The ID.3 just came out. None of the brands you mentioned had any reason to push HERE to include reliable charger data.
Both Mercedesand Audi have launched EV’s if I am correctly informed? And BMW have had their i3 for some years now. I know of several Audi owners that hve pushed for such details for a year or so!
You are right, but they're working on it! For the ID.3 they collected charger data from all possible sources and a lot of them is old, outdated or simply wrong. This is difficult.
Great car to drive but an absolute nightmare on a long journey, it’s like stepping back 15 years to those early sat navs. I’ve even had to resort to pen and paper and make a note of which service stations have which chargers for long journeys. I have now travelled well over 2000 miles and these are what I hate (strong word but appropriate) about the Taycan sat nav and why it makes the Porsche Taycan EV unfit for purpose. Is this global or just the UK?
I sincerely hope that I have not configured something incorrectly, or they have installed the wrong (beta) software, hence my post. A fix will stop me saying to everyone who asks, great car for a short journey, but unsuited to long journeys. My wife has already stated that we have to use the Audi petrol car for any further long journeys as she would rather stay at home than suffer the Porsche!
Executive Summary
For a long journey, use the ZapMap App to identify the rapid chargers and write them down on a piece of paper (with postcodes), unfortunately I can’t get ZapMap to work on CarPlay, so I’m trying TomTom and Google Maps. The irony is I had to pay for the Porsche data package to download TomTom as their own system is not fit for purpose.
My Gripes
Lack of Detail on the map
Most sat navs have the map and to the left an overview of the journey with the next 3 (or so) journey route changes, or on a motorway (freeway/autobahn) it will also include the next service stations, really good ones (Tesla) will also indicate if the chargers are free. But even my Gen 1 Leaf had some information about chargers, the Porsche Crap Nav has nothing, aside roadworks (but no indication as to where) charges required (and for how long) but no indication as to where and how much charge you will have left at the destination
When you are travelling on a long journey, you may want to use the restroom or eat, ideally with an EV, you’ll stop somewhere where you can charge your EV at the same time, it makes sense to stop at one with a higher KW charger or where they aren’t in use. Several times I have called into a service station only to find a queue of EVs waiting to charge, if I have sufficient range, I’ll chance it with the next one. Or I have stopped at the charge only to discover it is only 11KW and I don’t have 12 hours to spare to charge.
Lack of charger database
Imagine my frustration of charging from one of the few 175KW chargers in England (M6 Preston) and tapping in for nearest charger and Porsche doesn’t know about it, (there were lots of Jaguar I-Paces there). You have to use the ZapMap App and then put the postcodes into the Porsche. The Porsche wanted me to charge at a nearby charger for over an hour instead I took it from 30% to 90% in under 30 minutes.
The Artificial Intelligence of a Slug
When I set a route I want to be offered alternative routes, and be given enough time to select the most appropriate, yes, you can click on alternative routes, but the arrogance of the crap nav is such that it quite often can’t be bothered to find one. On Saturday I left a charger to reach my destination and I ended up on single track farm roads with grass growing on the road, when I took the same route in reverse, it gave my a sensible route on main roads. It chooses which chargers you will use on a long journey, even if that means travelling 10 miles off route on a different motorway, seriously!
Ability to set destination charge
When I travel somewhere, I want to set the charge I want to have remaining at the destination, for instance if I’m reversing the route and travelling back, I may wish to have 70% remaining, or if it’s my final journey before reaching home I might only need 10% charge. Last weekend I had 31 miles left to travel but only 26 miles range, it chose a charging station and wanted me to charge there for over an hour so that I would have 69% charge when I reached my destination, I left the chargepoint early but it still moaned all the way to the destination.
Ability to cancel a charger
When you are low on charge the Porsche Sat Nav selects the charger for you whether you want to charge there or not, on one journey it wanted me to deviate miles off route into a city centre to charge at a leisure centre. Frustratingly, I knew that there was a charger at a service station on my route but it was a slow charger. I went with the Porsche option, when I got there it had been vandalised and it didn’t work. However, there was nowhere to cancel this charger and as I had so little range it insisted I return to this charger. Even if I put the postcode to the other charger in, it wouldn’t accept it as I was low on charge, in the end I had to navigate using my mobile phone.
Another interesting point is that when you are low on charge and it is insisting on you charging, it obviously includes the deviation from route, I had 50 miles range and the destination was 30 miles away, however, once the route added in it’s choice of charger, the range was 40 miles. In order to find out the actual distance to the destination, my only option was to keep re-entering the destination and I would have a few seconds of actual distance before it added the deviation to charge.
Deviation From Route
If I’m on a journey I don’t want to deviate miles off route to charge, especially as the Porsche charger database is so poor, making it’s algorithm and AI worthless. I would like to be able to dictate how far off route I’m willing to go, eg 10 miles, 1 mile or not at all.
Summary
I hate the crap nav but love the car, I would love to meet the designer and counsel them at length. Hopefully it will be updated, even if it is only as good as a Gen 1 Nissan Leaf it would be better. Is this just UK where it is this bad, as Porsche’s revenge for Brexit?
Has anyone tried Google Maps or TomTom through CarPlay or have they found another work around?
Not that it helps you, but traffic data *is* available in some regions. At least here in California I've found that the traffic data was reasonably current and useful.Harsh but true! I do not use my sat nav at all, it will never be of any use, since it cannot get information about traffic congestion.
Over many years there was a standard, how traffic flow data is sent to cars. That did work in China until maybe 5 years ago, but then I think they switched that off and moved on. My phone app navi has amazingly accurate super up-to-date data, but my brand new Porsche sat nav gets nothing.
For Ionity the subscription is included with the Taycan for 3 years in Europe. You need to pay for the actual kWh charged, but if you use the Connect or Charge app, the bill will be monthly on your MyPorsche account. No idea how much the subscription service to Porsche Connect will be after three years, but if the service is as bad as it is now, it will be academic. No intention to keep the car for longer than that anyway.
