Porsche says the Taycan EV remains a “success story,” but ICE sales still carry the weight
After deliveries reached 27,885 through the first nine months of 2023, Porsche says the Taycan EV “is and will remain a success story.” Meanwhile, with nearly 243,000 total vehicles delivered, Porsche’s ICE vehicles continue carrying the bulk of sales.
Porsche delivered 242,722 vehicles in the first nine months of the year, up 10% compared to 2022.
The luxury sports brand achieved growth in every region except its most important – China. From January to September, Porsche’s overall deliveries rose by 23% in Europe (excluding Germany), 23% in overseas and emerging markets, 19% in Germany, and 14% in North America.
In China, sales fell by 12%. Porsche attributes the decline to a continued “challenging economic situation” in the country.
Excluding China, Porsche’s deliveries were up 19% globally compared to last year. Meanwhile, deliveries of its sole EV, the Porsche Taycan, increased by 11%.
With deliveries reaching 27,885 through September, Lutz Meschke, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board at Porsche, said, “The Taycan is and will remain a success story.”
| Jan – Sept 2020 |
Jan – Sept 2021 |
Jan – Sept 2022 |
Jan – Sept 2023 |
|
| Porsche Taycan deliveries | 10,944 | 28,640 | 25,073 | 27,885 |
However, the Taycan’s growth has been fading for nearly two years now. Sales of Porsche’s sole EV fell 16% last year and were down another 4.7% through the first half of 2023, and they are still down from 2021.
Taycan sales did pick up slightly over the past few months, with 9,894 units sold in the third quarter. But does that make the Porsche Taycan a success story?
Porsche says Taycan is a success yet ICE sales dominate
Through the first nine months of the year, the Taycan accounted for 11.5% of overall Porsche sales. That number is up from 10.8% through the first half of 2023 but still down from 13% last year.
Recent reports claim Porsche will rely on its ICE vehicles to continue carrying the weight for some time. An Automotive News report from June suggested Porsche will keep the gas-powered Macan around despite plans to launch an electric version next year.
The automaker also plans to keep the 911, its best-selling vehicle, in its lineup through the EV transition.
Porsche is sticking by its goal of reaching 12% to 14% EV share this year. Before launching the Taycan in 2019, Porsche said it expected sales of around 20,000 cars annually. “We have always clearly exceeded this goal – despite difficult circumstances in the supply chain and sales regions, where development in terms of e-mobility can vary significantly,” Meschke explained.
However, 2019 was four years ago, and the auto industry has shifted significantly. The share of electric cars has more than tripled over the last three years, from roughly 4% in 2020 to 14% in 2022.
Porsche’s sales rose by 12.6% to 30.12 billion euros ($31.9 billion) through September. Meanwhile, operating profit was up 9%, while Porsche’s operating margin was 18.3%.
The luxury sports automaker confirmed its forecast for the year. Porsche expects an operating margin between 17%-19% on revenue of 40-42 billion euros ($42-$44.5 billion).
Electrek’s Take
It’s hard to call the Porsche Taycan a success story with deliveries still down compared to two years ago.
In 2021, Porsche delivered 28,640 Taycan models through the first nine months of the year. Two years later, Porsche has delivered 27,885 Taycan EVs through September.
Porsche’s growth is coming almost solely from ICE vehicles right now. The automaker continues to say it expects “significant” increases in Taycan sales, but the numbers have yet to show it.
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China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) has unveiled its latest battery cell technologies, which charge as quickly as filling up a gas tank while potentially lowering costs without compromise.
CATL has quickly become the world’s largest battery manufacturer by a wide margin. It is one of, if not the biggest, force for advancing electric transportation.
A big part of CATL’s success is due to its advancements in lithium-iron phosphate battery cells, also known as LFP. LFP cells are cheaper than nickel-rich batteries, but they used to have much lower energy density.
The Chinese battery manufacturers managed to close the gap somewhat while maintaining lower costs, resulting in LFP cells becoming popular for entry-level EVs.
Now, CATL is looking to do the same with sodium-ion batteries.
Like LFP cells, sodium-ion battery cells have the potential to be cheaper than more common Li-ion cells, but they also offer potential for superior performance, particularly in terms of faster charging and longer lifecycles.
