Need a Class Action Lawsuit - Porsche Mobile Charger

[Mikegrr]

I was just quoting from the original post...said to bring in the car.

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[daveo4EV]

OK, thanks. Has this happened yet? I'm trying mine right now.

does your unit have an LCD screen?

is it on WiFi?

if it has an LCD screen and is online it was probably updated last week - software version 3014 makes the unit's default 50% capacity.

 

[daveo4EV]

I was just quoting from the original post...said to bring in the car.

read this…

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...-pmcc-via-ota-update.12791/page-9#post-190180

 

[daveo4EV]

I was just quoting from the original post...said to bring in the car.

that update is independent of the EV charger being updated - there are multiple things going on at the same time.

 

[4thPcar]

does your unit have an LCD screen?

is it on WiFi?

if it has an LCD screen and is online it was probably updated last week - software version 3014 makes the unit's default 50% capacity.

i think i am in same boat as @Mikegrr - i got the charger included with vehicle, no LCD. Now I am wondering the diff and if I inadvertently lucked out that I did NOT get an upgraded charger?

 

[daveo4EV]

I was just quoting from the original post...said to bring in the car.

the original post says nothing about bringing in your car - it very specfically notes bring your '

Please contact your local Porsche dealer as soon as possible to schedule an appointment to have your vehicle’s mobile charger updated at NO CHARGE TO YOU.

nothing about the car in that sentence.

 

[daveo4EV]

i think i am in same boat as @Mikegrr - i got the charger included with vehicle, no LCD. Now I am wondering the diff and if I inadvertently lucked out that I did NOT get an upgraded charger?

the PMC+ does not have a software update - but the dealer will turn on the 50% button, but you can turn it off.

 

[Mikegrr]

Yep, mine doesn’t have the LCD….maybe I got lucky too. i did not there know there was an option or different version. I picked up the car in mid-May.

 

[daveo4EV]

Yep, mine doesn’t have the LCD….maybe I got lucky too. i did not there know there was an option or different version. I picked up the car in mid-May.

well the units are still flawed, and Porsche still wants you to run them at 50% - but the standard/included/base PMC+ (Porsche Mobile Charger Plus) EV Charger (called an EVSE) can not be updated via Over-the-Air (OTA) software updates - so while Porsche would love to neuter these units (cause they have the same risk and problems with overheating) they lack the technical ability to "force" this reduction on those types of EVSE's

if the units were not flawed Porsche would not be contacting EVERY EV/Hybrid owner to tell them to:

contact your local Porsche dealer as soon as possible to schedule an appointment to have your vehicle’s mobile charger updated at NO CHARGE TO YOU.

they are incurring the cost to actually have _ALL_ EV/Hybrid vehicles and owners bring the units in for: inspection, and updates (to the degree they can update them) - and then return them to you with a recommendation/default setting to run the unit at 50%.

there is still a tech bulletin for Dealers to have customer bring their EVSE's into the dealer ship - so they they may be inspected for faulty behavior, and the tech's will place the units into 50% "mode" and give the unit back to you - however unlike the PMCC Porsche has no software that can be installed on the PMC+ unit to "enforce" that limitation by default - but Porsche would do that if they could…

they will also apply a sticker and manual addendum telling you the unit can overheat and might be too hot to touch when run at full specified capacity.

so I'm not sure what bullet is being dodged in that the unit's are still flawed (overheat/melt) and Porsche recommends running them at 50% capacity (2x your charge time)

in both cases Porsche is clearly indicating the units may not be able to handle charging an EV at it's fully specified capacities…9.6 kW(40 amps)

both units are equally flawed at their primary/specified purpose/capacities…due to very very similar design implementations and decisions.

and at the moment Porsche has not announced a plan to return the units to their fully specified capacities…so we are all stuck with a 4.8 kW EVSE if we follow Porsche's recommendations…which is not the advertised performance and will impact your EV/Hybrid's charging time.

 

[daveo4EV]

this has happened with a Porsche Charger - so yeah - it's a thing - and can happen with both PMC+ (no LCD screen) and the PMCC (LCD screen and Wifi and ability to have software updates).

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...pmcc-via-ota-update.12791/page-22#post-191983

 

[4thPcar]

well the units are still flawed, and Porsche still wants you to run them at 50% - but the standard/included/base PMC+ (Porsche Mobile Charger Plus) EV Charger (called an EVSE) can not be updated via Over-the-Air (OTA) software updates - so while Porsche would love to neuter these units (cause they have the same risk and problems with overheating) they lack the technical ability to "force" this reduction on those types of EVSE's

if the units were not flawed Porsche would not be contacting EVERY EV/Hybrid owner to tell them to:

they are incurring the cost to actually have _ALL_ EV/Hybrid vehicles and owners bring the units in for: inspection, and updates (to the degree they can update them) - and then return them to you with a recommendation/default setting to run the unit at 50%.

there is still a tech bulletin for Dealers to have customer bring their EVSE's into the dealer ship - so they they may be inspected for faulty behavior, and the tech's will place the units into 50% "mode" and give the unit back to you - however unlike the PMCC Porsche has no software that can be installed on the PMC+ unit to "enforce" that limitation by default - but Porsche would do that if they could…

they will also apply a sticker and manual addendum telling you the unit can overheat and might be too hot to touch when run at full specified capacity.

so I'm not sure what bullet is being dodged in that the unit's are still flawed (overheat/melt) and Porsche recommends running them at 50% capacity (2x your charge time)

in both cases Porsche is clearly indicating the units may not be able to handle charging an EV at it's fully specified capacities…9.6 kW(40 amps)

both units are equally flawed at their primary/specified purpose/capacities…due to very very similar design implementations and decisions.

and at the moment Porsche has not announced a plan to return the units to their fully specified capacities…so we are all stuck with a 4.8 kW EVSE if we follow Porsche's recommendations…which is not the advertised performance and will impact your EV/Hybrid's charging time.

do I need the dealer to make this adjustment ? I thought the owner could adjust the EVSE to 50%?

