WLG2 Campaign -- software updates

daveo4EV

Well-Known Member
First Name
David
Joined
Jan 28, 2019
Threads
160
Messages
5,793
Reaction score
8,600
Location
Santa Cruz
Vehicles
Cayenne Hybrid, 911(s) GT3/Convertable
Country flag
@louv - thank you! your posts are very informative.
 

SRQ661

Well-Known Member
First Name
Hal
Joined
Jan 30, 2020
Threads
6
Messages
180
Reaction score
126
Location
Sarasota, FL
Vehicles
2020 Porsche Taycan 4S
Country flag
Let us know what the response is, since I am curious to know if it applies to all Taycan's, or just a certain few.

This is where it would have been great if Porsche had enabled over the air updates - owners could have done this at home, and not had to have made a trip to a dealership. Hopefully, the auto industry catches up with the one car manufacturer that truly has this capability.
I thought we could get OTA updates. All updates have to be done by a dealer???
 

louv

Well-Known Member
First Name
Don
Joined
Sep 6, 2019
Threads
27
Messages
1,154
Reaction score
3,728
Location
Maine
Vehicles
Taycan Turbo (sold), Mini Cooper SE, Mercedes Sprinter RV, BMW K1600GT
Country flag
I thought we could get OTA updates. All updates have to be done by a dealer???
Yeah. We thought that too. Turns out they update our maps OTA. Big, scary, important stuff gets done at the dealership.
 


OP
OP
thecoloradokid

thecoloradokid

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2020
Threads
41
Messages
560
Reaction score
1,185
Location
Colorado
Vehicles
'22 Taycan CT4s + 2023 Rivian R1T
Country flag
I thought we could get OTA updates. All updates have to be done by a dealer???

Thanks. Good to know. Where would I be without this forum?


Most us would be toast without this forum. Knowledgable members, like Don, know more about the car than 98.5% of the Porsche service managers in the field right now. Most dealerships only have one tech that is certified to work on a Taycan.

It will be an up and down experience for us owners for a while, and this forum will be essential so we can exchange information and keep up with what everyone is hearing. It feels the Taycan is a fun little side project for Porsche currently, and they will dedicate just enough recourses to keep it going. It is not until the Macan goes fully electric when we will see Porsche make the leap towards expanding/improving capabilities on their EV's, and focusing on making 3rd party partners like Electrify America provide a more consistent charging experience. Just my two cents.
 

louv

Well-Known Member
First Name
Don
Joined
Sep 6, 2019
Threads
27
Messages
1,154
Reaction score
3,728
Location
Maine
Vehicles
Taycan Turbo (sold), Mini Cooper SE, Mercedes Sprinter RV, BMW K1600GT
Country flag
It turns out that OTA updates are REALLY hard to do... correctly. And it’s one piece of software that can’t have bugs. It must be perfect. And Perfect is hard. Very, very hard. Harder than most companies understand. You pretty much have to build (Or re-build) your whole eco-system system from the ground up always considering OTA updates.

I’m so very glad to be out of that business. :)
 
OP
OP
thecoloradokid

thecoloradokid

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2020
Threads
41
Messages
560
Reaction score
1,185
Location
Colorado
Vehicles
'22 Taycan CT4s + 2023 Rivian R1T
Country flag
It turns out that OTA updates are REALLY hard to do... correctly. And it’s one piece of software that can’t have bugs. It must be perfect. And Perfect is hard. Very, very hard. Harder than most companies understand. You pretty much have to build (Or re-build) your whole eco-system system from the ground up always considering OTA updates.

I’m so very glad to be out of that business. :)

Don: thank you for the insight. So, based on what you are saying the legacy car manufacturers who are starting to dabble in EVs will have a very tough time being able to offer OTA since their business, and their vehicles, is built/engineered around updates being done manually at a dealership?

Tesla, since they weaved in OTA update capability from the start of their business, is able to pull this off because they engineered their cars around this capability?

Is this accurate? And, if so, I guess we will probably not see actual OTA updates, outside of the maps, from Porsche for a while.

Thank you for letting us pick your brain on this stuff.
 


louv

Well-Known Member
First Name
Don
Joined
Sep 6, 2019
Threads
27
Messages
1,154
Reaction score
3,728
Location
Maine
Vehicles
Taycan Turbo (sold), Mini Cooper SE, Mercedes Sprinter RV, BMW K1600GT
Country flag
Most us would be toast without this forum. Knowledgable members, like Don, know more about the car than 98.5% of the Porsche service managers in the field right now. Most dealerships only have one tech that is certified to work on a Taycan.

