Qualifying the "Porsche Expert" at your dealership...

evanevery

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There is no shortage of threads here where Porsche has redirected owners back to the "Experts" at our Dealerships. Only for owners to be absolutely amazed at how little their dealership, or its designated "expert", actually know about the Taycan. I'm guessing you get to be the designated "Taycan Expert" if you simply happen to be the poor clueless (untrained) guy/gal designated to deal with all the Taycan problems. You know, "on the job training"...

Anyway...

It would be interesting to come up with a bunch of questions that any "Taycan Expert" should know. I'm not talking about obscure stuff. I'm talking about facts, recommendations, and procedures that almost anyone on this forum would know. We could then use any of the questions on this list to "casually quiz" the person you were asking to fix your car to get some idea of how much they really know...

For instance:

- What level should I charge my car to on a nightly basis?

- What does the HotSpot in my (USA) car do?

- Should I always take a 100% charge any time I stop on a Road Trip?


What would you expect the Taycan Expert at your Dealership/SC know?
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daveo4EV

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For instance:

- What level should I charge my car to on a nightly basis?

- What does the HotSpot in my (USA) car do?

- Should I always take a 100% charge any time I stop on a Road Trip?
answers:

1. you should charge to 110% in 30 minutes or less off of a household outlet - but only if you have purchased the PMCC docking accessory and have set the general profile to always charge to 110%
2. it allows porsche connect to download OTA updates to your vehicle in preparation for bringing to the dealer for service to apply the update, saving the dealerships the time of downloading the update over the dealers wifi network (which is really slow and blocks the tech's favorite porn sites)
3. yes - you should only charge to 100% on a road trip (as opposed to 110% when you're at home) - Porsche's 800v technology reaches a maximum charge rate of 270 kW at any/all CCS chargers nationwide in less than 30 minutes - and all charging is free nationwide for the 1st 3 years of ownership - 800V is the "high octane" of the EV world, and is better electrons than everyone else's 400V electrons - it's why the Taycan is sooo fast at everything.
4. Also while I have you here, we'd like you to consider the all inclusive maintenance plan that covers all oil changes, fuel injector cleanings, any exhaust items that wear out, a full SMOG evaluation every year, and timing chains/belts, and any valve adjustments that are necessary for the first 50,000 miles, at only $12,500 it's a savings of over $2.73 off of our normal service fees - the Taycan version of this plan also throws in the "full" annual battery flush where we flush all the unused electrons out of the battery and provide you with fresh new electrons every year, this alone is a $789 value at no additional cost.
 
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evanevery

evanevery

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answers:

1. you should charge to 110% in 30 minutes or less off of a household outlet
2. it allows porsche connect to download OTA updates to your vehicle in preparation for bringing to the dealer for service, saving us the time of downloading the update over the dealers wifi network (which is really slow and blocks the tech's favorite porn sites)
3. yes - you should only charge to 100% on a road trip (as opposed to 110% when you're at home) - Porsche's 800v technology reaches a maximum charge rate of 270 kW at any/all CCS chargers nationwide in less than 30 minutes.
4. Also while I have you here, we'd like you o consider our the all inclusive maintain plan that covers all oil changes, fuel injector cleanings, any exhaust items that wear our, a full SMOG evaluation every year, and timing chains/belts, and any valve adjustments that are necessary for the first 50,000 miles, at only $12,500 it's a savings of over $2.73 off of our normal service fees.
Hah!

However, that reminds me of a couple of other good questions.

- Should I expect to get 350KW charging from a 350KW terminal?

- How does my arrival SOC effect my charging rate at a charging station? (...but don't actually use the term "SOC")

- Is there any benefit to "navigating" to a charger vs just pulling up to one?
 

daveo4EV

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@evanevery OMG man - you're going make me waste my entire day answering this questions - it's quite simple really - just put yourself in the dealer/tech's position and just let the wisdom flow - dealers and their information is the perfect example of "a little knowledge is dangerous" - they understand enough - enough to be completely confused most of the time…

I could have sooooo much fun with these answers…
 

arijaycomet

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You seem to have high expectations of the Porsche staff @evanevery -- that said you did qualify them as the "Expert" and since there are only ~200 stores in the USA and ~700 worldwide, one would hope at least one staff member at each store might know this. But ...

