New Taycan Turbo S, Privacy-related Questions

[festus_mcBitcoin]

I've been driving 911's exclusively for the last twenty years. Currently driving a 2015 911 Turbo S. Just ordered my first electric: a 2021 Taycan Turbo S, Volcano Grey. It'll be here in three to four months. A couple of newb EV questions:

(1) Is there a way to pay for electric charge-ups using cash? What about gift cards? Not an ideal/common use case, of course, but just curious.

(2) What information is transmitted back to Porsche (or its partners) on a regular basis? Is it just diagnostic information or does it contain location as well?

(3) I noticed during my test drive that Taycan has something called "privacy mode." My sales rep was unsure exactly what this feature does. Any downsides to keeping this on permanently?

Very excited about the new vehicle and becoming part of the Taycan community!

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[NC_Taycan]

I won't ask why, you have your reasons.

1) Yes - just create an Electrify America account and use that.

2) Plenty of telematics data around car performance, diagnostics, and some usage info. Also location, mileage, state of charge, interior temp, status of doors and windows and locks, parking brake. Yes location.

3) Privacy mode prevents all data transmission to Porsche and effectively blocks use of the smartphone app. You can independently enable/disable data sharing for only the minimal services (which excludes location) or all of the services.

 

[festus_mcBitcoin]

I won't ask why, you have your reasons.

No interesting ones. Just idle curiosity...

Thanks for the reply! Very helpful.

 

[Miwa]

You can't use cash, but you could use gift cards that function as credit cards. The cost for non-member charging like that is a lot more expensive though.

Like your existing Porsche, the car still logs a lot of info that a Porsche dealer could pull out of the car.

 

[festus_mcBitcoin]

You can't use cash, but you could use gift cards that function as credit cards. The cost for non-member charging like that is a lot more expensive though.

Like your existing Porsche, the car still logs a lot of info that a Porsche dealer could pull out of the car.

Gotcha. I guess my main concern is location data. If Porsche has a record of me doing 90 in a 75 zone, well, I guess I'll just have to take that risk. But logging every location? That's a bit much. Not that Porsche is particularly interested in the fact that I went to In-N-Out Burger prior to picking up my dry cleaning; Nor is it an absolute deal-killer if they do track it. But all things being equal, I'd just as soon opt out of sharing it.

 

[REIL]

Gotcha. I guess my main concern is location data. If Porsche has a record of me doing 90 in a 75 zone, well, I guess I'll just have to take that risk. But logging every location? That's a bit much. Not that Porsche is particularly interested in the fact that I went to In-N-Out Burger prior to picking up my dry cleaning; Nor is it an absolute deal-killer if they do track it. But all things being equal, I'd just as soon opt out of sharing it.

Your mobile phone company and internet provider already track all this. As well as the other people (girlfriend, wife, kids) or companies already tracking us.
Not a conspiracy theorist, just todays world.
Side note, I believe you will enjoy the Taycan after your many Prosche owned.
I see you have a 911 Turbo S. I drove my 911 C4S the other day after three weeks of only driving my Taycan the 911 felt slow. Your TS is still quicker than the Taycan but the electric is fun!
Totally different experience.

 

[porsche_coyote]

Gotcha. I guess my main concern is location data. If Porsche has a record of me doing 90 in a 75 zone, well, I guess I'll just have to take that risk. But logging every location? That's a bit much. Not that Porsche is particularly interested in the fact that I went to In-N-Out Burger prior to picking up my dry cleaning; Nor is it an absolute deal-killer if they do track it. But all things being equal, I'd just as soon opt out of sharing it.

The Taycan has a 'privacy mode' that can be enabled through the menus that explicitly doesn't report data like location back to Porsche. Some features are degraded or unavailable when you do this, but it is an option.

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