A Trip to Hainan – Author: Chang Yan

It took me two months to get my skin color back from black to white.

The reason for this bizarre incident was that I travelled around an island in Hainan on an electric car in early September.

During the island tour, there was an even more bizarre thing that happened: I received a phone call inviting me to come again in a month for another island tour.

I had just finished this trip and knew I would be tanned like a black ball, so how could I agree to come again?

But I still came, after all, I heard that this time the car to drive was Taycan 4S.

We made a video that completely explains Taycan not long ago.

Regarding the situation of the test drive vehicle this time, I will also cut a new film next week. So in this article, let’s chat about the experience easily.

Design between the sea and the sky

The beginning of this trip was at the Yun Dong Library located on the coast of Nang Hai in Haikou.

One side of Yun Dong is surrounded by tall buildings while the other side is a cross-sea bridge. The futuristic library with its unique design is still crowded with visitors. People no longer regard the neat and uniform urban architecture as the only standard of civilization. The art of architectural design is not only accepted but also appreciated.

In addition to its smooth and connected appearance, the essence of the same concept is also reflected in the construction of the library. Besides its aesthetic value, the rare and bold operation of turning design into reality is also remarkable. The whole structure of the building is repeatedly polished and the skeleton is determined by wooden structure. Then, it is poured once through concrete casting. The attempt of advanced technology makes the interior and exterior of the building flexible and unblocked. It not only gives all indoor statements a natural and fresh feel but also inlays all directions of scenery in the building.

And right in the center of the entire Yun Dong building was “embedded” a solid-colored model of the Porsche Taycan.

At that moment, almost everyone wanted to pick up a camera and use this model as the starting point for their photography, just as the entire building seemed to grow and expand from this model.

Although when it comes to Porsche design, many people like to use words like “classic” and “heritage”, Porsche enthusiasts can actually feel the astonishing design vitality of recent Porsche products, with the Taycan serving as a good example of connecting the past and the future through its shaping of detail future sense, and its overall treatment of simple lines.

And when it comes to connection, the Taycan continues to be a great carrier for connecting beautiful design and advanced technology, linking the rugged mechanical and gentle scenery.

This brings us to the beginning of the journey.

An iconic Porsche story is that director Takeshi Kitano bought a 911, but felt that he couldn’t see the beauty of the car when he drove it, so he took a taxi and followed behind it, enjoying his Porsche from inside the taxi.

The biggest advantage of a convoy test drive is that you can enjoy a day of Porsche action movies for N hours without having to pay for a taxi.

The biggest surprise when dozens of Taycans shuttle through the mountains and the sea is not the oppression brought by the fleet value, but the variety of colors and the strength of personalization within the Taycan series.

To be honest, even if I had seen a Taycan before, I rarely saw two at once, let alone a group. Furthermore, at auto shows and other places where the spotlight is divided among popular colors such as Ice Crystal Blue and Raspberry Sorbet, other colors, especially some solid Taycans, also radiate alluring light from within the interweaving of sunlight and tree shadows.## English Markdown

Currently, Taycan offers 17 body colors, 7 wheel designs, and 19 interior color options across 4 categories. In addition, Porsche’s traditional personalization services are also available, which means that each vehicle we saw during our test drive demonstrated a completely unique combination of interior and exterior customization options.

What left me conflicted was the use of 19-inch wheels on the car we drove. This is the smallest wheel option offered for the Taycan, and although it may not be as imposing, it certainly provides greater comfort and energy efficiency. While it may not have been on everyone’s list of preferred options in the past, it’s worth considering now.

Another standout feature of the Taycan is its sense of presence on the road. From its significantly wider rear end to its sturdy yet sleek side profile, and from the quality of the tail lights to the menacing rear wing, the car is a unique presence on the road.

The Thrill of Speed

Let’s talk about the driving experience now.

