DeciusCaeciliusMetellus

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Dammit. I’ll miss the SpaceX launch by a couple of days! I haven’t seen a launch in person in a few decades.

7’s for luck. Or something. :cool:
The next Starlink launch is just a few days later:
March 14, 2020 at around 09:35am EDT (13:35 UTC), on Falcon 9 (booster xxxx.x) from KSC LC-39A. ASDS landing is expected. Targeting deployment orbit of 190x380km.

And since you are in Texas, you might want to visit Boca Chica and see Starship for yourself.
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cometguy

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I'm thinking that buying the forthcoming Cross Turismo would be a more comfortable vehicle for sleeping in the back with the seats down -- considerably more room. :sun:
 

kwrudy123

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Dammit. I’ll miss the SpaceX launch by a couple of days! I haven’t seen a launch in person in a few decades.

7’s for luck. Or something. :cool:
Don,

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading this entire thread about your adventure. I have my 4S on order and expect to receive it this July. Your journey, attitude, and generosity in sharing all that you did is EPIC!

Unlike you as a first time Porsche owner, my Taycan will be my 10th, which includes: 2 Panameras, a Macan Turbo, and 6 911’s. I’m hooked on the brand for all the reasons you wrote about regarding the Porsche customer experience.

I have one key question for you about your journey: was it made great by the performance and comfort of your Taycan, notwithstanding the challenges and time commitments to keep filling it with electrons? Or perhaps, the hunt for electrons was even part of the thrill? Asked differently, if you purchased a Panamera Turbo, GTS or Hybrid and made the same journey, would it have been even better for not having to always be charge conscience?
 
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louv

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...
I have one key question for you about your journey: was it made great by the performance and comfort of your Taycan, notwithstanding the challenges and time commitments to keep filling it with electrons? Or perhaps, the hunt for electrons was even part of the thrill? Asked differently, if you purchased a Panamera Turbo, GTS or Hybrid and made the same journey, would it have been even better for not having to always be charge conscience?
An interesting question. The trip is wonderful in many dimensions.

I’ve done many long road trips before. Fast four-day crossings of the US to move a car to my new home. Motorcycle rides on dirt roads from the Mexican border to the Canadian border along the Continental Divide. Motorcycle camping from California to Deadhorse, Alaska and back. Sprinter Van drives from Maine to South Dakota for a free Spay/Neuter/Vaccination clinic on a Native American Reservation, returning home with 2 puppies, and 10 kittens. So, lots of miles is an easy, enjoyable thing for me.

The vehicle is important. Comfort is key. I even had a custom seat crafted for my motorcycle for long rides. The Taycan is very comfortable, and the quietness of the vehicle adds to the overall ease of driving. But many modern cars are also quite quiet running at freeway speeds. Motorcycles have significant wind noise, which can be very tiring if you don’t have hearing protection.

Performance is fun, and it makes passing slower vehicles ridiculously easy, but for a long road trip, it isn’t strictly necessary for the enjoyment of the drive. My Sprinter van RV is a slow diesel. But in some ways it is much better suited to a 10,000 mile trip. Yes, driving a Taycan is much nicer than driving a Bolt for 10,000 miles, but that’s a sign of my fortunate life, I have the option to drive a luxury sports car.

Being electric can be a challenge, but I feel like it is adding to this adventure, not subtracting from it. It was a reason for this trip: the adventure of being an early adopter.

If I were to do this annually, would I take the Taycan or the Sprinter next year? I don’t know. Maybe I’d alternate. Being electric means stopping more frequently. But that’s probably a good thing for me, as I can get in a mode of driving hundreds of miles. I need to force myself to slow down and smell the flowers. (Right now, I’m spending too much of my life in WalMart parking lots, because the chargers are often there. But I can’t complain... they are often very close to freeways)

If, in the future, charging is easy, universally available, and faster than it is now, then it becomes a non-issue.

If I were spending more time “off the beaten path” then this wouldn’t be the right car. Or, I’d be spending more time recharging at RV campgrounds in remote areas. That would be an adventure, but a different one.

Would a Panamera make this a better trip? No, not for me, not for THIS trip, because that’s “too easy”. If you want Easy, then yes, get a gas car. Or a diesel. For this adventure, finding EV stations was
“part of the thrill.” Proving to myself, and others, what it’s like out there on the open roads.

I’m helping show this is absolutely possible to travel long distances in a Non-Tesla EV. (This is old news for Tesla folks because of the supercharger network they have) It’s not yet as easy or care-free as a gas car, but it’s much much better than it was a year or two ago. The Canadian section was wasn’t possible three months ago. When I had my first EV in 2012, this trip would have been impossible... or it would have taken me over a year instead of just six or seven weeks.

EVs are no longer restricted to urban, local travel. Now we are free to roam.

Porsche Taycan Taking One Lap of the Country in my Taycan Turbo - 10k miles in 6 weeks Cross-Country Journal A8EB4684-4153-4E82-8915-47233C282540
 

Brassfactory

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Doh!

That was supposed to be the last post!

Now what reason do we have to hang on every word and picture to learn what subtle adventure awaits us vicariously around the bend?
 


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louv

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Doh!

That was supposed to be the last post!

Now what reason do we have to hang on every word and picture to learn what subtle adventure awaits us vicariously around the bend?
Oops. Ok. I’ll just go home now. My cats will be happy to see me.

I can be home in only 40 hours... with only 16 more charging sessions.
 
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louv

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Sigh. Another morning. 3 hours into the drive and the Nav still thinks it’s in a Gasoline car. I can’t search for EV charging stations.

