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Porsche Taycan’s repeatable performance claims put to the test by veteran drag racer

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When Porsche launched the Taycan last year, its message was clear. It’s an all-electric performance car built for the track. You can take it with a battery half charged and you’ll still get the same level of performance you’d expect at full charge. At least that’s what Porsche promises.

DragTimes YouTube channel host and Tesla owner Brooks Weisblat recently put the Taycan Turbo’s repeatable performance claim to a real-world test. He took a Taycan Turbo and the more powerful Turbo S out on the track to see how they would perform launching from 0 to 60 mph and covering the 1/4 mile.

Weisblat specifically asked the engineers at Champion Porsche in Pompano Beach, FL to have both cars ready at full charge. However, while the Turbo had a 91% charge when he arrived, while the Turbo S was only at 57%. This presented a unique opportunity to test just how well the vehicles performed with such discrepancy in their battery levels.

At just a little bit more than half charge, the $185,000 Turbo S went from 0 to 60 mph in 2.67 seconds and ran a quarter-mile at 124 mph. It’s impressive for an all-electric vehicle but not so much for one housing the world’s first two-speed gearbox in an electric car.

“I kind of expected it to be a little better especially given it having the transmission,” Weisblat says. “I was expecting track speeds near 130 mph. The launch I wasn’t so sure because Porsche’s claiming it does 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds.”

Previous testing done by DragTimes shows the Tesla Model S with a 96 percent charge can go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.45 seconds. That’s a couple of tenths of a second faster than the Turbo S, which has acceleration and speed advantages due to its two-speed transmission.

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The Turbo, which has 90 less horsepower than the Turbo S, went from 0 to 60 mph at 2.8 seconds. It’s not as fast as the Turbo S but it’s nothing to scoff at. But here’s the kicker. After the first 60 mph, the Turbo S didn’t have much of an advantage over the less powerful Turbo. If the state of charge doesn’t matter as Porsche says, the Turbo should have at least similar or less performance.

But Weisblat’s testing shows the Turbo at 91% charge went from 60 to 100 mph in 8.41 seconds and took the 1/4 mile at 127 mph. That’s a whole 3 mph faster than the Turbo S, which was at 56% charge when testing began. Had both cars been raced against each other, the Turbo would have won hands down over the Turbo S. Weisblat also says that both Turbo and Turbo S used up about 2% of the battery after each 1/4 mile.

“State of charge does matter with the Porsche. There’s no question about it. Because the Taycan Turbo S sitting at 56 percent is tracking at 124 mph. The Turbo at 91 percent is going 3 mph faster. For those of you who don’t know about road racing or drag racing, that is a significant difference,” he said.

The results would have been different had both cars been charged fully. Weisblat estimates the Turbo S could go the 1/4 mile at 130 mph and launch from 0 to 60 mph at around 2.5 seconds so that it’s right in line with the Tesla Model S. However, he believes that the Turbo S would further drop to 7 seconds once it goes from 60 to 130 mph, just up to par with a Lamborghini Huracan. If so, he says the Model S could be “in trouble,” at least when you take it down to the race track.

To maintain these numbers, Porsche has to keep the Taycan’s battery at optimal temperatures using a unique battery thermal management system. Unfortunately, because the car relies purely on electricity, the Taycan uses up extra energy from the battery just to maintain its energy-intensive temperature control system.

It’s a double-edged sword, especially for an electric vehicle. Porsche had to sacrifice a few things in exchange for performance. A lot of people weren’t happy to hear that the EPA gave the Taycan Turbo S a range rating of 192 miles. The Taycan Turbo didn’t do much better at 201 miles, which is 182 whole miles less than the 373 miles of the Model S Long Range.

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But then again, the Taycan isn’t exactly made for most people. In fact, with a six-figure price tag and the Porsche logo on its hood, it’s not even made for mainstream EV buyers. And it’s a good thing for the electric car market as a whole.

I write about science and technology that changes the world.

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Tesla’s Cybercab fleet jumped 8x in a month, with Dallas up next

Tesla confirms its first official Cybercab fleet number as Austin scales fast and Dallas looms.

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Tesla says more than 300 Cybercabs are now serving Austin, the first time the company has put an official number on its active Cybercab fleet. The figure came from the Robotaxi account on X on Saturday, which wrote that one month after launch the service had “scaled to 300+ Cybercabs serving Austin – an 8x increase in 30 days.”

Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s head of AI software, quoted the post with a line that carried the bigger news. “Two years since the 10/10 Cybercab WeRobot event, the cabs are everywhere in Austin now. Dallas soon,” he wrote. It is the first time Tesla has named the next city for public Cybercab rides.

Tesla opened Cybercab rides to the public in Austin on September 4, as Teslarati reported, a day after an invite only launch event. The ramp since then has been steep. Our September 28 report had the fleet at well over 100 units after availability jumped from 58 to 125 in a single week. On Thursday, Tesla added 150 Cybercabs to the Texas automated vehicle registry, lifting its registered count to 319 from 169. The first seven appeared on the registry on August 31.

