What's the first thing you do when you get a brand new $150,000+ Porsche Taycan Turbo? If you said take it on an 11,000-mile road trip across the US and Canada, then you're thinking like Don Louv.

Louv just completed the epic journey that saw him begin and end at his Portland, Maine residence, 46 days later. However, this wasn't a challenge to see how fast Louv could make the journey, and he wasn't trying to prove anything. He even took a quick 5-day flight to Hawaii after visiting his mother in California about halfway through the adventure. Louv said it actually all started when his mother asked him to visit her.

Don Louv's 11,000 mile Porsche Taycan road trip took him along this route.

Now, any normal person would have hopped on a plane to make the trip, and not put 11,000 miles on the odometer of their brand new Porsche Taycan Turbo, but not Louv. (because he's got just enough crazy in him that he usually doesn't do the "normal" thing) I can say that with conviction because I've known Don for about 7 years now. He and I were in the BMW ActiveE pilot EV program together and got to know each other. He was actually supposed to stop at my house along this road trip to charge the Taycan and stay overnight, but he changed the route and it no longer made sense to do it.

A normal person would fly. Or drive their very comfortable and well equipped Sprinter Van based RV. But I’m not normal, and I’d just taken delivery of the Taycan. I love crazy road trips, so I did some research and discovered, with Petro-Canada and Electrify America’s new networks of very fast charging stations, this was very possible. The trip then took on a life of its own, and became a way to visit with dozens of friends along the way. - Don Louv

As you can see in the above time-lapse video, Louv recorded the entire 46-day trip and condensed it into a one hour and thirty-minute video. You'll also notice at about the 19-minute mark the car sitting at a Porsche dealership in Canada. That's because Don thought there might be a problem with the car because he couldn't get it to charge on a couple DC fast chargers that he stopped at earlier in the day.

However, after checking the car out, it was determined that there was nothing wrong with it, and the problem was with the DC fast chargers that he tried to use. Other than that, he didn't run into any real big problem charging along the route. Louv had this to say about charging along the way:

"The charging network for “everyone else” (that is, non-Teslas) got a slow start, but it is catching up quickly. This trip proves a non-tesla EVs can drive almost anywhere in the US, and all the way from coast to coast in Canada. The network isn’t perfect. It isn’t always smooth. Often it takes two or three tries to get a charging session going. But in the end, it always works. On rare occasions, you might need to drop back to a Level 2 charger, and go read a book. But eventually, you’ll get there. And with more and more DC Fast chargers coming online all the time, it will just get easier and smoother."

The EPA rating for the Taycan Turbo has its efficiency pegged at 49 kWh per 100 miles Louv hasn't reset his energy consumption recording in the car since he's had it and overall he's averaging 38.1 kWh per 100 miles driven, which would translate to about 226 miles per charge based on the usable battery capacity.

Louv said that the average range per charge over the entire trip was 215 miles per charge. That includes the first ~3,500 miles or so driving in very cold temperatures and on many snow-covered roads. He said that his average range in temperatures over 50 degrees Fahrenheit was 226 miles per charge.

As Louv mentions, Tesla vehicles have been able to go just about anywhere in North America with very little inconvenience for a while now, something that EVs from other manufacturers really couldn't claim. However, the charging networks, led by Electrify America, are rapidly catching up and will soon have coverage comparable to Tesla's network.

"Long road trips in a Taycan are much easier than I expected. The car is supremely quiet and comfortable. I could easily drive 8 or 10 hours a day without problems. On the last day, I drove (and charged) for 17 hours, covering over a 1000 miles."

I've personally driven Taycans over 400 miles on each of two media drives already, once in Europe and once in the US and I've found them to be extremely comfortable on both trips, but 400 miles is a far cry from 11,000. So I asked Louv how comfortable he was and if he would he ever consider doing that kind of road trip in the Taycan again. He said he was pleasantly surprised how comfortable and quiet the car is, and he had no problem at all spending so much time in the car. As for doing it again, he simply said "Absolutely".

Gallery: Porsche Taycan Turbo 11,000 mile road trip