Taking One Lap of the Country in my Taycan Turbo - 10k miles in 6 weeks Cross-Country Journal

[louv]

Things I don’t see along the way:

Because I’m just driving through and I don’t have a passenger to be my navigator, I don’t know about all the cool things that I’m probably just driving by. Like the signs I pass for hometowns of (apparently) famous ice skaters. Or The signs I see for “this is the home of Winnie the Pooh”. I’m sure there are many other things here just like that that I’m missing. But I need to go see friends and spend my time elsewhere, so I’m just driving through all of this mysterious snowy frosted landscape.

Oh, and we’re having a heat wave. It’s 44°F as the beautiful sunset warms the sky.

Sponsored

 

[DonnBlit]

Things I don’t see along the way:

Because I’m just driving through and I don’t have a passenger to be my navigator, I don’t know about all the cool things that I’m probably just driving by. Like the signs I pass for hometowns of (apparently) famous ice skaters. Or The signs I see for “this is the home of Winnie the Pooh”. I’m sure there are many other things here just like that that I’m missing. But I need to go see friends and spend my time elsewhere, so I’m just driving through all of this mysterious snowy frosted landscape.

Oh, and we’re having a heat wave. It’s 44°F as the beautiful sunset warms the sky.

I spent a bunch of time in Winnipeg when I lived in ND in the late 60’s. The temp I remember was - 35. Land was flat as a billiard table, and the State Tree was the telephone pole.

Really enjoying your posts!

 

[louv]

Got in 110 miles before the sun even rose. Getting my first charge of the day. This will repeat... over and over... almost like that movie... with the groundhog...

“Don’t Drive Angry!”

 

[louv]

Yesterday’s charts and graphs.

summary of the day:

Consumption for riving section:

 

[Ferdball7]

I’ve owned a 2014 Mercedes B-Class BEV and the NAV only showed gas stations. So, improvement?

if you need anything when in San Diego, let me know.

 

[cometguy]

Do all/most of the Petro-Canada gas stations have charging stations? I'm amazed at how many Petro-Canada stations you are charging at... Do they all work well? They look like the most premier of charging stations, even better than Tesla's...

 

[louv]

Do all/most of the Petro-Canada gas stations have charging stations? I'm amazed at how many Petro-Canada stations you are charging at... Do they all work well? They look like the most premier of charging stations, even better than Tesla's...

no. Most Petro-Canada stations don’t. But enough do. There’s an EV station every 100-150 miles. So it’s an easy hop from station to station.

Electrify America (aka Electrify Canada) is also building out a DC charging network over the next year or two(?).

They are quite reliable. And in the rare case the station doesn’t work, a quick call to Tech Support can get the station remotely rebooted.

 

[cometguy]

How do you find the cargo capacity for carrying six week's worth of stuff? Do you put the back seats down or keep them up? And how do you find the visibility out the rear window?

 

[louv]

How do you find the cargo capacity for carrying six week's worth of stuff? Do you put the back seats down or keep them up? And how do you find the visibility out the rear window?

I have my back seats up... for now. But I have stuff on the back seats, in the front footwell, and the trunk is packed. But... the big thing in the trunk is a tri-folded 3” foam mattress, comforter and pillow. And emergency snow gear. And clothes for Hawaii. And emergency food and water. And cleaning supplies. And camera gear.

And there’s even a little room left over for me.

 

[louv]

It’s a chilly morning as I climb slowly up in elevation in the plains towards Calgary. I’m hoping to make it to Banff this evening. Snow flurries and 22°F.

Ok, so when did A&W get to be serving good fast food?!? Or is it just the Canadian stores?

Oh, and I quickly power-washed the 1/4” thick road grime off the car after breakfast. Purrrrty.

 

[Cpoarchy]

It’s a chilly morning as I climb slowly up in elevation in the plains towards Calgary. I’m hoping to make it to Banff this evening. Snow flurries and 22°F.

Ok, so when did A&W get to be serving good fast food?!? Or is it just the Canadian stores?

Oh, and I quickly power-washed the 1/4” thick road grime off the car after breakfast. Purrrrty.

Yeah, our A&W's merged with long john silvers. Funny, heard Banif was a beautiful place always wanted to go,.

 

[Brassfactory]

Long John Silvers? Is that that boutique place Wolfgang Puck set up in Beverly Hills?

 

[louv]

Craptastic. The car will no longer take a Level 3 DC Fast charge. Level 2 system seems ok, but that’s not going to help me get anywhere.

