W1NGE

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It's always nice to know the number when making a choice to spend money on such options, especially if you were to find out it actually makes heat rejection worse rather than better. Personally I passed on that option for a few reasons, but to me it looks like the matte setting doesn't really block visible light, but rather diffuses it, so it's more like a privacy glass than light/heat rejection, but I don't have the numbers (nor have ever seen VLC in person).
I think the fact the Porsche doesn't make any claims suggests it is simply a fancy gimmick.

For the life of me I don't see why an electric blind wasn't provided as standard as it is for other Porsches

As you point out it is a light diffuser and offers very little additional heat protection.
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Only 15 per cent of the heat enters the interior of the car, as proven by measurements in the solar simulation chamber at the Porsche Development Centre in Weissach. This figure is more than 30 per cent with conventional panoramic roofs.
so if the car heats up with the VLC your going to be microwaved with a standard pano😅
standard panos just don’t work as well
 

W1NGE

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Only 15 per cent of the heat enters the interior of the car, as proven by measurements in the solar simulation chamber at the Porsche Development Centre in Weissach. This figure is more than 30 per cent with conventional panoramic roofs.
so if the car heats up with the VLC your going to be microwaved with a standard pano😅
Taycan Pano Vs Taycan VLC or Pano in general?
 

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On days like that, leaving any vehicle out in the sun for 15 minutes or more will see interior temperatures sky-rocket, but a panoramic sunroof equipped car will obviously be the hottest of the lot, because the heat from the sun overhead essentially has a direct path in. You’d think tinted glass would help somewhat, but sadly in our experience it makes little difference. Tinted glass works on the principle of absorbing UV rays directly instead of allowing them to pass through into the interior, and essentially creates a large, black, super-heated element across the top of the vehicle.
 


Clod Reed

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The innovative panoramic roof with Light Control has a multi-layered structure that shields against heat radiation so effectively that even in the transparent state the roof is protected against heat better than with a mechanical roller blind or a conventional glass roof
 

W1NGE

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Couldn’t say just what they said but read the following…it explains why a shaded pano doesn’t work
https://www.topgearbox.com/cars/your-car/6-reasons-to-avoid-a-panoramic-roof
That's why I asked the question as not all Pano roofs are equal.

The Taycan is both heat and noise insulated (note the purplish colour hue when wet) while others are simply darker tinted glass.

I suspect that's why Porsche didn't need to complicate matters with a blind.

Majority of heat generated in the Taycan due to the sun is via the front, rear and side windows particularly if you don't have the insulated glass all round.
 

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I just think the VlC is a bit more sophisticated than most of us realise 😉
 


whitex

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On days like that, leaving any vehicle out in the sun for 15 minutes or more will see interior temperatures sky-rocket, but a panoramic sunroof equipped car will obviously be the hottest of the lot, because the heat from the sun overhead essentially has a direct path in. You’d think tinted glass would help somewhat, but sadly in our experience it makes little difference. Tinted glass works on the principle of absorbing UV rays directly instead of allowing them to pass through into the interior, and essentially creates a large, black, super-heated element across the top of the vehicle.
They haven't done ANY number comparison. Why is the shade for example building up heat but a solid roof not building the same heat? If the glass let's heat in, it let's heat out. You can absolutely filter IR with film or other materials and I have personally worked with light filters which filtered out IR from very strong light sources in digital projectors - if the IR (heat) was not filtered out of the light source, the micromirrors electronics would fry. In the end you really need to look at some objective numbers, which the article you quoted does not provide. You can obtain such numbers with measurement from identical cars with and without glass roof, perhaps with different coatings. You can also test in a lab. Metal with some headliner insulation lets in heat too, the point is to compare them objectively.
 

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They haven't done ANY number comparison. Why is the shade for example building up heat but a solid roof not building the same heat? If the glass let's heat in, it let's heat out. You can absolutely filter IR with film or other materials and I have personally worked with light filters which filtered out IR from very strong light sources in digital projectors - if the IR (heat) was not filtered out of the light source, the micromirrors electronics would fry. In the end you really need to look at some objective numbers, which the article you quoted does not provide. You can obtain such numbers with measurement from identical cars with and without glass roof, perhaps with different coatings. You can also test in a lab. Metal with some headliner insulation lets in heat too, the point is to compare them objectively.
I think the guy is just saying he’s never sat in a car with a panoramic roof that’s worked 🧐
 

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I think the guy is just saying he’s never sat in a car with a panoramic roof that’s worked 🧐
Yea, but did he ever sit in a car without a metal roof which "worked", which I assume means stayed cool in Australian 40C/104F heat without AC.
 

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Porsche Taycan Panoramic roof with Variable Light Control (VLC) Pictures PCM control


move this with your finger.
And back again ;)
 

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They haven't done ANY number comparison. Why is the shade for example building up heat but a solid roof not building the same heat? If the glass let's heat in, it let's heat out. You can absolutely filter IR with film or other materials and I have personally worked with light filters which filtered out IR from very strong light sources in digital projectors - if the IR (heat) was not filtered out of the light source, the micromirrors electronics would fry. In the end you really need to look at some objective numbers, which the article you quoted does not provide. You can obtain such numbers with measurement from identical cars with and without glass roof, perhaps with different coatings. You can also test in a lab. Metal with some headliner insulation lets in heat too, the point is to compare them objectively.
I’ve sat in both on an 80 degree day and the difference in heat radiating off the interior of the roof was materially higher in the panoramic roof. There was zero radiation noticeable in the metal roof car.

Heat wasn’t the primary reason I went metal roof, just a bonus. I can’t imagine how hot a pano roof would get on a desert summer day.
 

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Couldn’t say just what they said but read the following…it explains why a shaded pano doesn’t work
https://www.topgearbox.com/cars/your-car/6-reasons-to-avoid-a-panoramic-roof
I agree with his points, but in the case of the Taycan there is no opening or blind so some of his points don’t apply - including his belief they look better ;) in the Taycan the sculpted metal roof looks quite a lot better to me.

Metal roofs do get hot but the Taycan feels to have plenty of insulation between headlining and metal - so it doesn’t get so cold in winter either.

If the glass actually is designed to absorb rather than reflect radiation it will indeed get much hotter than a metal roof experiencing the same radiation. I hadn’t thought of that, just always hated the feel on my head in every glass roofed car I have experienced (suffered).

For me the VLC roof is a cool gadget to impress kids and friends. End of.
 

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We used the Honda turbo F1 engine from 1984 to 1987.
I spent a lot of time at Honda getting the heat rejection and water and oil flow rates I needed to properly design the cooling system (they had never measured flow rates or heat rejection and the original engine was a nasty surprise when we did)
They had a window between a meeting room and the dyno with this technology so they could decide whether people in the meeting room could see into the dyno or not.

I was bowled over by it, in fact it was one of the most impressive bits of technology there at the beginning!
In Brussels there is a wonderful restaurant in a beautiful building that is formerly a bank (the restaurant is in the lobby - the name is escaping me but it is a block off the Grand-Place). When I went there I was told you had to visit the restrooms. It was Belgium so men and women shared the same restroom, but when I entered I saw that the only options were toilets surround by clear glass walls and doors. Yikes!

However, when you closed the door of the stall and locked it, all of the surrounding glass turned opaque. This was 10 years ago and it blew - my - mind.

I think I visited the restroom twice just to observe the surprise on people's faces :)
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