 

[daveo4EV]

do I need the dealer to make this adjustment ? I thought the owner could adjust the EVSE to 50%?

yes you can use the 50% button - to lower the unit's charging capacity to 4.8 kW

what I'm not sure about is _IF_ the dealer can/has some how "update" the PMC+ to "default" to 50% everytime it powers up…

what I do know for a fact - is that if you bring your unit into the dealer, they will inspect it for thermal stress, set the unit to 50% (using the same button you have access to), apply a warning sticker, and provide an update the user manual…and I think they will "inform" you orally that if the unit is getting "hot" that you should avoid using 100%

I do not think the dealer can do anything to the PMC+ unit that you the owner can not do yourself in terms of limiting it's charging capacity.

$200-$400 EVSE's that can run at 9.6 kW are easily obtainable that will not overheat

the PMC+ unit from Porsche Service Parts is $1995 from suncoast parts (not including another $240 worth of powersupply cables)
the PMCC unit from Porsche Service Parts is $2495 from suncoast parts (not including another $240 worth of power supply cables)

so a $379 charger from Mustart can run all day at 9.6 kW and not melt/overheat (or a Tesla Corded Mobile Charger can run at 9.6 kW for $200) - but Porsche's $2000+ charger's are recommended to run at 50% (4.8 kW) capacity. And Porsche has not said if they plan to replace/repair/refund these units over this issue or provided any recommendations for alternative EVSE's that can run at 9.6 kW - and so far based on communication seem to think this is the new normal to just tell people to run the units at 50% and that's that!

 

[whitex]

this has happened with a Porsche Charger - so yeah - it's a thing - and can happen with both PMC+ (no LCD screen) and the PMCC (LCD screen and Wifi and ability to have software updates).

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...pmcc-via-ota-update.12791/page-22#post-191983

To be fair, the above melting of the receptacle is most likely to be caused by the poor quality, faulty or worn out receptacle (some are rated for 100 plug cycles or less, since meant for washer/dryer/oven scenarios where you don't unplug them daily), or even bad wiring. The only way an EVSE causes this type of melt is if the NEMA 14-50 plug had actually overheated to much that the prongs have melted the receptacle.. I have seen pictures of melted receptacles with Tesla chargers too, all usually stemmed from cheap receptacles or bad/loose wiring, except for very a early faulty NEMA 14-15 plug adapters that Tesla recalled/replaced long ago which did melt (everyone who got one was sent a new plug adapter for free, with a pre-paid shipping box to ship the old one back).

As side note, Tesla also added a safeguard against bad receptacles or wiring in the software which drops the charging current for the location (until overridden by user) if they see too much resistance in the path (they ramp up the current slowly, and if the voltage seen by the car drops too much, they limit the charging current). I have not seen any melted receptacles reported on forums since then. Do the Taycans do that? This check is best done on the car charger (rather then EVSE), since it essentially protects the entire path between the distribution panel all the way to the car - any source of resistance in that path (which would turn into a source of heat) would be detected. It does have some false positives though, when an unrelated voltage drop happens during the ramp.

EDIT: All of the above said, given what we know so far, I agree that using the PMC+ or PMCC just doesn't make sense. Even if it is not a safety risk anymore, at the very least it is now slow and sounds unreliable, which is not what you want from an EVSE. I have a MY23 Taycan coming with PMC+ (I presume) which I have no plans of using, ever - I'm curious if it will come permanently locked to 20A. I picked up a used PMCC from anther member here on which I plan to do some reverse engineering to satisfy my own curiosity, but would also not use it to charge any of my EV's unattended.

 

[tomdfw1]

I'm wondering why I am not seeing the effects shared in this threat (but grateful about it). I plugged my car in last night and it charged to 85% (the default) from midnight to 9AM.

Is there something I am missing or is this nasty "enhancement" coming for me down the road?

You don't provide enough information to answer it properly.
The car will still charge to the desired (profile) capacity but it might take a lot longer to get there since the "update" will reduce the charge from 40A to 20A...which essentially makes it charge at half the speed. (As I recall it would drop charge rate from ~10kW to ~5kW.) So 9 hours would add about 90kwH or 45kwH to your battery depending on the 40A or 20A setting on the charger.

Taycans come in either 71kwH or 93kwH batteries.
If you have the larger battery and had ~0% juice left you could get to 85% charge in ~8.5 hours with setting at 40A and 17 hours to charge to 85% at 5kW

Note: All batteries charge much slower as they get above ~75% and especially near 100%...so your times may vary depending on how "full" your battery is.

 

[kort]

I'm wondering why I am not seeing the effects shared in this threat (but grateful about it). I plugged my car in last night and it charged to 85% (the default) from midnight to 9AM.

Is there something I am missing or is this nasty "enhancement" coming for me down the road?

it is possible that your unit is out of range for OTA updates.
my evse is in an underground garage, out of range and is working as it always had because it isn't updated

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