1000 mile road trip (warning long post)

wemct

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Yesterday I completed a two day trip from Connecticut to Georgia. I traveled just under 1000 miles. The Taycan is an awesome car. On day 1, I drove 10 hours to Durham, NC. The Porsche Charging Planner plotted two stops at Electrify America 350 kWh chargers. Both stops were uneventful. I spent the 20 minute stops walking around Walmart. Unfortunately I had two bad incidents during the drive. I believe that with the COVID-19 situation, the highway maintenance crews are not clearing the debris on the roadway as well as before. While in New York, the truck in front of me kicked up a mangled piece of metal. I saw it bouncing toward my car but could not avoid it because of traffic in the adjacent lane. I hit the metal. At my first stop to recharge, I took a look at the front end. The front air splitter was unscathed. However, there was a small ding and a few paint chips on the front edge of the hood. All in all, it was better than I expected and probably less than $500 of damage. Then about 4 miles from my first night's stop in Durham, North Carolina I was in the left lane on the Interstate. I observed a car coming up behind me at a high rate of speed. I saw a gap between a tractor trailer and a car in the right lane. I quickly pulled in behind the tractor trailer. Less than 5 seconds later I heard a loud thump and whistling noises from the front end of my car. When I found a safe place to pull over, I got out to assess the damage. The splitter had gouges, and the front bumper had damage that went through the paint exposing the black plastic. Whatever hit the car was fairly substantial. I saw it lying behind me after I pulled over. I didn’t take a close look because I didn’t want to get hit by traffic. I had a strange feeling that someone above made me change lanes and take the hit. I was close enough to the truck that the debris didn’t have a chance to bounce up too high before it hit the Taycan. I think that if I had not pulled in when I did and blocked the car behind me, the other car would have been hit in the windshield by the debris causing a bad accident. I researched and found a Porsche approved body shop near my place in Georgia. I’ll bring it in for an estimate. Hopefully, it will be less than $2500 to repair. The biggest problem will be getting parts since it is such a new car.

I drove about 8 hours on day 2. The Porsche Charging Planner was not as good on day 2. The first stop directed me to an Electrify America charger. The downside was that both 350 kWh chargers generated error messages. I called EA customer service. The agent was pleasant but told me to use one of the 150 kWh chargers. I got to 85% charge in about 31 minutes. I followed the Porsche Charging Planner to my next charging stopover. When I arrived at the location it was a Harley Davidson dealership. Unfortunately, it was not open (Sunday) and the charger was not outside. I got back on the Interstate and then the nav system plotted another stop to recharge. The estimated stopover time was 44 minutes. I followed the directions about 4.5 miles off the Interstate to a parking lot at a Post Office. I found what looked like a level 2 charger that was out of order (strange since I thought the Porsche Charging Planner only identified DC chargers not AC chargers). I started to get nervous. I decided to use my time in the parking lot to fire up the A Better Route Planner app, and the Electrify America app (not the Charging NA app that I use when I’m at an actual EA charger to start a session). Both apps identified an EA 350 kWh charger about 80 miles away. I had about 110 miles of range left, so I double checked to make sure on Waze that the distance was accurate. I also entered the destination into the PCM nav system. The Porsche Charging Planner still insisted on directing me to other charging stops for 1 hour plus stopovers. I think the EA charging infrastructure continues to come online and the data is not updated as fast in the Porsche Nav System database. Lesson learned that if a stopover is more than 30 minutes, chances are it isn’t an EA or greater than 150 kWh charger. Double check the stops with the other apps. I made it to the EA charger. In total I traveled approximately 1000 miles with 4 charging stops. I thought that was pretty good. I had about 60 miles of range left at the end of the trip (so approx. 265 miles of realistic range). I have the 21 inch Mission E wheels on my 4S. I drove between 70 and 80 mph on the Interstate. The Intelligent Range Manger works fairly well and limits the maximum speed in the Range mode to either 70 mph or 90 mph depending on its calculations. I had to switch to the Normal setting to be able to pass cars when the Intelligent Range Manager put me in Range mode with a max speed of 70 on an Interstate that also had a speed limit of 70 mph. The dial on the steering wheel with the Sport Chrono package made it very fast when I needed to switch to Normal from Range. Scrolling through menus on the touch screen would have been a hassle and a problem when I needed to switch out of Range mode quickly to accelerate beyond the maximum speed imposed by the Range mode and the Intelligent Range Monitor on the Interstate.

