Off-Roading in the Taycan? 800mi Trip to Redwoods State Park

bsclywilly

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Is there anything the Taycan can’t do? Just got back from a camping trip up north in Del Norte Redwood State Park. Some gravel roads, a few stream crossings, fun winding roads…

Porsche Taycan Off-Roading in the Taycan? 800mi Trip to Redwoods State Park ABA48269-3FB7-4824-B549-5733237590BF

Porsche Taycan Off-Roading in the Taycan? 800mi Trip to Redwoods State Park 062BA04A-82E5-49F3-8946-F08151FC17E2

Porsche Taycan Off-Roading in the Taycan? 800mi Trip to Redwoods State Park AAC8F387-2A5D-4B8B-B197-88E44BCAD967

Porsche Taycan Off-Roading in the Taycan? 800mi Trip to Redwoods State Park CE2D9D50-695B-41D6-8F8D-F5C451D0DD6D

Porsche Taycan Off-Roading in the Taycan? 800mi Trip to Redwoods State Park 7BAF9C10-47E6-4034-B0C9-A121592618E2

Porsche Taycan Off-Roading in the Taycan? 800mi Trip to Redwoods State Park D22A86BB-1CAE-483E-9D56-0AE5F43F5EDA

Porsche Taycan Off-Roading in the Taycan? 800mi Trip to Redwoods State Park 8C4692E8-77BC-416C-A754-836BD073F4BA


And yes, that’s an X5M Competition keeping the Taycan company. Two awesome cars with really similar performance and capability but way different starting points. Both around $120k, 5100lbs, the X5M with 617hp but accelerating on to hwy 101 on-ramps, they are dead equal which is another testament to the underrated power of the Taycan CT4.

On the way up, covering just over 400mi, we actually arrived ahead of our friends after having stopped twice for electrons. They would have beat us but their fatal error was having to stop for gas and lunch separately. 350kW EA chargers in Willits and Eureka pumping out up to 260kW although both locations had 1 or 2 chargers that weren’t working. My trip plans start with ABRP (manually setting consumption to 250Wh/mi for accuracy) then entering only the next waypoint in the PCM. I like to run the battery pretty lean when I stop to charge to maximize charging speed so when the predicted SOC at destination gets past 5%, I’m off to the next charger.



I learned later that turning off the Porsche Charge Planner you can see the negative battery %age which I prefer since I find the PCM charging suggestions are not as reliable.
Porsche Taycan Off-Roading in the Taycan? 800mi Trip to Redwoods State Park CC2B9272-DEC7-4B3E-A0A1-886BE964EDBF


Near our campsite, the Klamath Holiday Inn Exp Chargepoint station helped us charge at about 60kW, just enough to get back to Eureka. Just be sure to download and sign up in advance because I didn’t have cell reception and I’ve learned from observation that trying to pay by cc at charging stations is a horrible experience.

We were travelling with a 4 and 6 year old and hit a few fun spots along the way. Fern Canyon was a hit with the kids. We did it the hard way with a 5mi hike but passed by a herd of elk and water falls was worth it. Crescent beach too was beautiful in the evening. Trees of Mystery park was also a fun one with their canopy trail. On the drive back, definitely recommend taking the 31mi detour through the Avenue of the Giants for a fun drive and river stops along the way.

Our friends made the return trip about an hour ahead of us due to extended charging stops. If we were able to top up the battery at our campsite we probably would have again made it back in similar time but we started the return trip with only about 40%.
 

cometguy

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Is there anything the Taycan can’t do? Just got back from a camping trip up north in Del Norte Redwood State Park. Some gravel roads, a few stream crossings, fun winding roads…
nice trip log... thanks for sharing!

Near our campsite, the Klamath Holiday Inn Chargepoint station helped us charge at about 60kW, just enough to get back to Eureka. Just be sure to download and sign up in advance because I didn’t have cell reception and I’ve learned from observation that trying to pay by cc at charging stations is a horrible experience.
I don't understand this. If you don't have cell reception, how can you use a Chargepoint station without using a credit card?
 
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bsclywilly

bsclywilly

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nice trip log... thanks for sharing!


I don't understand this. If you don't have cell reception, how can you use a Chargepoint station without using a credit card?
I had made an account months ago and had a payment method on file. First time I got to use it on this trip. Once you have an account you can pay with apple wallet or they also send you a physical card.
 

cometguy

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I had made an account months ago and had a payment method on file. First time I got to use it on this trip. Once you have an account you can pay with apple wallet or they also send you a physical card.
So with a ChargePoint account with payment on file and the physical card, is that physical card the easiest/quickest way to charge at a ChargePoint station?
 
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bsclywilly

bsclywilly

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So with a ChargePoint account with payment on file and the physical card, is that physical card the easiest/quickest way to charge at a ChargePoint station?
Yes! Just tap the card (or your phone) and plug in.

FYI, evGo is the same deal. I haven’t had luck with using a CC the one time I had to use their network. But after signing up in their app and using my phone, it worked perfectly.
 

kailifish

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the fourth photo with the mist looks really nice, if the tail lights of the Taycan were lit and more obvious would've been perfect !
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