Taycan Crap Nav

andyd

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you got a card for Ionity ? I'll get onto my dealer and find out where mine is !

Completely agree. I happened to know about the New Ionity super fast chargers at Collumpton Services on the M5 and assumed, wrongly, that my Taycan would know about them as well, especially as maps seem to be regularly updated. WRONG!! Last weekend, on a trip from Oxford to Cornwall, my satnav took me sailing past Collumpton services and on to the crappy Ecotricity ones at Exeter services, which were full/broken. So we headed 11 miles back up the M5 to Collumpton using ZapMap. These chargers are brilliant - charged at 270kw for 15 minutes and away. But why, oh why, doesn't Porsche know/tell you about them, especially as they have a hookup with Ionity and even sent me a Taycan charging card to use with their chargers? Unacceptable really. I have a £138k car, bristling with technology and I end up looking at ZapMap on my phone to find chargers. I now have no faith whatsoever in the car's satnav. Crazy!
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Zap map built into the car would be great.
A Better Route Planner via Apple CarPlay would be the dream! ABRP is very accurate for me at le ast, once I have set the consumption rate as per my car. I normally arrive at my destinations within 2% difference between predicted from ABRP and actual in the car.

I think Zap Map is very similar but only covers the U.K.???
 

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Here is a tip to help make the onboard Nav a bit more useful on long trips. (I'm not sure if this has already been discussed):

There is a fairly useless insert on the Nav screen which will show you a green line and the next two charging stops you have scheduled. The thing is, it doesn't show you how far away you are from each of these stops. It only shows you how long you will have to charge at each stop. ...and Clicking on this pretty useless screen does nothing to bring up any additional info. Similarly, the Nav system simply doesn't show you how far you have left to travel before your next charging stop (unless it is your final destination). Who designed/tested this crap?

...anyway, if you hit the three little dots on the lower right of the nav screen you will see an option to "Edit The Route". Normally, this is one of the places you would fight with Porsche to try and get all your charging stops in the correct order. If you select the "Edit Route" option, you will see that it leaves up your list of charging stops AND IT WILL CONTINUOUSLY UPDATE THEIR DISTANCE as you get closer. So, I normally put the map up on the center of my instrument panel and then leave the "Edit Route" screen up on the center console. Perhaps it would be better named "Display Route" instead of "Edit Route".
 

andyd

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I agree. How much would it cost to pay one person to keep the charging database up to date on the sat nav system? They even part own Ionity and they are not listed !



@Talisker, I completely agree with you! That navigation system is so bad, it is not usable. I have complained to my dealer and with Porsche, here in France as well as Porsche Germany. I have had some phone calls back from them but absolutely no resolutions in sight. The system is not useable for any long trips and the only way I have found is to use ABRP. Unfortunately that can not be used with CarPlay but at least you can find routes and chargers.

My experience has been that the cars nav does not know of an Ionity station even when you are parked beside it! And that station has been in operation for more than 8 months and works fine. Instead the car takes you to some 50 kW station that has known problems and has been taken out for the last 8 months. There seems to have been some issues with the charger and 50 stations or so have been closed since beginning of the year.

The database in the car is completely out of date. Even the Porsche Connect app with chargers has a completely wrong set of information about number of chargers as well as power of chargers. The following thread shows my positive experience with Ionity, https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/ionity-charging-experience-in-south-of-france.2383/

I knew where the charger was and in this case even the car database had the coordinates.

I have used both Waze and Google Maps with great success. The traffic situation is shown clearly and any information is very up to date. Hopefully IOS14 will bring a lot more about EV Charging.

The navigator has really no place in such an expensive car. It is an embarrassment when trying to demonstrate the navigator to other potential owners.
 

grahamsimmonds

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This thread reminds me of the recent Guardian article recently that featured a couple who, through their own ignorance and poor planning, struggled to make a 130 mile journey from Bournemouth to Kent.

There is no Sat Nav in any car that can help you. And that includes Tesla. Plan where you are going to stop. Make sure you have the necessary apps or cards to access the networks BEFORE you leave. Leave plenty of battery margin by charging when you can, not when you have to. It's not rocket science.

