Charge Port Cover - Increased Drag

[daveo4EV]

I’m pretty happy every time I unplug my car and the cover just closes for me - but we all have our priorities - mine are trivial and pointless and do not serve the greater good.​

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[bootsie]

I've had the car around 6 weeks and haven't been able to drive it anywhere other than the supermarket due to being in lockdown - so the motorised charge port cover is the most exciting thing I've been able to do with the car so far. It's slightly ridiculous, but everyone - including me, still - thinks it's cool when the charge port cover retracts.
There's a huge long list of expensive items just waiting to fail on this car even without speccing the charge port cover, so (personally) I wouldn't be overly concerned with failure of it more than any other item.

 

[W1NGE]

Here I was all proud of making a good decision only to have the carpet pulled out from under me... Had not read that these mechanical ones can fail too... Ugh.

Hehe. Yep truth is Porsche can't be trusted to make a reliable "fuel filler". I had 3 problems with my Pana ST and now my Taycan...pathetic really.

 

[Arno]

Every time I manually open my charging covers, I am glad I saved the money. It was just too gimmicky for me and as some have posted they have failed. Actually when I picked up my car the dealer said they have said that some owners had problems in freezing weather.

I was wondering about the same thing regarding the automatic charging cover. However in the instructions manual it says somewhere in the "Porsche-bible" that if the lid is frozen and jammed, it would start shaking to brake up the ice and then try to reopen.

Keep in mind this can accure with doors and windows, especially when the snow melts and then freeze into openings and gaps when the temperature drops. I will consider this to be worse problem.

So the other day this conditions actually happened, an I was very curious to see how the motorised charging lid would perform. To my surprise and joy, It functioned flawlessly, just as described and announced. It was really impressive I must admit - also me too think this "gadget/gimmick" is kind of cool

Regarding snow and icy weather: I would actually be more concerned about the window braking when sticking to the rubber gaskets in the door openings, when trying to open the doors. In these circumstances I always preconditions my Taycan, before even attempt trying, just to make sure I don't damage anything expensive.

I also make sure to dry the windows and gaskets very well, after I´ve washed my Porsche. It can also be an idea to use silicone lubrication around the rubber gaskets in the door openings, so ice will not "glue" the windows, and might avoid braking stucked windows or damage the motorised elevators.

Lastly, I would like to add how impressed I am over how quick the Taycan really warms up the coupe in cold weather, especially and strangely enough as this is an electric vehicle without a fuel engine (obviously). No doubt about it, this new electric Porsche is much better than any of my previous fossil vehicles

 

[TAYC4S]

I've had the car around 6 weeks and haven't been able to drive it anywhere other than the supermarket due to being in lockdown - so the motorised charge port cover is the most exciting thing I've been able to do with the car so far. It's slightly ridiculous, but everyone - including me, still - thinks it's cool when the charge port cover retracts.
There's a huge long list of expensive items just waiting to fail on this car even without speccing the charge port cover, so (personally) I wouldn't be overly concerned with failure of it more than any other item.

and at least some idiot cannot deliberately try and damage the manual opened charge cover which sticks out inviting people to do something stupid...

 

[andrewket]

I know this will sound ridiculous. I currently own a few Teslas that all have automatic charge port doors. I thought for sure I would end up leaving one of the manual doors open. I admit it’s also a cool design, but if they had an option to automatically open and close the standard lid and keep the air flow for a reduced price I probably would have gone for that option.

One of the reasons Tesla has automatic doors is they believe in the future when cars have full self driving that they will be able to drive off and charge themselves.

 

[Scandinavian]

Regarding snow and icy weather: I would actually be more concerned about the window braking when sticking to the rubber gaskets in the door openings, when trying to open the doors. In these circumstances I always preconditions my Taycan, before even attempt trying, just to make sure I don't damage anything expensive.

Well said! And this is why it is important to have a very reliable Connect app, Porsche server availability, and communication with the car. Both via cellular or perhaps WiFi if parked at home with weak cellular coverage.

The OTA modules failing is a complete disaster in such cases.

 

[Administrator]

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[John89]

I agree that I would take it with a grain of salt. I am sure that my 21 inch Mission E rims have more impact than my power charge doors. on range. In the warm weather I get north of 270 miles range so I would order items again. And yes the power charge doors are pretty cool to use.

Mission E wheels are the least efficient, reduce range the most of any other wheel. I have them, I also have the power charge doors. Whatever its is, range is no bueno.....

 

[jasonlaser]

I ended up adding the option. After doing more research on the potential reduction in range due to increased drag induced by the charge port cover architecture, I decided this was a small issue. Especially once I discovered the mission E wheels are probably a bigger issue.

This car is for driving, if I really cared about range, I'd order a Tesla or Leaf.

Lastly, being in Florida, I don't expect ice on/in the charge port to be an issue.

 

[Rainforest]

Sounds like only a few people have found the electric charging cover to be a reliability issue?

 

[Vim Schrotnock]

In terms of the aero gain due to the manual vs auto charge doors (manual allows the air to flow through the vents), I believe the difference is pretty much undetectable. If you go to the Porsche.de calculator for mileage based on wheel/tire size, you get a 5% decrease in mileage going from 20" to 21" wheels/tires. That pretty much accounts for the entire difference in drag coefficient between the Turbo and Turbo S.