We previously had the opportunity to experience the Base model Taycan for a week, and the power at the time left a lasting impression during city and interstate driving. However, with the Taycan 4S boasting 530 horsepower from its dual motors, it can go from 0-100 km/h in just 4 seconds, which is an impressive feat. While it may not have the revered Turbo moniker throughout Porsche’s history, it commands respect in its own right.

This sense of control and ease comes not from the traditional approach of simply jamming the accelerator down, but from a surplus of precision, reflected in the steering wheel and pedals.

The steering wheel, slightly smaller in diameter and grip, not only gives the impression of a more spacious interior (a big mistake), but also provides the driver with a more precise sense of control. The exquisite craftsmanship and just-right steering feel may only be truly understood through experience.

However, a more accurate description of the pedals is redundant. Throughout the entire journey, there is almost no need to heavily press down any of the pedals, and you can achieve cruising power and braking control in the first one-sixth to one-fifth of the pedal’s travel. Of course, I believe that on the highway, willing to step on these pedals heavily will bring a different kind of joy to your personality, and the speed camera will record your happy expression.

The road surface of Hainan’s ring island expressway is occasionally good, and the extremely stable suspension and tires that have been set up beforehand help me perceive and filter it. The happiest message we heard in the radio is “overtaking.” Watching the cars spring out and shuttle through without leaning, vividly embodies this feeling of joy.

The Taycan provides a maximum of 265 kW of regenerative power and is claimed to recover a maximum of 4 km of range from 200 km/h to a complete stop. The vehicle system provides three modes of operation: off, on, and adaptive. When cruising at high speeds on winding coastlines, there is no obvious recommendation among these modes, but I hope that more intensive and easily accessible gears can be added in the future.

What brings unexpected surprises is the optional electronic sports car sound effect of the Taycan. In fact, the background sound effect of our video in the past year was the Taycan’s sound effect. This time, we found that the most exciting part is actually the fast deceleration section, where the vehicle produces a sound effect similar to that of Transformers merging. At that moment, you realize what technology is all about.

However, speaking of technology, I think the voice function in the car still needs to catch up. Although shouting “Hey, Porsche” every time is particularly face-worthy, if you give a slightly more novel instruction, it will easily make you lose your face.

Charging between width and narrownessThe journey was well planned, and we did not have too many concerns about range and charging for the dual-motor Taycan 4S while high-speed cruising, as the energy consumption was controlled at about 16-18 kWh/100 km. You can speculate the high-speed range based on this figure. The Taycan is still a rare pure electric vehicle with long high-speed range surpassing that in urban areas.

The fast 800V charging is also a necessary highlight. By the end of September, Porsche had completed the construction of 71 exclusive charging stations in 12 cities. Thus, car owners no longer need to worry excessively about planning for a charging experience. Now, the two battery packs of the Taycan can be charged at about 2C in China. The maximum charging power of the high-capacity battery pack is 175 kW, while that of the standard battery pack is 145 kW.

More importantly, what we felt was the construction of the entire ecosystem. The 800V charging stations not only look impressive but also demonstrate the spaciousness of the parking spaces for Taycan owners. This is not a joke, but rather, Porsche provides more convenient parking and charging experiences for car owners in exclusive charging areas for the sake of driving convenience. The complete experience is accumulated from these small details.

Similarly, the three-day E-mobility Journey was also accumulated from the aforementioned small details.

The Taycan has never ceased to spark controversy on social networks, contrary to the description in test drive articles. However, I think the biggest reason for the controversy is that many people have never experienced it personally, and the nuances of the driving experience can only be understood in the moment you hit the road.

I accepted the invitation at the beginning of the article because I knew that if I wanted to comment on a series of products as much as possible, I needed to experience the benchmarks in the entire category. At least in the field of sports, the Taycan is the benchmark.

Last night, when the plane landed, the first message I received after turning on my phone was: “The Hainan Provincial Government has issued a level two typhoon warning, please take precautions.”

Suddenly, the melody of Wu Bai’s “Calm Wind and Waves” came to mind: “The southern wind blows, reminding me of you.”

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.