Turbo electric car?

[Bill.B]

I despair, how on earth can a fully electric car be labelled as a turbo? Don't modern designers and marketing staff know what a turbo actually is, and what its function is? It's not merely a trim level for heavens sake!

This is a proper Porsche turbo engine:

Not this thing:

 

[Alikris]

Remember back last century when 'turbo' vacuum cleaners were all the rage? Ridiculous.

I thought this might just be a mistake, but no. Porsche themselves call it a Turbo.

Porsche Taycan Turbo

A vast range of emotions. The all-electric Taycan Turbo with Performance Battery Plus, high driving dynamics and a flat flyline. Pure Porsche E-Performance.

www.porsche.com

What the heck?

Ali.

 

[Dudd I]

My Motorola phone has turbo charging. Maybe it charges as quick as that?

 

[Jay Butts]

I’ve always thought the Turbo badging on the E Taycan was stupid. Can’t be very often that the Germans make such a dumb decision…

Makes no sense whatsoever..,.

 

[Deguello]

Turdo would be more appropriate

 

[Neil123]

In the 80s everything from sunglasses to fizzy pop was called turbo

 

[GreenGrowler]

In the 80s everything from sunglasses to fizzy pop was called turbo

True, they even bolted one on a mini metro.

 

[Spud gun]

Who worries about what it means so long as it sounds quick

It's not like car manufacturers would blatantly lie would they ?

Same as TV programmes now.
Watch it live !!
it is recorded.

 

[RDS1952]

The old Metro Turbos were really quite fun - except when it came to a proper hot re-start! Once you'd let the fuel in the float chamber get good and hot that engine didn't like to start again...

I confess, I worked for Lotus when the Metro Tubo project was being done there - informal name for the project : Morris not least because the DeLorean which was going on at the same time was..... Doris. And then there was, believe it or not, a Talbot Horizon project - Horace

Then I worked for Rover and the Mrs had a string of Metro Turbos as company cars

 

[Claypole]

The term ‘turbo’ started off being used only for things with actual turbos on, but became a generic term for anything high performance. Turbo PCs, turbo health drinks etc.

Then, we had the term ‘digital’ to denote any new tech. “My new gadget is SO much better because it’s digital”.

Then, in the 90’s, we had HD TV’s, and the term ‘HD’ became synonymous with things that were ‘better’. We had ‘HD’ models of cars, and HD sunglasses. I even saw a tanning salon offering ‘HD Eyebrows’.

It’s good to see the term ‘turbo’ making a comeback, regardless of whether there’s an actual turbo involved or not.

 

[OldStock]

Someone on the works site has a £80k + electric Porsche, looks shite.

 

[John M]

And why do people insist on calling these cars electric?

Surely battery operated would be more accurate?

 

[Andy from Sandy]

Someone coined the phrase "turbo charger" for a device that compresses air driven off the exhaust. A similar device driven off the engine got called a super charger.

Turbo not necessarily synonymous with a compressor.

 

[HarrySmithsonian]

Don't forget laser, GT, luxury and all the other hyper-bollock terminology

 

[Neil123]

True, they even bolted one on a mini metro.

Passed my driving test in an MG Metro

 

[Buglecall]

The Turbo on a electric car is a knob which goes up to 11 rather than 10
Non turbo fully electric cars also have a knob but thats the driver.

 

[GreenGrowler]

And then there was, believe it or not, a Talbot Horizon project - Horace

My old man had a Talbot Sunbeam, unfortunately it wasn't the Lotus edition.

Passed my driving test in an MG Metro

My m8 had the Uno turbo, horrible little shoe box that used to try and kill you every journey by torque steering itself into the nearest hedge, didn't help when he had the boost wound right up.


Anyway, back to the porka, may be the turbo edition has some sort of F1 style energy recovery system for an extra boost ?

 

[Inca]

And why do people insist on calling these cars electric?

Surely battery operated would be more accurate?

100% this. I took my good old fashioned diesel car in for a service last week and asked if they had a battery car as a loaner as I’ve never driven one. I was quickly corrected as to battery/electric and even my wife looked at me as though I was a Neanderthal

 

[RDS1952]

My old man had a Talbot Sunbeam, unfortunately it wasn't the Lotus edition

Ah, the Lotus Sunbeam - what a beast!

The standard Lotus crack was "What is balck and silver and lies thike this?

Answer: A dead Sunbeam

Of the 7 development cars, 6 were written off - one even took a double decker bus with it!

 

[Jimbobs999]

It just goes to show how Porsche have junked everything they used to stand for. They used to be an engineering-led sports / race car company. Now they’re a sub-brand of VW-Audi and only exist to make money for the parent.

The cars these days are so bloated compared to what they used to be. It makes me despair!
(For accuracy’s sake I should probably acknowledge that the engineering-led sports / race car company very nearly went bust in the early 90s and now they make an absolute boat-load of cash so what do I know??!!)