Sunshine and Happiness

A panoramic liquid-crystal roof offers sun, shade, or block-out for the Taycan’s occupants

Australia is blessed with summer sunshine, but that sun sometimes comes with a sting that can heat a car’s interior and even burn delicate skin. To prevent this, Porsche has incorporated an innovative sunroof to cater for every weather condition.

Electrically adjustable liquid crystals allow the Taycan’s roof to become dark, semitransparent, or totally clear with a touch of a special dashboard panel. Four options are available – clear, matte, semi, and bold, with bold allowing in the least amount of light. The result is 40 percent matte in Semi mode and 60 percent matte in Bold mode.

To completely shield occupants from the sun, the Taycan’s roof incorporates an added slider function that can block the light from front to back as if it were a roller blind.

Taycan’s optional panoramic roof with Variable Light Control is matte white in its default state and without power, keeping the summer heat outside. But it’s when the Taycan starts up that the roof really comes to life.

A seven-layered wafer-thin polymer matrix is the secret to this exceptional roof design. Including conductive layers on both sides, the matrix is matte if no voltage is present. If the alternating voltage is active, the liquid crystals rearrange themselves to provide your chosen view. A safety film and glass layer appear on each side of this innovative core. Thanks to a silver coating, the outer layer reflects the heat of the sun, while the inner layer has an insulating effect.

The panoramic roof with Variable Light Control not only eliminates the need for headroom-reducing sunshades, but also offers effective heat protection. And in Clear mode, the Taycan glass roof allows more light to filter into the interior than all previous tinted panoramic roofs.

In winter, the Low-E coating on the liquid crystal roof’s underside also protects you from the cold. When sitting just below the glass surface, you can clearly see the sky through the roof without experiencing any cold seeping through.

The advanced composite glass used in the Taycan’s sunroof is also much lighter than a comparable roof made of a single glass layer, offering exceptional insulation in the frequency ranges of music and human voices. Noises remain outside – adding to your comfort inside. •