150kW on-board DC-DC converter - do I need to order this in UK?

[W1NGE]

I know you will know this!
I see people are getting the DC 150kw upgrade to potentially take advantage of the Tesla network.
I thought that without the 150 upgrade the ONLY place you could charge at over 50kw
was at 800v Ionity.

I got the 150 upgrade to charge at all the other chargers over 50kw
I assumed you needed it for Shell 175 , BP 150, Instavolt 125/150
Do you NEED the 150 upgrade for Shell, BP and Instavolt?

Cheers

Ha ha.

You can use any DC charger / EVSE with a CCS2 connector and the minimum output is 50kW (400v). Taycan will voltage boost this to 800v in order to charge. Legacy units tend to be 400v and so there my be some non 800v DC units at 120kW to 150kW but you'd struggle to find one in UK. In the main 150kW and above EVSEs are 800v.

Inexplicable why Porsche didn't make the standard DC charger the 150kW option - no one would have questioned the incremental cost.

New BP locations along with Shell, Instavolt will be 800v and may have upgraded any legacy. Difficult to be precise without checking each location.

Ionity is definitely not your only choice - Porsche Centres, BP, Shell etc.

Apps like ZapMap don't yet detail the voltage used unfortunately.

Save the stress and tick the box as you have done so.

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[W1NGE]

Thank you,
I was suspecting this as it seemed to be the tech chat on this forum!
Everything I read and was told 2 years ago implied that 800v was unique to Taycan/Ionity.
I was thoroughly mis-sold this as many seem to have been but to be fair back in 2020 no-one had a clue.
I was told that to charge a Taycan ANYWHERE over 50Kw EXCEPT Ionity
you needed the 150Kw DC charge upgrade.
At least I know for the NEXT (third!) Taycan I dont need this useless bit of tech.
At least it's a £300 waste of F****** time instead of a
£1100 waste of F******* time like the 22kw AC upgrade

To be clear it is not redundant - belt and braces may be but not redundant imho.

Legacy 400v ultra fast EVSEs are out there and if you holiday in Ireland then you will encounter many.

 

[Ross]

To be clear it is not redundant - belt and braces may be but not redundant imho.

Legacy 400v ultra fast EVSEs are out there and if you holiday in Ireland then you will encounter many.

Cheers!
Will be going to France 3 times in the 12 months after getting the GTS so might come in useful there..?!

Less stress as you say with the ‘just in case’ insurance and it was spec locked before Pootin invaded Ukraine so too late for any changes!

 

[David Baldwino]

Bash in the UK. Just finalising my 4S order via Salary Sacrifice scheme.

Query:
Haven't been able to fathom out whether to order the 150kW on-board DC-DC converter or give the £294 option a miss...

- Do I need to order this in the UK? Is it actually useful in the context of UK charging infrastructure?
- Are there many chargers in the UK that only supply 400V (where I presume this would be useful or maybe not!)
- Will this £294 worth of add-on be useful when Tesla superchargers become available in the UK, or will the 4S still not charge at full capacity on Tesla super chargers?

Thanks.

Take the option re Tesla etc. Also true if you want to charge from say solar via your home battery pack /bank. Omit the onboard 22kw charger, useless in UK, Porsche tech guys also agree. Enjoy.

 

[Sidicks]

Take the option re Tesla etc. Also true if you want to charge from say solar via your home battery pack /bank. Omit the onboard 22kw charger, useless in UK, Porsche tech guys also agree. Enjoy.

Useless unless you have regular access to suitable 3-phase charging!

 

[Browning]

Useless unless you have regular access to suitable 3-phase charging!

Its a low cost option and would help residual values ie more and properties have three phase and its certainly not useless tick the box its a no brainer

 

[Sidicks]

Its a low cost option and would help residual values ie more and properties have three phase and its certainly not useless tick the box its a no brainer

I disagree!
At over £1k it’s not a low cost option and is unlikely to help residuals (IMO). Unless you already have 3-phase then I wouldn’t bother adding it as an option.

 

[AlexG]

I disagree!
At over £1k it’s not a low cost option and is unlikely to help residuals (IMO). Unless you already have 3-phase then I wouldn’t bother adding it as an option.

I have three phase at home and have ticked it. Going forward I probably wouldn’t even consider buying a car that charges at only a third of that speed at home. Not sure how many of us there are in that category in the UK though.

 

[daveo4EV]

Tesla is opening as of today in UK and other europe - so this is a good option.

 

[W1NGE]

I have three phase at home and have ticked it. Going forward I probably wouldn’t even consider buying a car that charges at only a third of that speed at home. Not sure how many of us there are in that category in the UK though.

Handy you have 3 phase to leverage not that I'm jealous!

For home charging were this typically occurs overnight there is no advantage to 3 phase over 1 phase imho given there is ample time to complete a charge to 85%.

Without upgrading to 22kW I think I'd be satisfied with using the full standard 11kW which also requires 3 phase and allocate the funds to something else.

