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Porsche Taycan 4S deemed as 'Best Electric Car in the World'

The Porsche Taycan 4S. (Credit: Porsche AG)

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The Porsche Taycan 4S was recently recognized as “The Best Electric Car in the World” by British media outlet The Sun.

The publication recognized the German car as the best available electric car today because of its performance, price, and Porsche’s exceptional history as an auto manufacturer.

While Tesla has maintained itself as the world’s leading electric car manufacturer, some believe Porsche’s rich history of producing high-performance vehicles and extensive experience in the auto industry is enough to recognize the Taycan as the best battery-powered car in the world.

“The cream always rises to the top. Tesla can’t hold a candle to German engineering,” the article states.

Porsche initially offered two other variants of the Taycan, the Turbo and Turbo S, following its unveiling in September. In October, the German automaker expanded its Taycan lineup by releasing the 4S for a price of $103,800, undercutting the more expensive, more powerful Turbo version by around $46,000.

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After talking about the Taycan in a positive manner that it deserves, the article goes on to mention that Tesla’s only comparable vehicle is the Model S packed with Ludicrous Mode. The writer states that it “is still quickest and Tesla has a serious headstart with its own Supercharger Network. Elon Musk should also be commended for forcing the likes of Porsche and Audi (with the upcoming e-tron GT) to act.”

Elon Musk has always stated that the competition does not lie within other electric vehicle companies, but rather, the manufacturers that continue to produce petrol-based automobiles that contribute to the climate crisis. However, the Model S is not the most comparable vehicle to the Taycan 4S. The Model 3 Performance is.

The Taycan 4S offers 571 horsepower from a 93 kWh battery pack, and it is capable of going from 0 to 62 mph in 4 seconds. These figures are most comparable to the Tesla Model 3 Performance, which offers 580 horsepower from a 75 kWh battery pack and a 3.2 second 0-60 mph time. The kicker is the Model 3 Performance sells for just about 54% of the price of the Taycan 4S.

Range between the two vehicles is also very different. The WLTP gives the Model 3 Performance a 329-mile rating and the Taycan 4S 207-253 miles with its optional battery upgrade add-on. This is significantly better than the Turbo variant, which received a 201-mile range rating from the EPA.

While it is understandable that Porsche’s new Taycan variants are impressive and a step in the right direction for the German automaker, it is tough to solidify it as “the best electric car in the world”, especially since production has not begun and won’t begin until June 2020.

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Meanwhile, the Model 3 continues to establish itself as one of the most popular electric cars in the world, and it continues to gain accolades for its driving dynamics and tech. Tesla delivered over 92,500 Model 3s in Q4 of 2019. If a buyer is looking for a bang-for-your-buck vehicle that can stand toe-to-toe against the best ICE-powered high-performance sedans, the Model 3 Performance definitely fits the bill.

The writer of the article hailing the Taycan as the best EV in the world said, “Show me anything better and I’ll buy you a pint.”

Well, looks like someone owes me a pint.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla FSD’s newest model is coming, and it sounds like ‘the last big piece of the puzzle’

“There’s a model that’s an order of magnitude larger that will be deployed in January or February 2026.”

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla Full Self-Driving’s newest model is coming very soon, and from what it sounds like, it could be “the last big piece of the puzzle,” as CEO Elon Musk said in late November.

During the xAI Hackathon on Tuesday, Musk was available for a Q&A session, where he revealed some details about Robotaxi and Tesla’s plans for removing Robotaxi Safety Monitors, and some information on a future FSD model.

While he said Full Self-Driving’s unsupervised capability is “pretty much solved,” and confirmed it will remove Safety Monitors in the next three weeks, questions about the company’s ability to give this FSD version to current owners came to mind.

Musk said a new FSD model is coming in about a month or two that will be an order-of-magnitude larger and will include more reasoning and reinforcement learning.

He said:

“There’s a model that’s an order of magnitude larger that will be deployed in January or February 2026. We’re gonna add a lot of reasoning and RL (reinforcement learning). To get to serious scale, Tesla will probably need to build a giant chip fab. To have a few hundred gigawatts of AI chips per year, I don’t see that capability coming online fast enough, so we will probably have to build a fab.”

It rings back to late November when Musk said that v14.3 “is where the last big piece of the puzzle finally lands.”

