Porsche Mobile Charger Connect vs Mobile Charger Plus

[daveo4EV]

you can note in this screen shot that I have a MY’20 Taycan

the PCID/Brand/Model is “blank”

NOTE: my wife’s MY’21 Cayenne also does not provide battery SOC information

this information is only supported in newer Taycan’s…and my model-year 2020 Taycan does _NOT_ display battery SOC or VIN or offer “control” over the charging session - this is also true across the VW fleet to date no VW or Audi EV that has plugged into my PMCC has displayed any of this information on my PMCC

now I see where porsche is going with this, and I applaud the “vision“ - more data is better than no-data - but providing this information to a J-1772 EVSE requires every other EV vendor to “upgrade/enhance/adopt” these extra bits of information - so no Chevy/GM EV will ever do this, Polestart, Rivian, LucidAir, Tesla, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, Honda etc….

so to date - even other Porsche products don’t support this J-1772 extension and even if they did it’s purely informational

the only mildly interesting and curious feature of the PMCC that slighlty intrigues me is that it can work with the Porsche Home Energy Manager to managed load and documentation hints, but does not confirm or describe, than multiple PMCC’s could be configured to ”share” a load so that you can load balance charging multiple EV’s and no overload a single breaker simliar to other EVSE load sharing feature sets (ClipperCreek share2, Tesla Gen2 wall chargers, Puslar+) - however the home energy manager hardware is not available in North American, and installation procedures and exact feature set are very very vauge.

so far this “feature” seems to only be supported in MY’21 Taycan’s or later - and hasn’t even been implemented across the VW line of EV’s

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[daveo4EV]

PMCC removed from build and ChargePoint HomeFlex ordered - thx for all the advice on this thread.

for the home audience - cost difference please? I’m betting you saved some money.

 

[daveo4EV]

Got it - so I guess you were an early adopter of the PMCC and your current ambivalence reflects experience to date ? You and the other responders have def convinced me towards dropping the PMCC TBH, largely over the overheating issues but also indeed the over-pricing.

it was a “forced” option when I purchased my Taycan - but I got the dealer to “back out” the cost during final paperwork

I have installed it out of curiosity and to have a 3rd EVSE online in the garage

I use it occassionally when I’m too lazy to plug-in a TeslaTap for my Bolt or my wife’s Cayenne eHybrid

it was mildly useful when I was working my service center to debug the 12V death issues, as Porsche kept insisting (wrongly) that my Taycan was dying because I wasn’t using a Porsche charger. when the problem kept occurring with the PMCC as well they dropped that line of reasoning

I’m a bit of an EV nut (in case you can’t tell) and I have in my “stable” of EV chargers because it is different and has some unique features and it’s useful for testing….

again when my Wife’s ‘21 Cayenne eHybrid started throwing Check-Engine-Lights at 625 miles on the odometer - Porsche Technical Support in North America demanded I exclusively charge the Cayenne via the Porsche charger and the CEL’s would go away - so I did what they asked - the CEL’s continued and continue to this day and they are slowly leaning that an EVSE is probably not the source of the problems with their crappy understanding of EV’s and their buggy software…

• I have it
• I use it
• it overheats
• it also sits for weeks with out being used
• I was “forced” to order it
• I would’ve never ordered it if I didn’t have to
• I play with occassionally to see what’s new and different
• I use it for actual data to bludgeon people on the internet with fact based experience - which I couldn’t do if I didn’t have it setup to try things out
• and I occasionally use it when requested by Porsche to help diagnose problems that they desperately want to blame on non-Porsche hardware rather than their own crappy software - so far that’s hasn’t gone well for them.

the PMCC included with my wife’s ‘21 Cayenne is still in it bag unused and untouched

 

[ciaranob]

for the home audience - cost difference please? I’m betting you saved some money.

PMCC = $1120 pre-tax / post tax ca. $1210
HomeFlex = $700 pre-tax / post-tax ca $757 ($453 less than the PMCC)
Two line/plug NEMA 14-50 plug installations at full cost ca $1700.

Assuming I get the tax credit on installation and Homeflex unit ca. $500 + $220 respectively then:

Net total cost of 2 Nema 14-50 plug/line installations and a WiFi charger = $1967-$720 = $1247.

