Tuner Hennessey Plans Power Surge for Porsche Taycan EV

This will be the first electric car to get the Hennessey treatment, but we're betting it won't be the last.

© Hennessey   This will be the first electric car to get the Hennessey treatment, but we're betting it won't be the last.

By Mihir Maddireddy, Car and Driver

• Hennessey Performance has been the go-to tuner for massive increases in horsepower—modifying everything from the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk to the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

• Now the Texas company intends to make the newly introduced Porsche Taycan its first EV project.

• The car's not available yet, so consider this an item on Hennessey's "things to do" list that should become real in early 2020.

As electric vehicles have begun to hit the market, they've posted some impressive performance figures—for instance, the Tesla Model S's sub-three-second zero-to-60-mph time. The recently unveiled Porsche Taycan has posted a spectacular 7:42 on the famed Nürburgring, and that wasn't even the higher-end Turbo S model. So it's logical that John Hennessey, the founder and CEO of Hennessey Performance, has turned his company's attention to the Porsche Taycan.

© Hennessey   Hennessey Porsche Taycan

Texas-based Hennessey Performance is known for producing some insane power figures and wild creations with the goal of going faster. Recently, they tuned the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk from 707 to 1200 horsepower and created monsters like the Goliath, a six-by-six truck based on the Chevrolet Silverado. The Porsche Taycan is unique for them as it will be the first EV they attempt to tune. All their other projects have had an internal-combustion engine, but with an EV, Hennessey will be leaping into a world of electric motors, battery packs, and the sophisticated software that controls them.

© Hennessey   Hennessey Porsche Taycan

Hennessey said it has been planning on this type of project for a while now and will start with wheel, tire, and interior upgrades along with the addition of more aggressive front and rear bumpers. However, there's no doubt we should expect to see more power from the firm's version of the already high-horsepower Taycan. Hennessey plans to get its hands on a Taycan for a development car as soon as Porsche begins deliveries in the United States in early 2020.