafts thanks to the country’s higher mix of electric vehicles.
Another example is Elon Musk’s Boring Company who is currently under construction on a “Loop” system in Las Vegas that will only utilize electric vehicles, in turn lowering cost. The same will likely happen with the company’s Loop system that is expected to link the Ontario International Airport to a station in Rancho Cucamonga, should negotiations with the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority go as planned.
Of course the Porsche Taycan didn’t find its way inside to cut any costs, just break records. Watch the German automaker set the world record for the fastest speed driven by a vehicle in an enclosed building in the video below:
The record was beat by Racer Leh Keen driving a Porsche Taycan Turbo S, by over 20 km/h, inside an exhibition hall in New Orleans.
According to Keen: “I did take a moment on the starting line – knowing I was going to have to go as fast as I could, and stop again, all before reaching the wall I was facing. It got my attention. I used the car’s launch control and the Taycan just hooked up – the sensation of speed indoors, even in such a big space, is enormous – that wall rushed up fast. I was gentle on the brakes in the end – the Taycan’s brakes were more than up to the job. Of course, I didn’t look down at my speed so it came as a surprise and a relief that I’d beaten the record, and by such a margin. It was a rush! I’m thankful to Porsche for trusting my abilities and for their preparations and encouragement – 165,1 km/h inside a building. What was I thinking?”
Porsche recently introduced a new entry-level rear-wheel drive Taycan model to its electric lineup simply called “Taycan”. It will do a little less damage to your pocketbook with a price tag of just $81,250. Of course that is still a lot of money but it’s a drastic drop from the $105,150 all-wheel-drive 4S model with which it will share its rear motor.