So in essence you could say I got $453 off 2 Nema line installs and the HomeFlex for free!
And I still get the PMC+ with the car as a bonus.
Math on taxes poss. not entirely accurate but close enough

 

[daveo4EV]

PMCC = 1120 pre-tax / post tax ca. $1210
HomeFlex = 700 pre-tax / post-tax ca $757 ($453 less than the PMCC)
Two line/plug NEMA 14-50 plug installations at full cost ca $1700.

Assuming I get the tax credit on installation and Homeflex unit ca. $500 + $220 respectively then:

Net total cost of 2 Nema 14-50 plug/line installations and a WiFi charger = $1967-$720 = $1247.

So in essence you could say I got $453 off 2 Nema line installs and the HomeFlex for free!
And I still get the PMC+ with the car as a bonus.
Math on taxes poss. not entirely accurate but close enough

the PMC+ is a pretty decent “travel” charger that you can take with you when you leave home - kinda the included free gift thanks for playing…it’s also a great spare/backup charger incase something happens to the “main charger” - someone ran over my J-1772 plug once and broke it - I was glad to have a 2nd charger handy while we waited for parts to repair the “main” unit.

the included EVSE’s from most vehicle manufactures are ok but not great - eventually it will be like included USB smart phone chargers - I need another USB charging adapter like a need a PMCC - eventually most people will have a perfectly functional EVSE from previous purchases and they won’t need “another“ EVSE for their next EV purchase…

 

[W1NGE]

I've been sitting on the wall on this one and common sense says (if not screams to me) to totally ditch the PMCC BUT one last possibly dumb question please:

One of the touted main reasons to get the PMCC I thought was that there were specific data on SOC etc. real time delivered via wireless network to the Porsche app from the PMCC that distinguished this charger from other albeit equally capable chargers like CharePoint's HomeFlex.

I seem to recall reading that Chargepoint's model could not read this vehicle specific SOC info being unable to communicate with the Porsche system like the PMCC can. Is this in fact not true or simply if true, an option that has little to no real benefit other than not having to jump between different apps to remote check the charge status of your Taycan? Thanks in advance.

Both PMC+ and PMCC have network connectivity and have a web server / browser page to configure and capture charging stats etc.

PMC+ has an ethernet interface only and requires a PLC connection to attach to your router.

PMCC has WiFi connectivity and has its own hotspot for point to point (e.g. to a mobile device) connectivity.

PMCC (in certain countries / regions offers up to 22kW charge management but I believe is limited in US to 9.6kW.

There is no real reason to choose one over the other (unless 22kW can be leveraged on both car and supply) and certainly not a sound rationale for purchasing another. PMC+ comes 'free' so try that first and see how you get on with it.

I got the PMCC by chance as there were supply issues and so got it 'free'. I rarely use the interface on it and rely on My Porsche for reviewing my AC charging at Home stats - not the device itself.

Realtime info is not determined by either PMC+ or PMCC - it is the car which reports back to the Porsche online services to which you connect to via My Porsche or Porsche Connect App. From there you can see your car charging, rate of charge and so on.

 

[daveo4EV]

PMCC = $1120 pre-tax / post tax ca. $1210
HomeFlex = $700 pre-tax / post-tax ca $757 ($453 less than the PMCC)
Two line/plug NEMA 14-50 plug installations at full cost ca $1700.

Assuming I get the tax credit on installation and Homeflex unit ca. $500 + $220 respectively then:

Net total cost of 2 Nema 14-50 plug/line installations and a WiFi charger = $1967-$720 = $1247.

So in essence you could say I got $453 off 2 Nema line installs and the HomeFlex for free!
And I still get the PMC+ with the car as a bonus.
Math on taxes poss. not entirely accurate but close enough

that’s a great choice - I’ve not heard of many/any issues with chargepoint chargers and few if any EV vendors would balk at compatibility with home charge point charger - great feature set - attractive (in my opinion) and adjustable AMP so can accommodate a wide range of residential install scenarios.

so for the same money as the PMCC by itself you got an EVSE and the electrical work done - and am I understanding you correctly that you have two NEMA 14-50 plugs installed (100 amps total) for your eventual 2nd EV or Hybrid?

https://www.chargepoint.com/drivers/home/chargepoint-home-flex/

 

[daveo4EV]