 

[Sidicks]

I have three phase at home and have ticked it. Going forward I probably wouldn’t even consider buying a car that charges at only a third of that speed at home. Not sure how many of us there are in that category in the UK though.

I have 3-phase at home and , for the reasons mentioned by Winge, am still debating whether I will add the 22kw upgrade, given that on most occasions i will be charging overnight at home and hence the additional charging speed will be less beneficial.

 

[AlexG]

I have 3-phase at home and , for the reasons mentioned by Winge, am still debating whether I will add the 22kw upgrade, given that on most occasions i will be charging overnight at home and hence the additional charging speed will be less beneficial.

I think for most use cases overnight is absolutely fine and I agree the 22kw is not a must have.

I do think it is valuable/ a luxury though and if you have the option why wouldn’t you have 3x faster home charging? (I actually had a 7kw PodPoint installed originally then also a 22kw Andersen.) For the same reason it would definitely be a black mark against the next car if it was slower than 22kw AC.

Where do I value it? Impromptu trip to see family or friends where it’s 100 miles one way and I don’t want an enforced 60 min break guessing whether I’ll find a fast public charger available and working (if it’s just me, it’s bearable, but if it’s one of my young children or mother or wife with me, it is not); friends visiting for lunch who want a top up to get back where they want to (this is what happened last weekend); arriving home very late and/or being too tired / lazy to plug it in at night and finding in the morning that I don’t have enough to drive that day in as fun a manner as I would like, with AC on full etc, to my destination without worrying about it.

 

[Sidicks]

I think for most use cases overnight is absolutely fine and I agree the 22kw is not a must have.

I do think it is valuable/ a luxury though and if you have the option why wouldn’t you have 3x faster home charging? (I actually had a 7kw PodPoint installed originally then also a 22kw Andersen.) For the same reason it would definitely be a black mark against the next car if it was slower than 22kw AC.

Where do I value it? Impromptu trip to see family or friends where it’s 100 miles one way and I don’t want an enforced 60 min break guessing whether I’ll find a fast public charger available and working (if it’s just me, it’s bearable, but if it’s one of my young children or mother or wife with me, it is not); friends visiting for lunch who want a top up to get back where they want to (this is what happened last weekend); arriving home very late and/or being too tired / lazy to plug it in at night and finding in the morning that I don’t have enough to drive that day in as fun a manner as I would like, with AC on full etc, to my destination without worrying about it.

As I understand it, if you have 3-phase, the car will already charge at 11kw, so the option doubles rather than trebles charging speed. Overnight it effectively makes no difference, and the number of times that I will need an quick charge will be minimal.

 

[Ross]

I think for most use cases overnight is absolutely fine and I agree the 22kw is not a must have.

I do think it is valuable/ a luxury though and if you have the option why wouldn’t you have 3x faster home charging? (I actually had a 7kw PodPoint installed originally then also a 22kw Andersen.) For the same reason it would definitely be a black mark against the next car if it was slower than 22kw AC.

Where do I value it? Impromptu trip to see family or friends where it’s 100 miles one way and I don’t want an enforced 60 min break guessing whether I’ll find a fast public charger available and working (if it’s just me, it’s bearable, but if it’s one of my young children or mother or wife with me, it is not); friends visiting for lunch who want a top up to get back where they want to (this is what happened last weekend); arriving home very late and/or being too tired / lazy to plug it in at night and finding in the morning that I don’t have enough to drive that day in as fun a manner as I would like, with AC on full etc, to my destination without worrying about it.

Hi Alex
I can see there could be marginal gains in certain circumstances but are they worth £1179?
Something else to factor in....
How much more is an installed home charger that can throw 22kw at your Taycan with your 3 phase?
I have briefly looked into it as I have 3 phase but I got a free 7kw home charger from Audi
when I bought my Etron and I was told by Pod Point I would have to pay for various
wiring and hardware upgrades to even allow 11kw so I didnt bother.
Not sure if it is different now?

 

[AlexG]

Hi Alex
I can see there could be marginal gains in certain circumstances but are they worth £1179?
Something else to factor in....
How much more is an installed home charger that can throw 22kw at your Taycan with your 3 phase?
I have briefly looked into it as I have 3 phase but I got a free 7kw home charger from Audi
when I bought my Etron and I was told by Pod Point I would have to pay for various
wiring and hardware upgrades to even allow 11kw so I didnt bother.
Not sure if it is different now?

It’s a few hundred quid more for the 22kw version of the chargers from memory, but when we are spending that on minor cosmetic changes and the cars are £100k+ it isn’t something even thought about. For me - a 3x (22kw charger + upgrade) or 2x (22kw charger no upgrade) faster charging capability is worth much more than an automatic charge door for example, if there is a limited budget.

The other point on home set up is future proofing - as battery capacities get bigger, your 8 hours overnight won’t get you anywhere near full on 7kw.

Finally, re 22kw capability on the car, there are 22kw AC public chargers dotted around that you might want to use.

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