Please Welcome Stealth

ron_b

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Please excuse the long story, I have been putting off until I had time with Stealth, my 4S’s name. It’s now been exactly 2 months and 3900 miles with average 333Wh/mi.
  • Previous EV Experience: Chevy Bolt purchased Feb 2018, love it but it rides hard, not to sporty.
  • Previous Porsche Experience: None, my son bought a 2000 Boxster S when he was 17, I got to drive it a could times. He raves about the engineering behind Porsche and I can see that is a valid rave.
I want to give a shout out to my local Taycan friends like @BayAreaKen, @daveo4EV, @Reg, @porsche_coyote, @Mark.

Order Process:
Watched the world premier Sept 2019, called my local dealership within days to check on a test drive. Finally drove in October and put down deposit. I was number 319 (as I recall) in the queue. I had one more test drive in October but then that was it. By Feb 2020 I was #192 or so for a Model 4S. I checked other dealerships in area and a few hundred miles away I found one with 2 allocations. I put down a 2nd deposit for a June 2020 build slot. My dealership in Bakersfield was great to deal with (Parris/Sal/Michael/…). I have yet to even meet the folks there. All handled with texts, emails, and a couple physical mailings for proper signatures.


Pre-Delivery:
The actual build slipped to August and I watched it sit at a dock in Germany then tracked it on the ship through the Panama Canal and into San Francisco Bay. I had originally selected a PECLA (Porsche Experience Center Los Angles) delivery but then started getting cold feet in June and asked them to drop that as I was worried about how the experience would be with all the COVID rules. After the post by @Reg I again gained confidence and asked my dealership to revert my decision, they said it was too late, but I also contacted Porsche Experience Center and they said that they can make that happen. It all did happen!


Delivery:
Drove to Los Angles on Dec 10th and stayed one night with my wife and 2 boys. Went to PECLA for the delivery experience. Had a tour of the museum and a fabulous meal.

After the meal we were taken to a private room for the delivery handoff. It was very special, the whole nine yards, covered car, sign a star for my delivery that is put on the wall in that room. I was delivery #388.

After that I went to the track and my boys & wife were taken on a private tour of their Porsche Motor Sports shop that I had told Charles (the delivery expert) that they would be interested in. He gave them a great tour and then some VR track driving experience as well. While that was happening, I was taking another Taycan 4S on the track with a personal driving coach in an other Taycan. I had at least a ½ dozen launch controls, max was 109mph before I braked for the turn. The mini-auto-cross circuit was a lot of fun. I saw just how fast you can make that Taycan stop, it’s unreal. Slam those brakes and you go from 40 to 0 in what seems like sub-second. Also enjoyed the skid pad and other traction control courses show just what all that Porsche Stability Management does for you. The car I had did not have PDCC or PTV+ which I have speced as well so need personal testing of that I guess later.

After my 90min or so on the track I came in to meet up with the family and we then walked out to our car waiting outside. Porsche takes hundreds of photos on the track and at the delivery and gives you a memory stick at the end along with some other goodies. I don’t want to spoil the mystery, but…

Bottom Line: If you are near a Porsche Experience Center, spend the $500 for their delivery, it’s worth every penny! The whole PECLA team really made it an experience not to soon forget.


First Drive:
Drove to Atascadero from Los Angles with one stop in Pismo Beach to charge that night, stayed a while as we also ordered a pizza and woofed it down (outside the Taycan in my son’s car J).

After getting home my boys and I went for a drive, I let my oldest (Boxster owner) take it out for a more spirited drive. He mentioned the normal things, handles well but you cannot hide the weight. We did have one incident on that trip where suspension system glitched and needed to turn off car walk away return and it came back. When it was out it rode like my Chevy Bolt EV as we were on some pretty uneven pavement on back roads allowing for more spirited driving.


Charging Summary:
  • Again 2 months of ownership and 3900 miles.
  • Total Fast Charges: 36 (All at Electrify America, mix of 350kW and 150kW stations)
  • Total Level 2 (AC) Charges: 3 (two at home and 1 at work)
  • Total 1450kWh (Charged less losses & HVAC while charging)
  • Porsche Connect & Car report 333Wh/mi (well 33.3kWh/100mi actually)
  • Figuring pack at 86kWh usable (pretty generally accepted) after mid-2020.
  • 86/0.333 => 258mi. I also stand by that number. I can get 260mi at 65-75mph on a not too cold and flat-ish freeway without difficulty.

Porsche InnoDrive:
I use it often, probably too often but I want to learn what it can do so I know.

