Tesla Model S Performance vs. Porsche Taycan Turbo S - No Two Races Are the Same

However, the surprising part is that not everybody got the same result. Some might have been biased toward one or the other, but that can't be the only explanation. There must be other reasons why the scales can tilt one way or the other so easily.

In reality, the answer is pretty simple: the two EVs are so evenly matched that even the slightest variation can have a huge impact on who the winner is. Anything from the quality of the surface on one side of the track - particularly near the start area - to the driver's reaction time can become the decisive factor, hence the constant variation which of the two is quicker over the quarter-mile.

Recently, though, Brooks Weisblat from DragTimes gave us a head-to-head race between the Taycan Turbo S and the Model S with the most leveled playing field: prepped surface, light tree, professional timing gear, and, most importantly, both cars charged to 100 percent. The winner? Well, it seems like it's the Porsche, but on a different day, who knows?

Here we have Shmee150, also known as Tim Burton, who recently bought himself a Porsche Taycan Turbo S to the despair of some of his fans who fear he might be catching the EV bug and forget about the Ferraris and Lamborghinis that made him famous.

If Brooks' video was all about showing the two drivetrains at work with as few variables as possible, Tim's is all about how important the SOC (state of charge) of the battery is for an EV's performance. Dropping under a certain value won't make the car undrivable - or even slow, for that matter - but it will hinder to some degree its top-end performance.

More to the point, Tim says that, at the start of these races, the Taycan was at just over 35 percent, while the Tesla had around 75. Even so, we can see that, with better reactions from Shmee, the Porsche could have won the first run. All the others that followed, though, were clear wins for the Model S, even though Tim's reflexes didn't get particularly better either.

That seems to go against everything we were taught about these two. If there was one EV whose performances would drop after several runs in quick succession, that would be the Tesla. The Porsche Taycan Turbo S can usually pull similar times over several races without needing to cool down. However, there is nothing it can do when the battery level goes down, which is something we're sure Tim has learned and will remember from now on.