An Electric Porsche, a Tesla Probe, and More Car News This Week

It finally happened! This week, in simultaneous events on three continents, Porsche unveiled the Taycan, its battery-powered, zero-emission sport sedan. Its base model, the Turbo, and its performance model, the Turbo S, have ranges of approximately 279 miles and 256 miles, respectively, and the S can hit 0 to 60 in 2.6 seconds. The Taycan also looks very nice. Read all about the car, and about how its first-of-its-kind two-speed gearbox will help it move faster, right here.

Sure, other things happened this week, too. The National Transportation Safety Board wrapped up its nearly two-year-long investigation of a Tesla Autopilot-involved crash in California, and found that the design of the semiautonomous feature was one “probable cause” of the crash. And Google is coming to a GM screen near you. It’s been a week; let’s get you caught up.

Headlines

Stories you might have missed from WIRED this week

Hurricane Hack of the Week

One half of a Florida couple battening down for Hurricane Dorian did not think they would be able to fit their Smart car into their kitchen, to protect it as the storm passed. The other half did. They made a bet. Guess who won? Quoth the loser: “It’s not in the way but my dogs are confused by it.”

Stat of the Week

12

The number of bicycles in the bike-share program in the small fishing village of Skrova, Norway—what Fast Company calls the smallest bike-share program in the world. (NYC’s program, by contrast, has at least 12,000 bikes.) Just 200 people live in the remote village, north of the Arctic Circle. Like many other places, Skrova hopes the system will help reduce car use, especially among tourists who travel to enjoy its trails and beaches.

Required Reading

News from elsewhere on the internet

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