First thing I did was disable the Speed Sign Recognition for 2 reasons, see: https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...-sign-recognition-in-innodrive-settings.2979/

I like to use Range Mode on the freeway when nothing aggressive is needed but then when I have a projected arrival at a charge with <10% it wants to adjust down my Max Speed, I now see I can disable that and have done so. My last 10 Fast Charging Experiences:

Date​
Location
Duration​
kWh​
Cost​
UnitComments
Avg Rate​
12/19/20​
Soledad, US
0:33​
78​
0.75​
110059-04
142​
12/21/20​
Paso Robles, US
0:40​
48​
2.25​
100023-03
72​
12/25/20​
Paso Robles, US
0:22​
69​
0​
100023-03Start 6%/82F, Got 84% in 22min
188​
12/26/20​
Pismo Beach, US
0:07​
10​
0​
100025-01
86​
12/26/20​
Camarillo, US
0:31​
70​
0.25​
100034-09Start 14%/87F
135​
12/26/20​
Pismo Beach, US
0:26​
51​
0​
100025-01Start 32%
118​
12/29/20​
Soledad, US
0:37​
82​
1.75​
110059-02Start 2%/83F 4mi, left 91%/104F 220mi
133​
1/1/21​
San Jose, US
0:31​
54​
0.25​
200193-02
105​
1/6/21​
San Jose, US
0:30​
31​
0​
200191-02Start 42%/59F
62​
1/8/21​
San Jose, US
0:30​
44​
0​
200193-02Start 41%/67F
88​

The charging performance clearly makes it a road trip capable machine (with some planning). As demonstrated by Kyle Connor in https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...lectric-cross-country-cannonball-record.3483/

Do shoot for <=10% SoC at arrival and head out at <85% if possible, to make next stop for optimal times. I find the Porsche range estimates to be very accurate with only a little conservatism, I use them without question adding very little buffer as long as I know some backup plans.


Problems:
I will not try to say my experience was completely error free. I have seen several random PCM issues, all cleared pretty quickly. The most concerning issue was a run of charging problems in early December where I had to retry starting a charging session several times to get it going. And that happed at 4 separate times over several days. I scheduled an appointment which ended up being just before Christmas. In the meantime before the appointment, I had several successful charging events so cancelled that appointment to postpone to a more convenient time. Will post after that appointment.


Closing:
I have no persistent issues with the car. My only issue is thinking of where to go with it. I feel it loves to be driven and I love making it happy.

I haven’t yet done a launch control with my own Taycan. I do plan to soon with my boys. My wife is completely un-interested. :)


Photos:
Porsche Taycan Please Welcome Stealth IMG_7649 copy


Porsche Taycan Please Welcome Stealth IMG_7678.JPG
Porsche Taycan Please Welcome Stealth IMG_7715.JPG

Pismo Beach Photos: https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...s-of-your-taycan-with-scenery.2117/post-43551
Morro Bay: https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...s-of-your-taycan-with-scenery.2117/post-45725
 


Dr Chill

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Congrats. It's an amazing vehicle. I'm really enjoying mine as well, but mine was an impulse buy after taking the test drive. Is yours a 2020 or a 2021 model?

Porsche Taycan Please Welcome Stealth Taycan
 
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ron_b

ron_b

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Congrats. It's an amazing vehicle. I'm really enjoying mine as well, but mine was an impulse buy after taking the test drive. Is yours a 2020 or a 2021 model?

Taycan.jpg
Mine is a 2020, I think last month before the line was changed to 2021. I'm ok, just hope they will do some SW updates. :rolleyes: ;)
 

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Congratulations and thanks for sharing your delivery, drive, and in-depth InnoDrive experience. Have fun with Stealth.
 


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I haven’t yet done a launch control with my own Taycan. I do plan to soon with my boys. My wife is completely un-interested. :)
You are lucky that your wife is not interested because the car has a max allowed weight of 662lbs (see sticker on the door) and 4 adults could be too much :p.
Congrats on your car and make sure everyone's head is touching the headrest before you launch because the launch is brutal.
 

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Thanks for the write up. I’ve never done PEC before but Im taking delivery of my 992 Turbo S Cab there in exactly one month. It’s been sitting in Houston since thanksgiving and I was about to cancel it but my Taycan is keeping me happy. This write up makes me so happy I didn’t cancel. It sounds amazing
 
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ron_b

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A little story on Taycan range.

I like ABRP (A Better Route Planner)but it's Taycan estimates are bogus.

Selecting a Taycan 4S with 93kWh battery gives 394wh/mi as efficiency at 65mph. I tweak this to 270wh/mi though I'm notreally that efficient but the issue is that it seems to assume the battery usable amount is smaller than it really is. Giving 270 seems to provide reasonable results without being overly aggressive.

I was driving from Atascadero up highway 1 through Big Sur and then to Gilroy for a fast charger then home to San Jose. Figuring 110% of speed limit which is about where I was and with the car at 79% SoC when I left as I had ran it down a little bit trying some launch control tests the evening before ;) . ABRP shows a 7% arrival, actual was 14% so reasonable. This was not even accounting for about 10 MI cruising in Carmel by the Sea when we stopped for lunch. But this is a Taycan 4S with 20" wheels loaded with 3 people and luggage. There were also high wind advisories and we saw the trees bending. Could not tell a thing from inside the Taycan though. Even my wife was commenting on how "planted" it was. Driving was a mix of 50% Range and 50% Normal modes. No one was passing me until I was getting close to San Jose and saw a white Taycan Turbo come up from behind slip into the fast lane and fly ahead. I was seeing what it was up to but crossing triple digits was not my plan for long. My InnoDrive screen showed it at 125. :cool:

So I travelled 175 on first leg starting with only 79% and not being anxious. Arriving at 14% so 65% of 86kWh = 56kWh or 320wH/mi and Taycan reported 307wh/mi so close and would indicate usable is more like 83kWh. HVAC was set to Eco Mode and 68F outside was between 62F in the morning to 77F in the afternoon. We had stopped to hike at Soberanos Creek along the way so we were out for a while. Bottom line don't sweat the range, the Taycan is very efficient.