Electric cars are still relatively new. And, for Porsche, very new. Back when Tesla first came to Cleveland, Ohio (my location) they opened a store with 1 manager, and 2 employees. I'd visit every weekend, often spending 4-6 hours up there. Having owned a Nissan Leaf for the two prior years, I had EV experience. And then buying, owning, and driving a Tesla, I had hands on experience. My point is this: even the staff members did not know as much as me. They were only occasionally given the chance to drive the cars, and were only given limited training. Again, we're talking 2014, and Tesla had only been selling the MS for 2 years.

Fast-forward to today. Tesla trains their staff better, but admittedly, most of the data is either on the car's screen, or the web. They no longer even try to teach you. The goal Tesla wants to achieve is 100% online. They talked about this a year ago, but then backpedaled on the removal of stores (you may recall, they wanted to basically fire all the stores/sales staff and go 100% online sales). And it isn't a half bad idea.

For those new to EVs there are great YouTube channels with informational data, that often times speaks broadly across all platforms. (Side note: Porsche's official 85% charge stance is BS-- given the car is already truncating the battery from the 100% allowable compared to the nearly 99% Tesla provides-- I charge daily to 90% SOC and think that is still a farce personally; but we can save that for another thread).

I don't mean this reply to rain on your parade. I actually agree-- for as few stores as Porsche has, they damn well better have at least 1x sales/manager who can answer 99% of these questions with 99% accuracy, and at least 1x certified tech to work on the cars. Otherwise, we'd be damned to drive across country and break down. But ... this is going to take time. Just as the Tesla vehicles had 40/80A chargers then 48/72A and now mainly just 48A AC charging.... you'll have the same issues with Porsche. How fast can I c charge? Well, is your car a 2020 or a 2021, and if the latter, did you option the rare but feasible 19.2kW charger? Just one example of a question that people asked often when I moonlighted my free time at Tesla -- the answer "how long does it take to charge my car" is a tricky one. And for most, useless to ask because the answer really is "about 20 seconds" -- (10 seconds to plug it in when you get home, and 10 seconds to unplug it when you leave in the morning -- the rest is transparent and wont matter). LOL

PS: At my local store there is a younger guy who is their "tech" guru and having sold TONS of Taycan already, he was able to help me get the entire car setup with Connect, and teach me a few things along the way. He actually did the orientation with me, and I think I taught him a few things, too. He asked me to come back in a month and tell him more, because again, he doesn't get to drive them. He only knows what Porsche tells him, he doesn't have time to read these forums. And so he at least "wants" to be educated, with real world experiences.
 


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evanevery

evanevery

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You seem to have high expectations of the Porsche staff @evanevery -- that said you did qualify them as the "Expert" and since there are only ~200 stores in the USA and ~700 worldwide, one would hope at least one staff member at each store might know this. But ...

Electric cars are still relatively new. And, for Porsche, very new. Back when Tesla first came to Cleveland, Ohio (my location) they opened a store with 1 manager, and 2 employees. I'd visit every weekend, often spending 4-6 hours up there. Having owned a Nissan Leaf for the two prior years, I had EV experience. And then buying, owning, and driving a Tesla, I had hands on experience. My point is this: even the staff members did not know as much as me. They were only occasionally given the chance to drive the cars, and were only given limited training. Again, we're talking 2014, and Tesla had only been selling the MS for 2 years.

Fast-forward to today. Tesla trains their staff better, but admittedly, most of the data is either on the car's screen, or the web. They no longer even try to teach you. The goal Tesla wants to achieve is 100% online. They talked about this a year ago, but then backpedaled on the removal of stores (you may recall, they wanted to basically fire all the stores/sales staff and go 100% online sales). And it isn't a half bad idea.

For those new to EVs there are great YouTube channels with informational data, that often times speaks broadly across all platforms. (Side note: Porsche's official 85% charge stance is BS-- given the car is already truncating the battery from the 100% allowable compared to the nearly 99% Tesla provides-- I charge daily to 90% SOC and think that is still a farce personally; but we can save that for another thread).