 

[Mike in CA]

In terms of the aero gain due to the manual vs auto charge doors (manual allows the air to flow through the vents), I believe the difference is pretty much undetectable. If you go to the Porsche.de calculator for mileage based on wheel/tire size, you get a 5% decrease in mileage going from 20" to 21" wheels/tires. That pretty much accounts for the entire difference in drag coefficient between the Turbo and Turbo S.

Earlier in this thread it was mentioned that a Porsche rep indicated Cd was .22 with the vents open and .25 with them closed. FWIW, this difference was also quoted to me by my sales representative who is in the business of selling expensive options, so take that for what it's worth. In any event, if true, this represents a 13% increase in drag which logically would seem to have a measurable effect on range.

Unless the calculator you reference lists the mileage difference specifically between a Turbo and Turbo S, as opposed to just the difference between 20" and 21" wheels, then it's not really relevant to the aero effect of the open versus closed vent. A Taycan's range could be affected by BOTH wheel size and the vent. (If you have a link it would be interesting to have a look at the calculator.)

Unfortunately, we don't have hard data to validate claims one way or another. My assumption, however, is that Porsche engineers wouldn't have designed the vent unless it had a positive effect on aero (and thus range) and this would seem to be true regardless of other factors affecting range such as wheel diameter, ambient temps, driving style, road conditions, etc. which might have more or less impact on range than the vents. It all gets factored in.

Whether someone wants the powered or manual doors is personal choice. But there are certain to be tradeoffs and logic suggests that if Cd is increased by 13% then range might very well be one of them.

 

[Vim Schrotnock]

Earlier in this thread it was mentioned that a Porsche rep indicated Cd was .22 with the vents open and .25 with them closed. FWIW, this difference was also quoted to me by my sales representative who is in the business of selling expensive options, so take that for what it's worth. In any event, if true, this represents a 13% increase in drag which logically would seem to have a measurable effect on range.

Unless the calculator you reference lists the mileage difference specifically between a Turbo and Turbo S, as opposed to just the difference between 20" and 21" wheels, then it's not really relevant to the aero effect of the open versus closed vent. A Taycan's range could be affected by BOTH wheel size and the vent.

Unfortunately, we don't have hard data to validate claims one way or another. My assumption, however, is that Porsche engineers wouldn't have designed the vent unless it had a positive effect on aero (and thus range) and this would seem to be true regardless of other factors affecting range such as wheel diameter, ambient temps, driving style, road conditions, etc. which might have more or less impact on range than the vents. It all gets factored in.

Whether someone wants the powered or manual doors is personal choice. But there are certain to be tradeoffs and logic suggests that if Cd is increased by 13% then range might very well be one of them.

Well, let me just say the rep clearly doesn't know what he's talking about if he thinks the entire difference in Cd between the Turbo and Turbo S is due to the vents. The tires/wheels are the major reason for the difference. The Porsche.de WLPT calculator gives you a mileage decrease of about 5% when you go from 20" to 21" wheels and tires for any of the Taycan. The mileage shown in the technical specs for the Turbo and Turbo S on the Porsche US website are 212 and 201 respectively - a difference of 5.5% I would give you the vents could contribute that 0.5%...

ps - you can also fiddle with different wheel/tire combo's and see the effect on range in the UK site range calculator. Changing out the wheels/tires on a Porsche Turbo (same vents!) from 20" to 21" gives a 5% decrease in mileage.

https://www.porsche.com/uk/models/taycan/taycan-models/

 

[Mike in CA]

Well, let me just say the rep clearly doesn't know what he's talking about if he thinks the entire difference in Cd between the Turbo and Turbo S is due to the vents. The tires/wheels are the major reason for the difference. The Porsche calculator gives you a mileage decrease of about 5% when you go from 20" to 21" wheels and tires for any of the Taycan. The mileage shown in the technical specs for the Turbo and Turbo S on the Porsche US website are 212 and 201 respectively - a difference of 5.5% I would give you the vents could contribute that 0.5%...

Unless you have info I haven't seen, we have no idea if the rep was saying the difference in Cd was between a Turbo and Turbo S. The context of the quote seems to be that the difference is attributable to the vents being open or closed: presumably all else being equal and irrespective of model or other equipment. And with regard to the mileage on the website for the Turbo S and Turbo we all know that the EPA estimates aren't accurate or realistic for the Taycan. Using them as the basis for doing calculations is very likely misleading.

Again, this is all speculative since we don't have access to Porsche's engineering and wind tunnel data for the effect of the vents on otherwise identical cars. IMHO the configuration of the vents, open or closed, are not the Taycan's most impressive styling feature so if Porsche went to the trouble of designing them to provide just a .5% aero difference as you suggest, I think they may have missed the mark.

Unless someone here has a pipeline to Porsche, we may never know the real answer on the vents. As a result, some will be satisfied that they saved $640 and others can enjoy the convenience of their motorized flaps, That much we know for sure!

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