Porsche Taycan 4S Cold Weather 70 MPH Range Test

We picked one of the coldest days in New Jersey this winter to test out the highway range of a Porsche Taycan 4S when driven at a constant 70 mph. It was 14°F (-10°C) when we started out and for the majority of the drive, it was below 25°F (-4°C). To make matters worse, Porsche had just outfitted the vehicle with Pirelli P Zero mud & snow tires, which certainly wouldn't help the Taycan 4S maximize its range. 

The 2020 Porsche Taycan 4S is EPA range rated at 203 miles per charge, but we've done multiple highway range tests with Taycans in all trim levels, and we are always able to drive much farther than the official EPA range rating. The Porsche Taycan is unique in that it's the only EV that we've tested that consistently beats its range rating - and by a wide margin, in any range test we can throw at it. 

We headed out shortly after sunrise before the temperature rose much.

A few months ago when it was warmer, our own Kyle Conner conducted a similar 70-mph range test with a Taycan 4S and was able to drive it 278 miles before completely exhausting the battery. 

However, this test was going to be much tougher for the Taycan. It's well documented that EVs cannot drive as far when it's cold as they can in warmer conditions. Our goal was to conduct a 70-mph range test in the coldest conditions we could. So we requested the Taycan 4S in early February, which is historically the coldest time of the year in New Jersey where we would be doing the range test.

We cold-soaked the car outside overnight where the temperature was 8° to 10°F (-13° to -12°C) so the battery was completely cold by early morning when we headed out. 

The Taycan 4S handled the cold weather like a champ and finished up with 213 miles of range in these most unfavorable driving range conditions. Even in the cold weather, driving on snow tires at 70-mph, the Taycan 4S beat its EPA range rating by 10 miles.

There's simply no other EV available today that can achieve that. Normally, most electric vehicles can expect to get somewhere between 70% and 80% of their EPA-range rating when driven in these conditions, but the Taycan 4S achieved 105%. 

Had we waited one more day to do the range test we could have possibly done it in even worse conditions, as we got 35" of snow. However, there was a state of emergency declared, and non-essential vehicles were prohibited from driving, especially on the highways.

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Even though the Taycan 4S is all-wheel drive and has the snow tires on, I'm not sure how well it would have fared during the storm, so it was tucked away in the garage until the roads had been mostly cleared. Driving in a snowstorm would have certainly reduced the range, and perhaps that's the only way to get the Taycan to deliver less driving range than its EPA range rating.

So check out the video and let us know what you think. What's the deal? Is the Taycan's 2-speed transmission responsible for its great highway range or are there other factors at play? Both Porsche at the EPA independently confirmed the range rating, so there isn't a dispute there.

Is it just that the EPA test doesn't favor EVs that are better suited for high-speed driving as the Taycan is? As always, let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.