[North America] - this is getting embarrassing - Porsche nerfing/neutering the PMCC via OTA update?

[daveo4EV]

Interesting, I wonder whether they are only testing the PLC connection assuming all Taycans have it, and essentially deprecated J1772.

Out of curiosity, does anyone have a copy of the ISO15118 spec? I'd be curious to learn more about it.

I have a similar theory - but I've been told offline that's not how it works by someone who should know.

but with 30+ years working for major tech company I have my opinions about what is going on - and the PMCC is a complex beast (too complex) chasing feature sets that have lofty ambitions - but…

• it's the biggest mobile EVSE I've ever seen (volume/size)
• it's the heaviest mobile EVSE I've ever seen
• it's the most complex EVSE I've ever seen
• it's thd least compatible EVSE I've ever encountered in terms of supporting a wide range of EV's
• it's the least reliable EVSE I've personally experienced
• it's temperamental
• it actually takes forever to start a charging session - slow to wake up and communicate with the vehicle
• it overheats during normal use
• has the fewest NEMA plug adapters on the market
• it's price from Porsche when not included with the vehicle is astronomical for zero apparent value.

Tesla, ClipperCreek, ChargePoint, WallBox, JuiceBox, Mustart all offer vastly superior EVSE products at vastly more affordable prices.

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[daveo4EV]

Version 3014. I can adjust after a hard reset. Sorry for false alarm.

no problem - I love me some data! we're piecing this together from a poorly rolled out update with no release notes.

 

[daveo4EV]

Yep - update this morning and no apparent difference and still retains my 32A setting on a single phase supply.

so far the major impact seems to be solely related to North American PMCC units - I've had no reports or evidence the update nerf's anything in other regions of the world - also all the data I've seen over the years is the PMCC is a far better product in Europe than what ever version they are shipping in North America.

 

[AndiL]

@daveo4EV: The reason for

• it's the biggest mobile EVSE I've ever seen (volume/size)
• it's the heaviest mobile EVSE I've ever seen

is: you can drive over it with the Taycan and it will still work.

The release notes will be available on the download page, once it is available there.

 

[daveo4EV]

@daveo4EV: The reason for

• it's the biggest mobile EVSE I've ever seen (volume/size)
• it's the heaviest mobile EVSE I've ever seen

is: you can drive over it with the Taycan and it will still work.

The release notes will be available on the download page, once it is available there.

and Nokia thought the iPhone would fail in the market place because it couldn't pass the drop test every Nokia engineer thought was essential for a mobile phone - I've driven over some of the other EVSE's and they fair pretty well - but honestly if it only costs $200 to replace it doesn't much matter and things breaking because they've been driven over maybe shouldn't be a design goal…when the product fails at it's primary purpose - charging an EV without overheating/failing.

yeah you can drive over in with your Taycan - but it before and after you do that it will still fail to charge your Taycan without overheating - so ummm…not sure why that's a feature?

 

[AndiL]

Sometimes it is pretty hard to answer anything as mostly only sarcasm or anger follows. This doesn't really motivate to provide knowledge or help. Just a thought.

 

[daveo4EV]

Sometimes it is pretty hard to answer anything as mostly only sarcasm or anger follows. This doesn't really motivate to provide knowledge or help. Just a thought.

and sometimes a product is failing in the market place and has to be recalled even though the engineers working on it felt they had the right design priorities and engineered it to certain standards.

Having lived with the PMCC for 2 years and tested many many many alternatives - what is clear to me is a set of design goals divorced from a focus on the product's primary goal. Reliably charging an EV - full stop period - that what it has to do. It will spend 99.999999% of it's life _NOT_ being run over by a Taycan…

so it can be run over by a Taycan and not "fail" - maybe the wrong priority for design. Now that I'm on my 3rd PMCC EVSE to Vehicle J-1772 cable - hmmmm - the cables do fail when run over. What's more likley in usage - that the EVSE is run over - or that cables left strewn about a garage/driveway are run over? so the unit itself is rugged - but the cables are fragile and being replaced under warranty in droves (my service manager's quote not mine)

ok you can run over the PMCC - great
the J-1772 cables are fragile and fail when run over - not a problem for other EVSE's
the supply cables are too thin and can overheat/melt - hence the recall/OTA update
teh PMCC unit itself overheats in normal use and shuts down - known issue

Porsche didn't just nerf the charging speed of 10's of thousands of Taycan's overnight because they were being commonly run over…

I'm not sure the PMCC design team is focusing on the right things - they may be doing technically great work - but failing to prioritize the correct primary goals.

Porsche did just in fact release software fleet wide overnight to slow down the charge rate of _EVERY_ PMCC based Taycan and Hybrid in their entire north america vehicle fleet - and it's not because they were being run over by vehicles.

 

[AndiL]

Ok, I am done here. Bye.

 

[KoSoVaR]

My SA mandated that I add the PMCC as a part of my order. I didn’t want it then and I definitely don’t want it now. I have a Tesla gen2 and an L5–50R in in my garage for vehicle charging.

I’m still waiting for my car. I wonder if I can convince them to remove it - I especially don’t want it now as it seems it will have zero resale value. Paperweight at best.

 

[Vercingetorix]

 

[Tooney]

My SA mandated that I add the PMCC as a part of my order.

The salesman mandated? mandated?

 

[KoSoVaR]

The salesman mandated? mandated?

** Strongly encouraged that I add it to my build in order to secure the allocation.

 

[Tooney]

The release notes will be available on the download page, once it is available there.

Device receives software update.
Device owner not informed about the update or permitted to opt out prior to the update.
Update release notes will be available later.

Not really an owner-centric process, eh?

 

[daveo4EV]

ok this just happened…

• Taycan @ 48% SOC
• I plug in the PMCC
• I override the default 20 amp and set the charge rate to 40 amps - cause I know to do that
• Taycan's "departure" time calculation calculates it needs to start charging at 4 am'ish to hit my target SOC at 6 am (my set departure time)
• taycan starts to charge @ 4 am'ish - (while I'm asleep)
• power-grid/supply blips for 15 seconds about 4:20 am - PMCC shuts down - comes back when power is restored - but is now back to default 20 amp setting
  • vehicle no longer has "time" to reach target SOC by departure time because it's charging at 1/2 the rate it originally calculated
  • car sends "error" notifications to the Porsche app that "target" charge level can not be reached!!
• visit the car at 6:15 to find it's not at the proper target SOC because it lost power during the charging session and defaulted back to 20 amps…so it spend what ever time it had remaining charging at 20 amps instead of 40 amps

NOTE: I hate departure time scheduleing for this exact reason - but that's an entirely separate issue - Porsche shoudl support both schedule driving charging (start charging @ this set time) & depature time charging for those that want it…but that's not me.

yeah - this is going to go well once people start figuring this out - 99.9% of Taycan owners don't know or realize this is happening…or will realize how to fix it if it impacts them.

 

[daveo4EV]

Ok, I am done here. Bye.

you will be honestly missed - but sometimes there are hard truths that need illumination - this is a poorly run roll out with serious impact for the entire fleet of Porsche Hybrids/EV's - I'm sorry that's my opinion and is supported by the facts.

Porsche just rolled out a forced change with NO notice to all owners that will DOUBLE their charge time - somtimes making it impossible to actually charge their EV overnight.

I'm disappointed and will continue to say so on a public forum.

I expect better from Porsche - it's why I'm a customer of theirs and one of the reasons I left the Tesla eco-system.

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