New Taycan

[Nuclear Nick]

I'm in group a, and had a short test drive in a Tesla a couple of years ago. It was an accompanied drive and too short to really get a good impression, and long enough ago that the memory of it has faded somewhat! Then, as now, I was carrying my antipathy to touchscreens but regrettably will no doubt have to overcome that sometime in the future. The big draw for me is the initial torque and the acceleration that produces.

No doubt the touchscreen UI is polarising today, but not really anything much to do with an EV drivetrain. The two things just happen to go hand in hand with a Tesla, but I think that's something you will have to eventually deal with regardless of your chosen powertrain. There's always the iPace if you want the benefits of an EV with a more traditional UI and I expect the Taycan will play more to the traditional market too.

No, I agree the touchscreen UI is unrelated to the drivetrain, it was just that the Tesla had it at the time of my test drive and of course they were one of the first and in a big way! Unfortunately most manufacturers have followed suit, even Porsche, I suspect because they can, rather than it being for improved driver interface or ergonomics. I'm afraid the 'iPhonisation' of cars is a retrograde step in terms of safety because of the distraction and difficulty of use, particularly on the move, and even more so for most drivers of RHD cars as most will be right-handed. I hope you are right that the Taycan will follow this trend less than others.

[Wing Commander]

^^^ Judging from the concept interior images of Mission E/Taycan and its brother, I wouldn’t hold my breath, Nick...

[VanB]

I don’t expect the production model to be quite as hi tech but all interiors are moving in this direction.

I’m inclined to agree with Nick that they are not very user friendly for right-handed people.

Even if left-handed your hand bobs around if on the move (not that you should be using the touchscreen interface on the move).

My wife used to have a RAV4 several years ago which disabled the touchscreen whilst the car was in motion which is probably a good thing.

Voice control is plainly the way forward but the Porsche implementation is woeful.


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[johnd]

I’m inclined to agree with Nick that they are not very user friendly for right-handed people.

Even if left-handed your hand bobs around if on the move (not that you should be using the touchscreen interface on the move).

Not sure it's quite as cut and dried as that. If the screen is reasonably large, positioned not too far away and the icons are relatively large then even for right-handers these touch-screens are fairly easy to use safely. It's all about the ergonomics of the interface design. I'd certainly feel safer with a Volvo Sensus screen for instance than trying to fiddle with the seat heater or air distribution or drive mode on the Macan. I still have to take my eyes of the road for a second or two and refocus carefully downwards if I want Sport or Sport Plus modes. Macan is scarcely a paragon of safe driver interface design either.

[Deleted User 1874]

I’m inclined to agree with Nick that they are not very user friendly for right-handed people.

Even if left-handed your hand bobs around if on the move (not that you should be using the touchscreen interface on the move).

Not sure it's quite as cut and dried as that. If the screen is reasonably large, positioned not too far away and the icons are relatively large then even for right-handers these touch-screens are fairly easy to use safely. It's all about the ergonomics of the interface design. I'd certainly feel safer with a Volvo Sensus screen for instance than trying to fiddle with the seat heater or air distribution or drive mode on the Macan. I still have to take my eyes of the road for a second or two and refocus carefully downwards if I want Sport or Sport Plus modes. Macan is scarcely a paragon of safe driver interface design either.

The Tesla interface is even easier to use than the Volvo one. It's really a non-issue and all the things you need to control on the move are available on the steering wheel buttons and scroll wheels, conventional stalks and voice control for things like nav and media. You rarely have to take a hand off the wheel when driving. The Tesla UI is now on V9, which shows how far it has come.

It is true that it would be easier initially in a LHD, but it's not much different from learning to use your left hand to shift gears in a manual RHD. You are only selecting options, not using your best handwriting!

[Semerka]

Today's news at Evo: Porsche Taycan new details revealed:
https://www.evo.co.uk/porsche/17091/por ... n-revealed

An extract about SUV's:
"The saloon won’t be the only fully electric offering from Porsche, an SUV to rival Audi’s E-tron, Mercedes’ EQC, Tesla’s Model X and Jaguar’s iPace will be launched in 2022 and further electric performance cars will follow soon after. The SUV has already been teased by the Mission E Cross Turismo Concept – a jacked-up, tough-looking version of the Taycan."

[Pivot]

Have you perhaps forgotten

d) those that, at the moment, have no interest in EVs until there is an established platform?

I am in a group E:

e) waiting in anticipation for power storage/weight ratio to improve!

Just imagine how spectacularly manoeuvrable the EVs will become when we get 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x power storage density improvement.

[VanB]

Have you perhaps forgotten

d) those that, at the moment, have no interest in EVs until there is an established platform?

I am in a group E:

e) waiting in anticipation for power storage/weight ratio to improve!

Just imagine how spectacularly manoeuvrable the EVs will become when we get 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x power storage density improvement.

And it WILL happen

[Pivot]

It is a matter of time... there is enough smart people focusing on EV tech across the planet.

For me, the 4x improvement will be sufficiently attractive to switch, i.e. 2x the current range at 1/2 the weight of the battery pack.

[Deleted User 1874]

Have you perhaps forgotten

d) those that, at the moment, have no interest in EVs until there is an established platform?

I am in a group E:

e) waiting in anticipation for power storage/weight ratio to improve!

Just imagine how spectacularly manoeuvrable the EVs will become when we get 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x power storage density improvement.

I think you're dreaming. People often use a simple analogy with computer data storage, but we're not going to see anything like the same rate of progress with batteries. It's going to be far more incremental and even 2x storage density would be a game-changing improvement.

Today we are looking at around 600 kg for a 90 kWh battery and it is extremely unlikely that we will see 300 kg batteries of the same capacity any time in the next decade or more and a 37 kg battery (16x density improvement) is the work of science fiction as far as our current generation is concerned.

At the moment, the main challenge for mainstream automotive companies is simply sourcing current spec batteries in enough volume at a reasonable price. Again Tesla is leading the charge on that front with their own battery production facilities, currently in partnership with Panasonic.