CATL has unveiled today Naxtra, its new sodium-ion battery cells, and it claimed some truly impressive specs.
The new cell reportedly achieves an energy density of 175 Wh per kg (385 Wh per lb), on par with the higher-end of LFP battery cells.
The new cells also offer potential for significant safety improvements.
CATL shared several intense stress tests, including drilling into a cell and even cutting it in half without any thermal event:
The next-gen sodium cells could help further lower the cost of electric vehicles without compromising performance, and while increasing safety.
On top of the new Naxtra cell, CATL has also unveiled its next-gen Shenxing LFP battery cells.
Its charge rate is truly impressive. CATL shared several examples of cars charging at around 1,000 kW and maintaining over 500 kW at over 50% state of charge:
The new cell is being described as capable of adding 300 miles (482 km) of range in about 5 minutes – depending on the EV model.
That’s virtually as quick as filling up a tank of gas.
CATL says that the Shenxing will be in 67 electric vehicle models by the end of the year.
The next-gen cell was unveiled after BYD, CATL’s biggest competitor, also unveiled its latest technology, capable of charging electric vehicles at extremely high speeds.
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New York State has announced an extra $30 million for point-of-sale rebates to lease or buy more than 60 new EV models.
The rebates are available to consumers through New York’s Drive Clean Rebate program, which offers a point-of-sale rebate off the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of an EV at participating car dealerships in New York State.
The rebate is available in all 62 counties, with the highest rebate of $2,000 available for EVs with a greater-than-200-mile range. (For a 40- to 199-mile range, the rebate is $1,000.) The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) runs the program.
NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen M. Harris said, “Converting to EVs reduces the total cost of vehicle ownership through lower fuel and vehicle maintenance costs, and NYSERDA is proud to help provide New Yorkers with more purchasing power through these rebates.”
The Drive Clean Rebate program has issued over 190,000 rebates to consumers since 2017, contributing to the more than 280,000 EVs on the road in New York State.
NYSERDA also boosted its EV charging incentives. Through the Charge Ready NY 2.0 program, the state is boosting the cash available for Level 2 charger installations at apartment buildings, workplaces, and hotels from $2,000 to $3,000 per port. And if the chargers go into disadvantaged communities, that amount jumps to $4,000 per port.
New York has racked up over 17,000 public EV chargers, making it second only to California for charger count. On top of that, there are more than 4,000 semi-public stations tucked into workplaces and multifamily buildings across the state.
Read more: New York awards $60M to Revel to install 267 DC fast chargers
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LTL carrier ArcBest Freight (ABF) announced plans to add five new Orange EV electric terminal tractors to its existing ZEV fleet, bringing its total deployment of these battery electric HDEVs to 14 … with even more to come.
LTL stands for “Less than Truck Load,” and basically means that, since whatever you’re shipping won’t take up a full container, you can share the costs of shipping with other customers with goods going the same way. You save a little more money and the shipper makes a little more money, making it a rare win-win scenario in the shipping space. And that’s important, because LTL containers amount to a massive 15% of total US shipping.
ABF has been putting Orange EV yard dogs to work in their LTL traffic terminals since their initial deployment of four trucks in June 2022. The company added five more a few years later, and just purchased five more — further underscoring their confidence in the benefits of transitioning their fleet to electric power.
“The Orange EV terminal trucks meet our operational requirements and expectations for safe, reliable, and affordable service and performance,” explains Matthew Godfrey, ABF Freight president. “We’re committed to responsible environmental management, and our investment in EVs aligns with our continuous efforts to enhance efficiency while maintaining exceptional service standards.”
ABF joins other large logistics companies like YMX and DHL in deploying the Orange EV terminal trucks, which have logged hundreds of thousands of hours of service for their customers.
Electrek’s Take
Over at The Heavy Equipment Podcast, we had a chance to talk to Orange EV founder Kurt Neutgens ahead of last year’s ACT Expo for clean trucking. On the show (embedded, above), Kurt explained how his experience at Ford helped inform his design ideology, and that the Orange EV was designed to be cost competitive with diesel options, even without subsidies.
Give it a listen, then let us know what you think of the big yard dogs in the comments.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Orange EV; via PR Newswire.
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