Great Scott! Porsche Generates 1.21 Gigawatts Of Charging Power, Enough To Go Back To The Future

Between Porsche’s European and American charging networks, the Taycan now has access to more than 1.21 gigawatts of combined power, the first time that figure has been exceeded. To celebrate, it has produced a short video in which the car drives alongside the iconic DeLorean time machine.

The number is a reference to a scene in “Back to the Future” in which the character Dr. Emmett Brown explains the amount of energy required to power his time machine. The number is so unbelievably large that the time machine needs a small nuclear reactor to achieve and actor Christopher Lloyd was so unfamiliar with the concept that he pronounced it “jigawatts” in the film.

And indeed, it is a rather large figure, enough to send power to a total of 1,042 fast-charging stations. Porsche vehicles have access to 670 Electrify America stations and 372 Ionity stations in Europe, which amounts to a total of 4,800 individual chargers. The announcement also coincides with the Back to the Future Day.

The film produced by Porsche also features Donald Fullilove, who played Goldie Wilson in the film. The character was inspired by the film’s main character to go from cafe cleaner to mayor, as is hinted at by the campaign sticker on the Porsche.

Capable of charging to 80 percent in 22 minutes thanks to 800-volt battery architecture and 270 kW charge speeds, the Porsche Taycan makes good use of its charging network. The car earned itself an EV record for the fastest trip across the U.S. in January of this year with a time of 44:25:59.