No error messages presented on the screen.

So, being (fortunately) close to the Calgary Porsche dealer, I limped it over there, arriving with 2% charge remaining.

I have, with great regret, canceled my hotel reservation in Banff, and booked a hotel... literally overlooking the Porsche dealership.

The saga:
Six attempts at the Petro-Canada in Siksika. No joy. Tech support unreachable. Woman behind counter was able to reach down and flip a switch and reboot the DC Fast charger! Whoa! Good to know.

Topped up an hour at the Petro-Canada Level 2 charger there.

Drove to a Flo network Charger in downtown Calgary. DC charger and car can only agree to feed me 3kW. Call their support... “Sorry, tech support is only open Monday to Friday. We could send someone out sometime later this week...” Chargers are operational 24-7. Unacceptable level of support. Never again using a Flo Network charger.

Drove to Calgary BMW dealership... because they have a Level 3 charger. No joy. Charger reports internal fault. Sigh. Good thing the dealership was closed... that would have been embarrassing.

Drove to Calgary Porsche dealership. Arrive with 2% range. Not going anywhere else.

Looked at the Porsche-branded Level 2 charger out front. “Cannot charge. Grounding fault.” Before I even plugged in. Bad maintenance.

There was a 110v outlet next to the charger. I plugged in the charger I carry in the frunk. It started charging.., at 0.8kW. That’s right 800 watts. The dashboard said charging would be complete... on Thursday. Today is Sunday. Thursday. Covered wagons made better time.

Walked around back. There was another Level 2 Charger there. I decided, screw it.

I parked my car in the entrance to the Service Dept so they find it first thing Monday morning.

I briefly considered sleeping in the car... mostly for story of it. But then I looked at the building next door. It’s a hotel. Yeah, fine, I’ll sleep there.

And the hotel has a bar. At which I sit now, drinking a beer and considering life choices. Oh, there’s some game on the TV. I keep looking for Joe Montana... but they must have some second string guy throwing this quarter.

 

[louv]

Anyone here from Porsche of Calgary? I’ll see you in the morning.

 

[Cpoarchy]

Craptastic. The car will no longer take a Level 3 DC Fast charge. Level 2 system seems ok, but that’s not going to help me get anywhere.

No error messages presented on the screen.

So, being (fortunately) close to the Calgary Porsche dealer, I limped it over there, arriving with 2% charge remaining.

I have, with great regret, canceled my hotel reservation in Banff, and booked a hotel... literally overlooking the Porsche dealership.

The saga:
Six attempts at the Petro-Canada in Siksika. No joy. Tech support unreachable. Woman behind counter was able to reach down and flip a switch and reboot the DC Fast charger! Whoa! Good to know.

Topped up an hour at the Petro-Canada Level 2 charger there.

Drove to a Flo network Charger in downtown Calgary. DC charger and car can only agree to feed me 3kW. Call their support... “Sorry, tech support is only open Monday to Friday. We could send someone out sometime later this week...” Chargers are operational 24-7. Unacceptable level of support. Never again using a Flo Network charger.

Drove to Calgary BMW dealership... because they have a Level 3 charger. No joy. Charger reports internal fault. Sigh. Good thing the dealership was closed... that would have been embarrassing.

Drove to Calgary Porsche dealership. Arrive with 2% range. Not going anywhere else.

Looked at the Porsche-branded Level 2 charger out front. “Cannot charge. Grounding fault.” Before I even plugged in. Bad maintenance.

There was a 110v outlet next to the charger. I plugged in the charger I carry in the frunk. It started charging.., at 0.8kW. That’s right 800 watts. The dashboard said charging would be complete... on Thursday. Today is Sunday. Thursday. Covered wagons made better time.

Walked around back. There was another Level 2 Charger there. I decided, screw it.

I parked my car in the entrance to the Service Dept so they find it first thing Monday morning.

I briefly considered sleeping in the car... mostly for story of it. But then I looked at the building next door. It’s a hotel. Yeah, fine, I’ll sleep there.

And the hotel has a bar. At which I sit now, drinking a beer and considering life choices. Oh, there’s some game on the TV. I keep looking for Joe Montana... but they must have some second string guy throwing this quarter.

So sorry to hear, I think your car wants you to watch the Super Bowl, trying to make light a bad situation. Stay warm and more beer.. anyway to reboot the sucker?