I notice that those returning their car in this thread have a plethora of other cars in their garage. Maybe you are not quite ready for the change?
 


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This thread reminds me of the recent Guardian article recently that featured a couple who, through their own ignorance and poor planning, struggled to make a 130 mile journey from Bournemouth to Kent.

There is no Sat Nav in any car that can help you. And that includes Tesla. Plan where you are going to stop. Make sure you have the necessary apps or cards to access the networks BEFORE you leave. Leave plenty of battery margin by charging when you can, not when you have to. It's not rocket science.

I notice that those returning their car in this thread have a plethora of other cars in their garage. Maybe you are not quite ready for the change?
I'm the original author of this thread and my statement still stands, the Taycan sat nav is CRAP!
I've owned and driven several electric cars and you could manage your charging schedule using the in car sat navs with each of them, even the Leaf with a circa 100 mile range could be managed through it's sat nav without the need for other apps.
My original post wasn't about not being prepared with the necessary access to the various charging points, it was about the sat nav not recognising charging points and dictating which charge points should be used.
Your profile suggests you own a Tesla and not a Taycan, perhaps you should try living with a Taycan for long journeys before insinuating that we are all stupid.
 

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This thread reminds me of the recent Guardian article recently that featured a couple who, through their own ignorance and poor planning, struggled to make a 130 mile journey from Bournemouth to Kent.

There is no Sat Nav in any car that can help you. And that includes Tesla. Plan where you are going to stop. Make sure you have the necessary apps or cards to access the networks BEFORE you leave. Leave plenty of battery margin by charging when you can, not when you have to. It's not rocket science.

I notice that those returning their car in this thread have a plethora of other cars in their garage. Maybe you are not quite ready for the change?
My wife has a Tesla Model3. And we have successfully used that car for long trips here in France. It has directed us to all necessary Superchargers and prepared the battery for quick charging when needed. So I can not understand why the Taycan should be so useless. With some of the latest releases, OTA as well for the Tesla, we now also can find non Tesla chargers if we need. The Tesla is like Google on wheels for us. I never hesitate to drive that car and rely on charging stops or planning.

Taycan and Porsche seem to be in a mindset like in the 90,s where mobile operators tried to establish “walled gardens” for internet access and at a premium. That all failed miserably and I am afraid Porsche is heading in a similar direction with their PCM.
 

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This thread reminds me of the recent Guardian article recently that featured a couple who, through their own ignorance and poor planning, struggled to make a 130 mile journey from Bournemouth to Kent.

There is no Sat Nav in any car that can help you. And that includes Tesla. Plan where you are going to stop. Make sure you have the necessary apps or cards to access the networks BEFORE you leave. Leave plenty of battery margin by charging when you can, not when you have to. It's not rocket science.

I notice that those returning their car in this thread have a plethora of other cars in their garage. Maybe you are not quite ready for the change?
Nope, the OP is quite correct. The Nav system is pretty useless for EV tripping. In fact, I've actually found it to be quite counter productive. I've even asked Porsche if I can turn off PIRM (unfortunately you can't)...

Trying to blame the poor software as the fault of the customer is a pretty prehistoric IT tactic. The OP has gone through the effort to document several real shortcomings. Porsche should have done better. I've said it before - this car was tested by guys in lab coats and clipboards. No one apparently ever tried to actually use it...

I also gone into detail about trip planning and the issues I have found. I went out onto a 1400 mile Road Trip very aware of what I was facing. Knowing what you are in for certainly doesn't make the design any better. It simply prepares you to deal with the many issues you will encounter.

Poor software design is not the fault of the OP or any user. It is Porsche's responsibility.

Also saying that the OP is "not ready for the change" is pretty condescending. The software should work for the user - the user shouldn't have to work for the software.