RobotaxiTracker, a community site that counts vehicles from sightings and state records, listed 275 vehicles in unsupervised service in Austin on Saturday, 105 of them Cybercabs, which is well below Tesla’s figure. Tracker counts can lag official numbers, though Sawyer Merritt noted that Cybercab wait times in Austin stayed short on Saturday evening even with more than 2,000 fans in town for X Takeover.

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Regulators are watching the rollout. NHTSA opened an audit query into Tesla’s certification that the Cybercab meets federal safety standards, and sworn answers are due October 30. Tesla reports third quarter earnings on October 21, which gives the company a natural venue to define its fleet numbers and put a date on Dallas.

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Elon Musk roasts India’s billionaire Mukesh Ambani as Starlink fight heats up

Elon Musk sarcastically calls Mukesh Ambani ‘Prime Minister’ as the Starlink India standoff escalates again.

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Elon Musk escalated his public fight over Starlink’s launch in India on Friday, addressing Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani as “Prime Minister Ambani” in a sarcastic post on X. “Please accept my humble apologies for not realizing that you are the real boss of India,” Musk wrote, before accusing Ambani of “monopolistic exploitation” and asking whether he would “consider allowing Starlink to compete.” In follow up posts, he said Starlink has proven essential during natural disasters and would help parts of India with no internet access.

The post came two days into a fight that Musk sparked up on Wednesday, when he said Starlink was “being blocked by certain oligarchs in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people.” He called it “a crime against the people of India” and left the names out, adding only, “You can guess who they are.” Jio and Airtel together hold more than 80% of India’s telecom market. On Thursday, Musk asked whether Ambani is “the real boss of India” and said Starlink has spent five years complying with “every single law and requirement” of the Indian government.

India’s government has pushed back each time. The Ministry of Communications called the suggestion that its framework is unfair or discriminatory “baseless and misconceived.” Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said Friday that three companies hold satcom licenses: Starlink, Jio Satellite Communications, and Bharti backed Eutelsat OneWeb. Amazon’s Kuiper, now Amazon Leo, is still going through the process. None can launch until regulators finalize satellite spectrum pricing and the Home Ministry signs off on each company’s security compliance. Scindia said the telecom regulator and the Department of Telecommunications are close to a decision on pricing, The Hindu reported. Bharti chairman Sunil Mittal also said OneWeb is still waiting on approvals.

Starlink received its operator license in 2025 after a three year wait, and the space regulator IN-SPACe granted what industry executives called the last approval needed in July. The holdup since then centers on security, particularly concern that foreign operators could bypass Indian gateways.

Musk and Ambani have been on opposite sides of this before. In late 2024, Ambani argued for auctioning satellite spectrum, which Musk criticized as out of step with the rest of the world, and India chose administrative allocation instead. By March 2025, the two sides had signed a deal to sell Starlink devices in Reliance stores, and Starlink secured its telecom license that June. That partner is now also a competitor. Jio is reportedly weighing a constellation of 1,600 to 1,650 satellites costing an estimated $10 billion to $15 billion, while Akash Ambani has told shareholders Jio plans to lease capacity from global providers to move quickly.

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Elon Musk’s surprise addition to the X Takeover lineup has fans talking

Elon Musk will join Saturday’s X Takeover at Giga Texas for a live virtual interview.

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Credit: Tesla Owners Silicon Valley
Credit: Tesla Owners Silicon Valley

Elon Musk will join X Takeover at Giga Texas on Saturday for a live virtual interview, according to Sawyer Merritt, who shared the news late Thursday. Musk will not be on stage in Austin. The conversation is set to stream for free on the @teslaownersSV account on X.

Organizers had kept expectations in check. In a September update, Tesla Owners Silicon Valley said Musk had appeared at the event twice before but was not promising a third appearance, even as fans hoped he would walk the Giga Texas grounds in person. A virtual spot matches 2024, when Musk gave a surprise interview of about an hour to the crowd in San Luis Obispo, as Teslarati reported at the time.

This year’s edition is a first in several ways. It is the first X Takeover held outside California and the first at a Tesla facility, with tickets selling out in eight days. Tesla provides the venue, but the event is produced independently by Tesla Owners Silicon Valley. The main event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT, followed by a drone and light show at 9 p.m. Maye Musk is the keynote speaker, Franz von Holzhausen is set for a virtual keynote, and Nicki Minaj is the special guest. Joe Tegtmeyer, whose drone footage Teslarati used to track the Optimus factory steel frame at Giga Texas, is also on the speaker list.

Musk’s interview topics have not been revealed, but the backdrop is busy. Tesla doubled its Cybercab fleet in Austin in late September, and last week Musk explained why Robotaxi hours only moved from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.. Merritt also reported Thursday that Texas DMV records now show 319 registered Cybercabs, up from 169. NHTSA’s deadline for Tesla’s sworn answers on Cybercab certification is October 30, and Tesla reports third quarter earnings on October 21.

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Fans who cannot make it to Austin can watch the livestream on X. Musk tends to say more in unscripted settings than he does in prepared remarks, which is the reason this one is worth having open on Saturday.

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