PORSCHE... Are you listening?!? PLEASE FIX THIS. If you fix nothing else, please fix this.
...
Yesterday, in a first... the Nav NEVER recovered its brain. The whole day it thought it was in a liquefied dinosaur burning car. 8 hours. 420 miles.

While it did automatically find EV charging stations that I needed to get to my destination, the Gas Station search icon never went away, and the EV Station search icon never appeared.

Porsche Taycan Taking One Lap of the Country in my Taycan Turbo - 10k miles in 6 weeks Cross-Country Journal 83FEDE5B-1D5E-4D83-A1C7-D7E24EC5E069
 

BayAreaKen

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Yesterday, in a first... the Nav NEVER recovered its brain. The whole day it thought it was in a liquefied dinosaur burning car. 8 hours. 420 miles.

While it did automatically find EV charging stations that I needed to get to my destination, the Gas Station search icon never went away, and the EV Station search icon never appeared.
This is officially a real issue, not just an annoyance. If you don't have the hack's and work-arounds available to you, conceivably, you will get stranded eventually, and require a tow.

Don, has Porsche Corp given you any response or indication that they are working on this? I mean, they can't "cut & paste" a nav system meant for Internal Combustion Engines into an Electric Vehicle. It makes no sense. But it appears that's that Porsche allowed for the Taycan.

What's the fix: a software update or a whole new system?
 


ron_b

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Are you getting a similar range in the southwest portion than you did in the frozen north? I seem to remember about 40kwh/100 miles before.
Yes @louv I was wondering the same thing. But I did assume the avg speed was something quite a bit higher in the South. :cool:
I know you said the 53mph shown averages all Car-On-Time not just travel time. Hoping fix coming soon for that. I understand they want to also track car-on-time as HVAC can use power then too, but avg speed should be based ion time in Drive Mode.
 
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louv

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This is officially a real issue, not just an annoyance. If you don't have the hack's and work-arounds available to you, conceivably, you will get stranded eventually, and require a tow.

Don, has Porsche Corp given you any response or indication that they are working on this? I mean, they can't "cut & paste" a nav system meant for Internal Combustion Engines into an Electric Vehicle. It makes no sense. But it appears that's that Porsche allowed for the Taycan.

What's the fix: a software update or a whole new system?
I have received zero feedback on the 47 bugs and feature requests I have sent to Porsche (via two Service advisors, a Product Manager, and a trainer). I did receive a nice “thank you for helping is make the product better” reply, but nothing from the teams who will actually be fixing (or ignoring) the bugs.

When I arrive home in two weeks, I will publish the whole list. I haven’t done that yet because I wanted to give them some time to respond, or better yet, fix the issues.

Obviously, I don’t have actual knowledge, but my educated guess would say it’s a Software Update.
 

kwrudy123

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I have received zero feedback on the 47 bugs and feature requests I have sent to Porsche (via two Service advisors, a Product Manager, and a trainer). I did receive a nice “thank you for helping is make the product better” reply, but nothing from the teams who will actually be fixing (or ignoring) the bugs.

When I arrive home in two weeks, I will publish the whole list. I haven’t done that yet because I wanted to give them some time to respond, or better yet, fix the issues.

Obviously, I don’t have actual knowledge, but my educated guess would say it’s a Software Update.
Don,

Are you sure you don't want to reconsider your thoughtful response to my earlier query about the joys (or horrors) of your continental road trip in an EV being impacted by your search for electrons? What a trooper you've been!
 
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louv

louv

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Are you getting a similar range in the southwest portion than you did in the frozen north? I seem to remember about 40kwh/100 miles before.
I think yesterday’s drive was a good example. Texas speed limits were mostly 80mph, with maybe an hour at 70 and an hour at 75. I tend to have my cruise control set at 3 mph over the limit. Temperatures were middle 50s, with one big heavy rainstorm.

My average consumption for the whole day was 39kWh/100miles. That’s comfortably over 200 miles of range for high speed (but still Legal in America) cruising.

Your Autobahn mileage may vary!
 
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louv

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Don,

Are you sure you don't want to reconsider your thoughtful response to my earlier query about the joys (or horrors) of your continental road trip in an EV being impacted by your search for electrons? What a trooper you've been!
LOL.

I’m sure.

I knew I’m an early adopter. I knew there would be challenges. I knew there would be some frustrations. But, in spite of that Bug, I got where I was going without any real delay.

I needed to use phone Apps to find a couple of EV Stations, but the car automatically found the others and added them to my route.

I also know (from first hand experience) how long it takes for software teams to fix bugs in very complex products. This is a very complex product.

Their lack of response (to me) is also predictable and expected. While I’d love to have an inside view into their development team, I certainly don’t expect it. At the end of the day, I’m just a customer, like everyone else. And, if they did “bring me into the fold” and tell me about what bugs are being fixed, I’m pretty sure I’d need to sign an NDA so I wouldn’t be able to discuss it here.
 

feye

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I have received zero feedback on the 47 bugs and feature requests I have sent to Porsche (via two Service advisors, a Product Manager, and a trainer). I did receive a nice “thank you for helping is make the product better” reply, but nothing from the teams who will actually be fixing (or ignoring) the bugs.

When I arrive home in two weeks, I will publish the whole list. I haven’t done that yet because I wanted to give them some time to respond, or better yet, fix the issues.

Obviously, I don’t have actual knowledge, but my educated guess would say it’s a Software Update.
I am sure they are well aware of the bugs in the software system. And there are a lot of people working on this system, not only for Porsche, but also Audi and particularly VW ID.3. But good software needs time and often a lot more than initially planned.
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