Your statement "There is no Sat Nav in any car that can help you" is patently false. Here is SPECIFICALLY how the Nav software in the Taycan COULD help us if it was more thoughtfully designed:

- Let us download charger addresses from the online Porsche Web site. Although you currently CAN download addresses of chargers from the Porsche web site (as favorites), the stupid Nav in the car doesn't seem to realize there is a charger at the address. You actually have ask it to find chargers near the charger address you just downloaded and then re-save the favorite at the very same address! I've even had the Nav system try and route me to a different charger 10-20 miles away even though I was currently stopped right at my chosen charger! This is NOT helpful...

- Let us save a pre-planned route in the car. After you spend hours downloading (and converting) all your planned charger stops, there is no way to save the route. You can't save it the online Porsche Nav portal and you can't save it in the car's Nav system. So you need to spend precious time at zero-dark-thirty fighting with the stupid Nav to recreate your route before you depart. This is a waste of time. Its NOT helpful...

- Let us load our routes in the order in which they will be travelled. Currently, you have to load your destination first, and then all your charger stops in REVERSE order. As you try to load them in reverse order, you have to fight with the Nav system as it tries to be "helpful" and reroute the start of your trip. This is NOT helpful. Let us load our trips in the proper order and stop fighting with the user.

All of the above would make the Nav system much more helpful for planning EV Road Trips. We all know, given the relatively sparse distribution of chargers in some ares, that we need to pre-plan these trips. However, the Porsche Nav system doesn't seem to recognize or accept that.

Yup - its all about proper pre-planning. ...and that is SPECIFICALLY one of the major issues with the Porsche Nav system. I'm all for the Nav system identifying the nearest charger in an "emergency", but it should either be helpful for planning or simply get the f*ck out of the way!
 
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andyd

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Couldn't agree more. However, irrelevant of the quality of the software, if the data was up to date, it would work whole lot better.

They could even ask ZapMap to send them a file with them all on it each month! Trust me it would be simple. In fact I might suggest I get one of my staff to do it for them at a reasonable cost :)



Nope, the OP is quite correct. The Nav system is pretty useless for EV tripping. In fact, I've actually found it to be quite counter productive. I've even asked Porsche if I can turn off PIRM (unfortunately you can't)...

Trying to blame the poor software as the fault of the customer is a pretty prehistoric IT tactic. The OP has gone through the effort to document several real shortcomings. Porsche should have done better. I've said it before - this car was tested by guys in lab coats and clipboards. No one apparently ever tried to actually use it...

I also gone into detail about trip planning and the issues I have found. I went out onto a 1400 mile Road Trip very aware of what I was facing. Knowing what you are in for certainly doesn't make the design any better. It simply prepares you to deal with the many issues you will encounter.

Poor software design is not the fault of the OP or any user. It is Porsche's responsibility.

Also saying that the OP is "not ready for the change" is pretty condescending. The software should work for the user - the user shouldn't have to work for the software.

Your statement "There is no Sat Nav in any car that can help you" is patently false. Here is SPECIFICALLY how the Nav software in the Taycan COULD help us if it was more thoughtfully designed:

- Let us download charger addresses from the online Porsche Web site. Although you currently CAN download addresses of chargers from the Porsche web site (as favorites), the stupid Nav in the car doesn't seem to realize there is a charger at the address. You actually have ask it to find chargers near the charger address you just downloaded and then re-save the favorite at the very same address! I've even had the Nav system try and route me to a different charger 10-20 miles away even though I was currently stopped right at my chosen charger! This is NOT helpful...

- Let us save a pre-planned route in the car. After you spend hours downloading (and converting) all your planned charger stops, there is no way to save the route. You can't save it the online Porsche Nav portal and you can't save it in the car's Nav system. So you need to spend precious time at zero-dark-thirty fighting with the stupid Nav to recreate your route before you depart. This is a waste of time. Its NOT helpful...

- Let us load our routes in the order in which they will be travelled. Currently, you have to load your destination first, and then all your charger stops in REVERSE order. As you try to load them in reverse order, you have to fight with the Nav system as it tries to be "helpful" and reroute the start of your trip. This is NOT helpful. Let us load our trips in the proper order and stop fighting with the user.

All of the above would make the Nav system much more helpful for planning EV Road Trips. We all know, given the relatively sparse distribution of chargers in some ares, that we need to pre-plan these trips. However, the Porsche Nav system doesn't seem to recognize or accept that.