PMCC (in certain countries / regions offers up to 22kW charge management but I believe is limited in US to 9.6kW.

to date this is correct - the PMC+/PMCC are 9.6 kW units

I believe porsche will eventually “offer” their 22 kW PMCC to support the 19.2 kW charging option in the US, but so far pricing and installation instructions are lacking - a 19.2 kW charger in the use would be required to be hardwired (no plug based support due to building code for greater than 50 amps)

but I’ve not heard/seen a Porsche offering for a 19.2/22 kW version of the PMCC…

it will also be interesting to see if Porsche finally admits the North American Taycan is an 11 kW EV because once they have a Porsche PMCC @ 19.2 kW if you plug in a normal Taycan into that Porsche charger it will charge at the 11 kW rate we all know the Taycan supports - and then Porsche will be forced to admit the North American 9.6 kW limit is pure marketing BS.

 

[W1NGE]

I have the 9Y0.971.675BJ model (by fluke) but don't have 3 phase nor do I have the onboard 22kW AC charger.

 

[ciaranob]

that’s a great choice - I’ve not heard of many/any issues with chargepoint chargers and few if any EV vendors would balk at compatibility with home charge point charger - great feature set - attractive (in my opinion) and adjustable AMP so can accommodate a wide range of residential install scenarios.

so for the same money as the PMCC by itself you got an EVSE and the electrical work done - and am I understanding you correctly that you have two NEMA 14-50 plugs installed (100 amps total) for your eventual 2nd EV or Hybrid?

https://www.chargepoint.com/drivers/home/chargepoint-home-flex/

Yep, my garage has it's own box and can accommodate 2 x 14-50 Nema sockets no problem and yes, thought was may aswell put in a second plug for 2nd car although TBH, if you stagger charging days you could get by with one I guess.

Liked the build quality, design and feature set of the HomeFlex even down to the built in cord minder

 

[daveo4EV]

Yep, my garage has it's own box and can accommodate 2 x 14-50 Nema sockets no problem and yes, thought was may aswell put in a second plug for 2nd car although TBH, if you stagger charging days you could get by with one I guess.

Liked the build quality, design and feature set of the HomeFlex even down to the built in cord minder

you have a great setup - even with one 50 amp plug you can buy EVSE’s that will split load for two EV’s but let one EV have full capacity when it’s solo

but with 100 amps - you can run two separate 50 amp setups which is super good

only consideration for future would be a full dynamic load full 100 amp EVSE with two hook ups - but that’s future.

 

[Klepper]

There is no real reason to choose one over the other (unless 22kW can be leveraged on both car and supply) and certainly not a sound rationale for purchasing another. PMC+ comes 'free' so try that first and see how you get on with it.

This is what I did. I couldn't see any reason to shell out another $700+ for a Chargepoint, or Clippercreek, etc. without first trying the PMC+. Turns out the PMC+ works perfect, so I use it for my main charger. I then just bought a Mustart Travelcharger, a few different adapter plugs for it, and a Teslatap to keep in the car all for less than the cost of a Clippercreek.

 

[Artman]

Please correct me if I'm wrong but it seems as though the one feature the PMCC offers, besides the LCD screen, is the ability to check your SOC from the Porsche Connect app even if you are not in close proximity to your car. This because the PMCC will connect to Wi-Fi and ultimately received as data in your cell phone. I'm not so sure I need to see my SOC while I'm on my couch.

 

[Klepper]

Please correct me if I'm wrong but it seems as though the one feature the PMCC offers, besides the LCD screen, is the ability to check your SOC from the Porsche Connect app even if you are not in close proximity to your car. This because the PMCC will connect to Wi-Fi and ultimately received as data in your cell phone. I'm not so sure I need to see my SOC while I'm on my couch.

I can check my SOC from the connect app even if I am not near the car. The car itself reports the SOC to the App.

 

[daveo4EV]

Please correct me if I'm wrong but it seems as though the one feature the PMCC offers, besides the LCD screen, is the ability to check your SOC from the Porsche Connect app even if you are not in close proximity to your car. This because the PMCC will connect to Wi-Fi and ultimately received as data in your cell phone. I'm not so sure I need to see my SOC while I'm on my couch.

this isn’t the way it works - and you can check the SOC of the car even when not using a porsche charger.

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