Coolest thing I saw, Carmel by the Sea has more Porsche's than Teslas.
:p A site I'm not used to in the Bay Area.

I haven't driven on Hwy 1 South of Monterey for over a decade, it's beautiful and worth the extra time.

Ohh, Charging in Gilroy, navigation to the charger did heat the battery to 89F on arrival, but the first 350kW charger was only delivering 63kW so I stopped in one minute and moved to the other 350kW unit. It ramped up to 220kW within 20 seconds and I stayed there for 20 minutes. I did call and report the issue with unit 06 to Electrify America. Delivered 55kWh in 20min so 165kW avg, quite decent.
 

jonze

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You are lucky that your wife is not interested because the car has a max allowed weight of 662lbs (see sticker on the door) and 4 adults could be too much :p.
Congrats on your car and make sure everyone's head is touching the headrest before you launch because the launch is brutal.
Until I got to the "4 adults" part of your reply, I was wondering why you were talking crap about his wife. :lipssealed:
 
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ron_b

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Charging Woes

Well I have had mixed success with charging, never stuck, but several times slow. Last night it happened again 3 times in a row on 2 chargers.

Location: Gilroy, California
Time: 11:46pm
Temperature: 45F outside
Battery Temperature: 87F on arrival
SoC: 7%

Car did a good job of preconditioning when routing to the charger even with a 7% SOC on arrival.

The first charger I plugged into was providing 66 KW, it was not ramping up after one minute so I stopped to the charge and moved to the second 350 unit. I had two vehicle timeout errors trying to start a charge then finally on the third one I was able to get the charge started and again it was 66 KW. I called Electrify America while walking to In-N-Out Burger for a late dinner, they were friendly as always and on this occasion they were able to talk to their back-end team and find out that my vehicle had requested only 70 KW during the negotiation. They also verified that that was the same on my previous first session at this location on the other charger. They rebooted the first charger while I was still charging on the 2nd and I later plugged into that charger still at only 40% SoC. It peaked up to 110 KW when I was standing in front of it then within seconds dropped down to 66 again. Electrify America was able to indicate the car did specify a power of approximately 100 KW for that third attempt.

This made no sense to me as my battery was very warm and a very low state of charge. I expected 220 kw easy if not better.

I scheduled a service appointment for Monday, will let you folks know.

-------

But even with this low state of charge estimation at arrival I had enough confidence in the vehicle to derive it in a somewhat spirited three-digit fashion on some unnamed back roads before arriving at the charger.
The vehicle drives amazingly, the refueling part is still a little sketchy. But I'm still hopeful.
 
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ron_b

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Stealth got more Stealthy today.

I now realize I never mentioned that I had gotten a full Expel Ultra PPF wrap on my baby. I had originally decided on a wrap to the mirrors long before delivery then in negotiation I went for a full wrap and he threw in Expel Ultra 10 on the nose also had requested darkening the side markers vs ordering replacement clear ones.

they had originally forgotten to do the side markers so I went back today to get that taken care of, see photos below of before which was I’m sorry a different day versus after with the lights off and on.
Porsche Taycan Please Welcome Stealth 0C02B661-4390-4DB8-935B-DC97EF07761F
Porsche Taycan Please Welcome Stealth F22135CB-E6F5-4AB4-9021-08A8CF5D6CD5
Porsche Taycan Please Welcome Stealth B61BA90B-21A8-4954-8E38-31CAF3A23969


I think it really works for Volcano Grey or Black but maybe not as well with other body colors.

By the way I also got ceramic coat and window tint for the side and rear windows. 70% for front and 55% for rear. For those curious, the cost for the package was around $5k.
 
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ejcintr

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Stealth got more Stealthy today.

I now realize I never mentioned that I had gotten a full Expel Ultra PPF wrap on my baby. I had originally decided on a wrap to the mirrors long before delivery then in negotiation I went for a full wrap and he threw in Expel Ultra 10 on the nose also had requested darkening the side markers vs ordering replacement clear ones.

they had originally forgotten to do the side markers so I went back today to get that taken care of, see photos below of before which was I’m sorry a different day versus after with the lights off and on.
0C02B661-4390-4DB8-935B-DC97EF07761F.jpeg
F22135CB-E6F5-4AB4-9021-08A8CF5D6CD5.jpeg
B61BA90B-21A8-4954-8E38-31CAF3A23969.jpeg


I think it really works for Volcano Grey or Black but maybe not as well with other body colors.

By the way I also got window tint for the side and rear windows. 70% for front and 55% for rear. For those curious, the cost for the package was around $5k.
Where did you get this done...?
 
 




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