With the advancements made through Full Self-Driving v14 and v14.2, there seems to be a greater confidence in solving self-driving completely. Musk has also personally said that driver monitoring has been more relaxed, and looking at your phone won’t prompt as many alerts in the latest v14.2.1.

This is another indication that Tesla is getting closer to allowing people to take their eyes off the road completely.

Along with the Robotaxi program’s success, there is evidence that Tesla could be close to solving FSD. However, it is not perfect. We’ve had our own complaints with FSD, and although we feel it is the best ADAS on the market, it is not, in its current form, able to perform everything needed on roads.

But it is close.

That’s why there is some legitimate belief that Tesla could be releasing a version capable of no supervision in the coming months.

All we can say is, we’ll see.

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Investor's Corner

SpaceX IPO is coming, CEO Elon Musk confirms

However, it appears Musk is ready for SpaceX to go public, as Ars Technica Senior Space Editor Eric Berger wrote an op-ed that indicated he thought SpaceX would go public soon. Musk replied, basically confirming it.

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Joel Kowsky, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Elon Musk confirmed through a post on X that a SpaceX initial public offering (IPO) is on the way after hinting at it several times earlier this year.

It also comes one day after Bloomberg reported that SpaceX was aiming for a valuation of $1.5 trillion, adding that it wanted to raise $30 billion.

Musk has been transparent for most of the year that he wanted to try to figure out a way to get Tesla shareholders to invest in SpaceX, giving them access to the stock.

He has also recognized the issues of having a public stock, like litigation exposure, quarterly reporting pressures, and other inconveniences.

However, it appears Musk is ready for SpaceX to go public, as Ars Technica Senior Space Editor Eric Berger wrote an op-ed that indicated he thought SpaceX would go public soon.

Musk replied, basically confirming it:

Berger believes the IPO would help support the need for $30 billion or more in capital needed to fund AI integration projects, such as space-based data centers and lunar satellite factories. Musk confirmed recently that SpaceX “will be doing” data centers in orbit.

AI appears to be a “key part” of SpaceX getting to Musk, Berger also wrote. When writing about whether or not Optimus is a viable project and product for the company, he says that none of that matters. Musk thinks it is, and that’s all that matters.

It seems like Musk has certainly mulled something this big for a very long time, and the idea of taking SpaceX public is not just likely; it is necessary for the company to get to Mars.

The details of when SpaceX will finally hit that public status are not known. Many of the reports that came out over the past few days indicate it would happen in 2026, so sooner rather than later.

But there are a lot of things on Musk’s plate early next year, especially with Cybercab production, the potential launch of Unsupervised Full Self-Driving, and the Roadster unveiling, all planned for Q1.

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Tesla adds 15th automaker to Supercharger access in 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has added the 15th automaker to the growing list of companies whose EVs can utilize the Supercharger Network this year, as BMW is the latest company to gain access to the largest charging infrastructure in the world.

BMW became the 15th company in 2025 to gain Tesla Supercharger access, after the company confirmed to its EV owners that they could use any of the more than 25,000 Supercharging stalls in North America.

Newer BMW all-electric cars, like the i4, i5, i7, and iX, are able to utilize Tesla’s V3 and V4 Superchargers. These are the exact model years, via the BMW Blog:

  • i4: 2022-2026 model years
  • i5: 2024-2025 model years
    • 2026 i5 (eDrive40 and xDrive40) after software update in Spring 2026
  • i7: 2023-2026 model years
  • iX: 2022-2025 model years
    • 2026 iX (all versions) after software update in Spring 2026

With the expansion of the companies that gained access in 2025 to the Tesla Supercharger Network, a vast majority of non-Tesla EVs are able to use the charging stalls to gain range in their cars.

So far in 2025, Tesla has enabled Supercharger access to:

  • Audi
  • BMW
  • Genesis
  • Honda
  • Hyundai
  • Jaguar Land Rover
  • Kia
  • Lucid
  • Mercedes-Benz
  • Nissan
  • Polestar
  • Subaru
  • Toyota
  • Volkswagen
  • Volvo

Drivers with BMW EVs who wish to charge at Tesla Superchargers must use an NACS-to-CCS1 adapter. In Q2 2026, BMW plans to release its official adapter, but there are third-party options available in the meantime.

They will also have to use the Tesla App to enable Supercharging access to determine rates and availability. It is a relatively seamless process.

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