The Bose stereo is pretty good. It sounds better than in my other past Porsches. The Taycan has no rattles or squeaks. It is a great long-distance driver. I used the ventilation and massage seats and did not feel tired or sore after the 2 day drive. The weather was 90 degrees and sunny. There was no issue with the heat or amount of light from the panoramic roof. I don't have the insulated glass option. I felt more heat on my legs through the front windshield than the roof. The air conditioning is more than adequate even in the ECO mode (someone in a previous post said the A/C was weak). The car sits fairly low. Definitely use the lifter to get over the parking bump stops at the EA chargers. The car gets lots of positive attention. Mamba Green might also be a factor. I don’t have the Electric Sound option. The external sound level must be significant. I had a few people notice it. A Ferrari owner approached me at the hotel in Durham to talk about the car, and he said he heard me as I was coming down the street. He said it sounded really nice.

I will be out of town for several weeks. I did not have a chance to have the 50 amp outlet installed at the house. I have the car plugged into the 110v outlet with the Porsche Mobile Charger Connect (I set the max amps on the Mobile Charger Connect to 6 amps to play it safe). I will need to figure out how to limit the State of Charge to 85% (the min is current set at 25%). (If anyone knows how set the max limit, please let me know). I was afraid of the 12v battery issues suffered by @louv. I have the car hooked up to a low amperage Battery Tender tickle charger for the lithium battery. Since the 12v outlets in the car are off when the Taycan is off, I purchased the Battery Tender OBD adapter to maintain the 12v battery through the battery pin on the OBD. It is working fine with no strange messages on the dashboard or error message on the trickle charger. Fyi, I tried to connect my Valentine 1 radar detector using the V1 OBM Savvy adapter before my road trip and a message appeared on the dash that said the high voltage system activated and the radar detector would not turn on. I drove without a radar detector installed since I didn’t have time to hardwire it before I left Connecticut. All in all, the Taycan performed fabulously. I will need get it fixed when I get back to town next month. At the moment it looks like it’s missing its front tooth.
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louv

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Use a Departure Timer to set a Maximum "Target" Charge. You can do this on either the Connect App or directly in the car.

Steps: (in the App)
1. Tap on [Timer]
2. Tap [Add a New Timer]
3. Set the time for 4:20am (this time doesn't matter much, change as desired)
4. Turn ON "Repeat", and make sure that every day is checked.
5. Turn ON "Charging"
6. Set your "Target Charge" to 85%.
7. Turn off "Climate Control"
8. Tap [Save]

Now, in the "Departure Timer" screen, it shows a list of all the Timers you've setup. Make sure this one always stays checked.

Make sure "Direct Charging" is turned off.

If you DON'T have any Timers set, then the car will always charge to 100%.
 
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wemct

wemct

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Use a Departure Timer to set a Maximum "Target" Charge. You can do this on either the Connect App or directly in the car.

Steps: (in the App)
1. Tap on [Timer]
2. Tap [Add a New Timer]
3. Set the time for 4:20am (this time doesn't matter much, change as desired)
4. Turn ON "Repeat", and make sure that every day is checked.
5. Turn ON "Charging"
6. Set your "Target Charge" to 85%.
7. Turn off "Climate Control"
8. Tap [Save]

Now, in the "Departure Timer" screen, it shows a list of all the Timers you've setup. Make sure this one always stays checked.

Make sure "Direct Charging" is turned off.