It will be an up and down experience for us owners for a while, and this forum will be essential so we can exchange information and keep up with what everyone is hearing. It feels the Taycan is a fun little side project for Porsche currently, and they will dedicate just enough recourses to keep it going. It is not until the Macan goes fully electric when we will see Porsche make the leap towards expanding/improving capabilities on their EV's, and focusing on making 3rd party partners like Electrify America provide a more consistent charging experience. Just my two cents.
Agreed. One addition:

As I was on my “Tour of Many Porsche Dealerships” I talked to several Service Managers. The larger dealerships, in EV Savvy Areas like San Jose, Vancouver, Beverly Hills, etc. all said they expected to have 5 or 6 Taycan certified Technicians within a year. (These discussions were February 2020). Maybe Covid has thrown a wrench in their training plans. But one of the dealers had already sent three people to get certified.

My dealership has only sold two or three Taycans. So we have only one Tech. There’s only one “Porsche Charging Network” station in the whole state. Not exactly a huge market.
 

louv

Well-Known Member
First Name
Don
Joined
Sep 6, 2019
Threads
27
Messages
1,154
Reaction score
3,728
Location
Maine
Vehicles
Taycan Turbo (sold), Mini Cooper SE, Mercedes Sprinter RV, BMW K1600GT
Country flag
Don: thank you for the insight. So, based on what you are saying the legacy car manufacturers who are starting to dabble in EVs will have a very tough time being able to offer OTA since their business, and their vehicles, is built/engineered around updates being done manually at a dealership?

Tesla, since they weaved in OTA update capability from the start of their business, is able to pull this off because they engineered their cars around this capability?

Is this accurate? And, if so, I guess we will probably not see actual OTA updates, outside of the maps, from Porsche for a while.

Thank you for letting us pick your brain on this stuff.
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.

BMW has made the leap. Their newest cars can update most, if not all, systems OTA. But it was a long, slow path.

I don’t think Mercedes is there yet.
 

Miwa

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2019
Threads
10
Messages
825
Reaction score
856
Location
Bay Area, CA, USA
Vehicles
Taycan Turbo
Country flag
Tesla simplified what they have in the car to make it work too. Traditional manufacturers are working with a lot of Tier 1 suppliers, and centralizing all the firmware to some universal controller to update is a challenge.

Also, the testing to do a release like this is pretty huge. And there's tons of concerns about something bad happening when updates take a few hours. I don't expect luxury makes to optimize out going to a dealer to handle big updates.

PCM data updates and tech feature updates are what OTA will be for. I'm a LOT happier that updates aren't a 0 cost item for Porsche, and they'll have to follow the entire SPICE process to prep a release. That also includes comprehensive instructions for dealers and publicizing that there's an update.
 

daveo4EV

Well-Known Member
First Name
David
Joined
Jan 28, 2019
Threads
160
Messages
5,793
Reaction score
8,600
Location
Santa Cruz
Vehicles
Cayenne Hybrid, 911(s) GT3/Convertable
Country flag
I wonder if any of these changes will improve the car's compatibility with fast charging improving the success rate for starting a charging session.
 

louv

Well-Known Member
First Name
Don
Joined
Sep 6, 2019
Threads
27
Messages
1,154
Reaction score
3,728
Location
Maine
Vehicles
Taycan Turbo (sold), Mini Cooper SE, Mercedes Sprinter RV, BMW K1600GT
Country flag
I wonder if any of these changes will improve the car's compatibility with fast charging improving the success rate for starting a charging session.
Given that at least four or five of the modules getting updated are related to Charging and the HV battery, I’m going to assume: YES It’s a hopeful yes. Not one based on any technical insight.
 
OP
OP
thecoloradokid

thecoloradokid

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2020
Threads
41
Messages
560
Reaction score
1,185
Location
Colorado
Vehicles
'22 Taycan CT4s + 2023 Rivian R1T
Country flag
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.

BMW has made the leap. Their newest cars can update most, if not all, systems OTA. But it was a long, slow path.

I don’t think Mercedes is there yet.

Don, as always, thank you for your insight.

OTA's are a "nice to have" for me, and that is about it. More importantly, I really am hoping the updates I got yesterday, and you got today, will take care of the 12v battery issues we experienced.

Guess we will find out!!
 

daveo4EV

Well-Known Member
First Name
David
Joined
Jan 28, 2019
Threads
160
Messages
5,793
Reaction score
8,600
Location
Santa Cruz
Vehicles
Cayenne Hybrid, 911(s) GT3/Convertable
Country flag
I am also hopeful!
Sponsored

 
 




Top