Yup - its all about proper pre-planning. ...and that is SPECIFICALLY one of the major issues with the Porsche Nav system. I'm all for the Nav system identifying the nearest charger in an "emergency", but it should either be helpful for planning or simply get the f*ck out of the way!
 

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I decided the nav was near unusable within 5 miles of collecting the car when it didn't know about any traffic, any roadworks or closures, and sent me cross-country, down a single track road (where the ride-height increase came in handy after bottoming out!!!), and through a ford :facepalm:

I got home and the wife asked me how the hell i'd taken so long to arrive back after her, how i'd managed to get mud up the side of the car in the short distance back, and why i was now checking the front splitter for damage :CWL:

That's nothing to do with range or charging... it's just completely shit! :facepalm:
 

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As a side note, I think Porsche could go a long way towards helping fix so many of these issues if they would simply sponser some sort of a "Taycan User Conference" - and then use productive suggestions to actually improve the software in this vehicle. They obviously didn't spend enough time designing "usability" into this product up front, maybe they can let US help them make it better moving forward.

Physically, the vehicle is amazing. However, I think its pretty obvious that the majority of its shortcomings are all software related. Whether it be a poorly designed Nav system, dysfunctional smart phone apps, or the onboard firmware (12v battery charging, WBA warnings, Park Assist warnings,...)... The good news, is that its all software, and software can be updated! (...even if we do have to take the car to the dealer for an "OTA" update - and that too can be fixed).

I believe I've identified a potential software-based resolution for every one of the user interface issues I've documented. (...inc the 68 screen swipes it takes me to browse through my entire USB music library). I've detailed all of this to 2nd level Porsche customer support but so far all they do is call me back every couple of weeks to tell me they are "working on it"...

If it wasn't for Covid, I'ld fly out to Stuttgart tomorrow if we could help make this car better for everyone!
 

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Zap map built into the car would be great.
I haven’t tried it, but if you have an iPhone you should be able to get zapmap working on the car using CarPlay.
 

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I decided the nav was near unusable within 5 miles of collecting the car when it didn't know about any traffic, any roadworks or closures, and sent me cross-country, down a single track road (where the ride-height increase came in handy after bottoming out!!!), and through a ford :facepalm:

I got home and the wife asked me how the hell i'd taken so long to arrive back after her, how i'd managed to get mud up the side of the car in the short distance back, and why i was now checking the front splitter for damage :CWL:

That's nothing to do with range or charging... it's just completely shit! :facepalm:
My wife went along for a long covid-escape drive last weekend and it was the first time she actually tried to use the "passenger console". I pointed her in the right direction to cue up some music of our USB collection and within minutes she asked "Why doesn't the song selection screen index to follow/indicate the song currently playing"? (Such an obvious and simple thing one would think). I told her she had to go to the "Play" screen to actually see what was playing and she then noted that she didn't see the full list of songs on the album.

I told her "Sorry honey, but that's so far down on my list of usability issues right now..."

She then tried to "swipe, swipe, swipe" to browse our entire 270 folders of music (organized by artist)... (Hint: 270 folders, 4 folders displayed per screen = 68 swipes. ...but only IF you perfectly perform a full-screen swipe and also don't select one by mistake - cause then you get to start all over again.)

We're hearing a lot more ABBA than ZZTop in this car... ;)
 

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I haven’t tried it, but if you have an iPhone you should be able to get zapmap working on the car using CarPlay.
So the solution is simply replacing the onboard Nav with a SmartPhone app? Pretty ironic, don't you think? (No offense intended)

...for the $225K I paid for my car, maybe they should have thrown in an iPhone?
 

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So the solution is simply replacing the onboard Nav with a SmartPhone app? Pretty ironic, don't you think? (No offense intended)

...for the $225K I paid for my car, maybe they should have thrown in an iPhone?
By supporting CarPlay, the TAycan essentially gives you a platform that supports replacing or extending the built-in functionality with third-party apps. Seems pretty good to me.
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