Porsche Drives A 2020 Taycan Prototype On Shanghai Streets

One of the main ambitions of Porsche with its Taycan is to prove it's faster than Tesla products (sustained high speed runs), but one thing is for sure: we have the fastest readers on the market. Such as Zhoushan Guo, who took pictures of the future EV in front of the Peninsula Hotel, in Shanghai, and sent them to us right away.

Porsche did the same, many hours later, but did not seize the opportunity to use the beautiful walls of the Peninsula Hotel as a background for its photo shoot. This proves our readers also have a great aesthetic sense, by the way.

As our pictures show, the car had a factory test driver at the wheel, but it has also been driven by Li Chao, a Porsche Carrera Cup Asia driver and probably one of Porsche's best clients in the biggest car market of the world. Chao must have driven the prototype only at the Porsche Experience Center (PEC) Shanghai. The company does not state if he has a good reputation as a driver at home and mentions only a second and a third place as his best racing results. Something that says more about China's tradition at motorsports than about Chao himself.

Porsche's photos are the first part of an effort to promote the new EV. It is called Porsche Triple Demo Run and the German carmaker has already revealed where the other legs will take place. The next one will be in the UK, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, beginning on the 4th of July.

With Mark Webber in charge of the run, one week later, Porsche will have a prototype of the Taycan in the US, more specifically at the last race of the 2019 Formula E Championship. The driver will be Neel Jani, a WEC World Champion and one of the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans overall winners. We suspect we will receive many more pictures from our readers in the coming days...

With its official unveiling set for the Frankfurt Motor Show, the Taycan promises loads of things, but the most important is its 800V electric system. It will allow the new EV to charge much faster than its competitors, as well as reducing its weight, due to thinner cables necessary to deal with a higher voltage, but lower current. With a top speed of 250 km/h and a 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in around 3.5 seconds, the future Porsche has some other aces in the hole.

The cars will have different images on their roofs to celebrate each of the visited places. The Taycan for Shanghai presents a dragon there. The images to be used in the UK and the US have not been revealed. We're placing our bets on a lion and an eagle facing the sky at the prototype's roof.

On the exact day Tesla celebrates its 16th birthday, this may sound like a hell of a threat, but, at the very beginning, Elon Musk said his main goal was to make EVs popular and desirable. And, to have other automakers following Tesla's steps. Mission accomplished, Mr. Musk. If that is not a birthday gift, we may not have a proper definition for it.