I don't mean this reply to rain on your parade. I actually agree-- for as few stores as Porsche has, they damn well better have at least 1x sales/manager who can answer 99% of these questions with 99% accuracy, and at least 1x certified tech to work on the cars. Otherwise, we'd be damned to drive across country and break down. But ... this is going to take time. Just as the Tesla vehicles had 40/80A chargers then 48/72A and now mainly just 48A AC charging.... you'll have the same issues with Porsche. How fast can I c charge? Well, is your car a 2020 or a 2021, and if the latter, did you option the rare but feasible 19.2kW charger? Just one example of a question that people asked often when I moonlighted my free time at Tesla -- the answer "how long does it take to charge my car" is a tricky one. And for most, useless to ask because the answer really is "about 20 seconds" -- (10 seconds to plug it in when you get home, and 10 seconds to unplug it when you leave in the morning -- the rest is transparent and wont matter). LOL

PS: At my local store there is a younger guy who is their "tech" guru and having sold TONS of Taycan already, he was able to help me get the entire car setup with Connect, and teach me a few things along the way. He actually did the orientation with me, and I think I taught him a few things, too. He asked me to come back in a month and tell him more, because again, he doesn't get to drive them. He only knows what Porsche tells him, he doesn't have time to read these forums. And so he at least "wants" to be educated, with real world experiences.
I guess my point is, wouldn't it to be nice if you could ask a couple of questions to try and get some idea if the guy/gal who was going to fix your car actually knew anything about them?

There are lots of stories here where new owners were given some pretty shocking advice from folks who should have known better - let alone be "experts"...

You know, like a job interview? A question or two you could casually slip in over a cup of coffee...
 

NC_Taycan

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@daveo4EV wins the internet today. What would a Taycan owner do with the knowledge of how much/little their local Porsche expert may know? I'll take someone who doesn't know a lot but knows the right people to call and has the perseverance to get shit done over someone who thinks they know a lot but can't get things fixed.
 

oalsaker

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- What level should I charge my car to on a nightly basis?

The top level. In fact it should charge to all the levels.

- What does the HotSpot in my (USA) car do?

It keeps the car in touch with the bavarian illuminati.

- Should I always take a 100% charge any time I stop on a Road Trip?

You should take charge. Yes. Definitely. Mucho.
 


arijaycomet

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I guess my point is, wouldn't it to be nice if you could ask a couple of questions to try and get some idea if the guy/gal who was going to fix your car actually knew anything about them?

There are lots of stories here where new owners were given some pretty shocking advice from folks who should have known better - let alone be "experts"...

You know, like a job interview? A question or two you could casually slip in over a cup of coffee...
There should be an EV guru (in This case Taycan, but the eHybrid cars have existed for a while and more are coming) at EVERY store. Totally agree. I’d really love that.

BTW — even if the dealers got smarter, sadly, the consumers will not. I kid you not— a friend of mine is on a Tesla Model Y owners group on Facebook. As a Tesla owner I know you’ll appreciate this one, Ed—- there is a graphic that shows the battery getting filled up and its the green inside the battery pack, and it travels from the front of the car to rear of the car (visually) to show the state of charge. This person on FB wrote “no matter where i set the slider, it always charges the front batteries first, and the back batteries last, how do i change this?” :O

Now in all fairness, i told my buddy he missed a golden chance to respond with “they do that so the batteries up front are full first to not offset the handling balance of the car” LOL LOL — alas, he said before he even had a chance, tons of other people wrote snide replies and the admin had to lock down the thread hahahaha — because we’re all arses, aren’t we?! :p
 

daveo4EV

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also you don't want the one's "upfront" to be always full incase you're in a head on collision - they will explode during impact if they are also "full" - so charge from the back, and deplete from the front - it's a safety issue

;)
 

bootsie

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  • How do I limit charge to 85%?
  • How do I reset <insert warning message here> warnings?
  • How do I make my folding mirrors fold in when I lock the car?
  • How do I make comfort access work?
 

AMERCY

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- What level should I charge my car to on a nightly basis?

The top level. In fact it should charge to all the levels.

- What does the HotSpot in my (USA) car do?

It keeps the car in touch with the bavarian illuminati.

- Should I always take a 100% charge any time I stop on a Road Trip?

You should take charge. Yes. Definitely. Mucho.
It's definitely not contacting the "bavarian illuminati" - that's what BMW does. A well behaved Taycan shares your on-board camera views and all the other data with the Swabian illuminati.
 

Gubbjaevel

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1. How many gears does the Taycan have?
2. If there is more than 1 gear, are the different gears engaged on all wheels?

(1. Yes. 2. No - only rear axle)
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