Porsche Taycan EV Sets World Record: Shortest Charge Time to Cross the U.S.

Porsche on Friday announced that the Taycan electric vehicle (EV) has set a new Guinness World Record for the shortest charging time on a trip across the United States.

Wayne Gerdes, a multi-Guinness World Records title holder for efficiency and range in other vehicles, set out to beat the previous record of 7 hours, 10 minutes, and 1 second in a standard 2021 Porsche Taycan equipped with the Performance Battery Plus package (93.4 kWh of total capacity).

Gerdes completed the cross-country journey from Los Angeles, California, to New York City, covering 2,834.5 miles in the Taycan with a cumulative charge time of just 2 hours, 26 minutes, and 48 seconds.

“Comparing charging performance from a variety of EVs I have driven to date, the Taycan sets the bar,” said Gerdes. “The first time I charged on a 350KW charger, 6 to 82 percent occurred in just 22 minutes.”

The Taycan used was also equipped with the Premium Package, Adaptive Cruise Control, and Porsche Electric Sport Sound to make Gerdes’ life on the road easier.

For it to be a legitimate Guinness World Record attempt, Gerdes was required to meet an extensive set of requirements, which included meticulously noting every stop and each charge being observed by independent witnesses.

Every mile covered by the Taycan was filmed, GPS tracked and accounted for before being certified by a panel of adjudicators ahead of the record being accepted, said Porsche.

“The Taycan performed even better than expected. Its performance, comfort and road holding were excellent, but the standout metric alongside the charging capacity was its efficiency,” Gerdes said after completing the record-breaking journey.

Porsche is seeing “huge” demand for the Taycan, with delivery wait times for the EV going all the way up to six months back in September of last year. The company sold more Taycan EVs in 2021 than it did gas-powered 911 sports cars.