If you DON'T have any Timers set, then the car will always charge to 100%.
Thank you. I am currently getting error messages in the app whenever I try to save a new profile. The only existing Profile is the one that was set at the factory when I got the car (profile name is Allgemein). The error message says it is having problems saving the information to the car. I am trying to do this remotely. The car is currently on Direct Charging on the 110v outlet. It is charging at 0.6kW and is at 35% SOC. I will let it continue to slowly Direct Charge to 80% which will take a few days. Then I will turn off Direct Charging via the app remotely and try to disable the Allgemein profile. I assume that will turn off charging completely. I will then try to set up a new Timer as per your suggestion. Worst case if I get the error and can't set the new TImer or reestablish Direct Charging remotely, the SOC will be high enough when I return home next month that I should be able to use the car.
 

louv

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A timer is the only way (other than disconnecting) to set a maximum charge.

“Direct Charging” just tells the car “ignore all timers and profiles and keep charging until full.”

Side Note: DC Fast charging ignores ALL settings. It just charges as fast as it can until full or disconnected.


I really wouldn’t worry. Even if it charges to (an indicated) 100% it will be fine. You aren’t going to cause any damage. (Probably about the equivalent tire wear as the shop guy taking your new tire off a rack and rolling it across the shop floor. Yeah, if you do that 10,000 times, you’ll notice a difference. But not if you do it 100 times)

And yes, the App often has difficulties connecting. You can try connecting later. Or force quitting and re-launching the App, but those might be placebos.

In general the App can’t queue up multiple actions. One change has to be synced to the car before the next is attempted. It’s often faster for me to walk out to the car, make a few changes, and walk back inside.
 

dryii

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The battery has an 8 year, 100k mile warranty. If an owner is concerned about degraded performance I would suggest taking it into service before those limits expire to have the thing certified.
 


ron_b

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...
The Intelligent Range Manger works fairly well and limits the maximum speed in the Range mode to either 70 mph or 90 mph depending on its calculations. I had to switch to the Normal setting to be able to pass cars when the Intelligent Range Manager put me in Range mode with a max speed of 70 on an Interstate that also had a speed limit of 70 mph.
...
That was a great write-up I enjoyed reading it, very sorry about the driving incidents on day one. That is so sad to have damaged so early but your attitude is most encouraging.

To comment on switching to Normal, I also agree it's easy with Sport Chrono, but also I heard if you floor the accelerator it will drop out of range mode automatically so if you need to pass that should make it easy. Also very good if you need to avoid something like a car coming up on you quickly you can get out of the way without having to fiddle with any dial or button.

Hope the rest of your drives go smoothly.
 

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That was a great write-up I enjoyed reading it, very sorry about the driving incidents on day one. That is so sad to have damaged so early but your attitude is most encouraging.

To comment on switching to Normal, I also agree it's easy with Sport Chrono, but also I heard if you floor the accelerator it will drop out of range mode automatically so if you need to pass that should make it easy. Also very good if you need to avoid something like a car coming up on you quickly you can get out of the way without having to fiddle with any dial or button.

Hope the rest of your drives go smoothly.
I wonder if you could switch the driving mode by using "hey Porsche" voice command. Same for changing radio stations etc.
 

ron_b

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I wonder if you could switch the driving mode by using "hey Porsche" voice command. Same for changing radio stations etc.
That would be interesting, I could imagine them being resistant to having voice commands change drive modes; however, changing radio stations seems quite plausible.

By the way after seeing so many reviews where the slightest mention of the name Portia causes the car to inquisitively ask your command would make me want to disable auto recognition and simply use the button on the steering wheel to start it listening for a command and get a more predictable behavior.
 


esortho

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That would be interesting, I could imagine them being resistant to having voice commands change drive modes; however, changing radio stations seems quite plausible.

By the way after seeing so many reviews where the slightest mention of the name Portia causes the car to inquisitively ask your command would make me want to disable auto recognition and simply use the button on the steering wheel to start it listening for a command and get a more predictable behavior.
Changing radio stations worked well in the 4s i tried at my dealer. As did "I'm cold", but didn't try drive modes.
 

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Great write up, sorry about the damage. As I do a lot I urge you to call Porsche customer service and report the 2 non functioning 350 kw chargers from EA. It is fairly common and EA probably hasn’t gotten around to fixing them not will do it anytime soon. They will give you lip service and free charging but if not addressed there will not be a reliable 350 kw charging infrastructure at any time.
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