There’s no doubt the Porsche Taycan costs a pretty penny to purchase — starting at a cool $80,000. But what about maintenance? It’s an important question for anyone considering plunking down their hard-earned dough on a dream EV like the Taycan.  

Overview of the Porsche Taycan

The Porsche Taycan is the first fully electric car from the German automaker, and it’s gotten a lot of people talking. According to Porsche, the Taycan comes in three styles: sedan, Sport Turismo, and Cross Turismo. 

The base-model sedan offers an estimated driving range of 225 miles and can fully charge in only 22.5 minutes. Producing 402 hp and 263 lb-ft of torque, it can zip from 0 to 60 mph in 5.1 seconds. The sedan’s starting cost is $82,700.

But if you’re looking for more power, the other two options might fit the bill, although they certainly cost more. The impressive Sport Turismo starts at a whopping $133,300, but you get what you pay for in terms of power. Harnessing 590 hp and 626 lb-ft of torque, it hits 60 mph in only 3.5 seconds. 

Last, the Cross Turismo makes 469 hp and 368 lb-ft of torque and accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds. Like the other Taycan models, it can fully recharge in 22.5 minutes. It starts at $93,700.

A look at Porsche Taycan maintenance costs

Wondering how maintenance on the Porsche Taycan would compare with similar gas-powered vehicles? Southern California Edison offers an online tool we used to find out how the Taycan compares with a gas-powered Porsche model.

To determine relative maintenance costs, we compared the Taycan with a similar gas-powered Porsche model, the Panamera. The results might surprise some folks who have remained skeptical about the potential maintenance costs of EVs: Expect a savings of more than $27,000 on a Taycan over a Panamera in five years.

SCE’s tool came to this number by comparing several factors, including the vehicles’ respective starting prices. Most significant, the average monthly cost to charge a Taycan comes to only $105, while the average monthly fuel costs for a Panamera total $263.

What’s more, Taycan maintenance is estimated to cost just under $4,000 over five years, while maintenance on the Panamera costs an estimated $7,654 over the same period. 

EVs are often cheaper to maintain than gas-combustion cars

It’s not just the Taycan that has surprisingly reasonable maintenance costs compared with similar gas-powered cars. The same can be said of most electric vehicles.

Though the debate has raged about the true cost of EV maintenance in recent years, the U.S. government has provided a definitive answer to the question of whether gas or electric cars are cheaper to maintain. And there’s probably no place in the world that has a more vested interest in the question because the U.S. government owns more EVs than any other organization on the planet. 

In a recent study, the appropriately named Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy tracked costs related to all of the government’s vehicles, both gas and electric, and concluded that “light-duty battery-electric vehicle (BEV) totals 6.1 cents per mile, while a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) totals 10.1 cents per mile.” 

The most likely explanation for the difference, the agency noted, was that “A BEV lacks an ICEV’s engine oil, timing belt, oxygen sensor, spark plugs, and more and the maintenance costs associated with them.”

Basically, less complicated equals less money. 

So, maintenance costs are no longer an excuse: EVs are the way to go if you want to save in that arena.