Taycan Charging Speeds on UK Chargers

[Afrita]

Hello!

I am new here. I have owned a 2016 Tesla P90DL for a little over 5 years and have got on very well with it for both short runs and cross-Europe/length of the UK trips with the family - about 50,000 miles in total. I'm looking to change and my favoured replacement is a facelift/J1 II Taycan, probably a Cross Turismo to try and get close to the luggage space of the Tesla.

I am naturally concerned about loss of access to much of the Supercharger network and the Tesla ease of use/nav interface tech, but am balancing that against other factors (handling, interior quality, ride quality, not being associated with Elon Musk ;-), etc). I owned a 1979 911 a few years ago and remarkably the Taycan actually has a familiar feel.

In particular, I feel that I can live with greater risk of queuing to charge if the Taycan charges as fast as I am led to believe it can.

My Tesla tops out at just below 120kW and only for a short while - slower than the newer Teslas and a lot slower than is claimed for the best 800V cars from other manufacturers. I have seen a few Out of Spec Motoring YouTube videos which suggest that the Taycan can pretty reliably hit and hold well over 250kW for extended periods and that the facelift J1 II version can charge at over 300kW from around 10-60% charge. Chargers and networks vary a lot however, and it seems that a lot of UK chargers are site constrained - i.e. it is often not possible to get full charge from a unit because limited capacity is being shared across the site.

I am wondering if the collective here have found that they can reliably get 250kW or greater charge rates out of UK chargers, or at least those such as Ionity which promise those kinds of speed. I am obviously experienced with EV road trips so understand when fast charging is and is not important, and that sometimes it's too quick (and I can't finish my coffee or lunch), but want some reliable indicators as to what I can expect should I need it.

Thanks in advance!

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[bn8959]

I have a J1 and generally have no issues with high speed charging. I’ve had 260kW on iONITY and I’ve had mine sit a 140kW+ on the older type of Tesla Superchargers (I have the 150kW 400v option). Finding a lot of superchargers now open too.

I always enjoy a wonder up and down the other charging bays and see what speeds others are achieving - my Taycan has always been the fastest!

 

[Afrita]

I have a J1 and generally have no issues with high speed charging. I’ve had 260kW on iONITY and I’ve had mine sit a 140kW+ on the older type of Tesla Superchargers (I have the 150kW 400v option). Finding a lot of superchargers now open too.

I always enjoy a wonder up and down the other charging bays and see what speeds others are achieving - my Taycan has always been the fastest!

Thank you, that's just the sort of real world experience I am looking for. Sounds promising, and good to remember the need for the 150kW/400V option.

 

[ps500]

I have J1 and regularly see 275kw at IONITY, OPC and Osprey chargers, but in GRIDSERVE tends to top out at 175kw

 

[tylerdurden]

J1 here; I find it very variable. Sometimes I think the car throttles it (esp in cold) and sometimes the charger itself.
Ionity seems fastest for me. THe 270kw is for a relatively short part of the charge curve. Recently used a Tesla charger and it would not go above 80kw. That was a real pain.

I actually prefer my Audi which hits 150kw straight away and only drops to 100kw above 80%.

 

[Afrita]

Thanks for the input. Is anyone seeing extended charging above 200kW? The US evidence online suggests this is common - eg around 300kW in a J1 II from 10-60% or 250kW for a J1. I wonder if it’s just too cold here to get that performance - it seems to rely on the battery being at between about 33C and 55C and that will always require quite a bit of pre-heating in the UK.

 

[Tim65W]

I really don't understand this belief about Teslas having the better charging network.
It was maybe the case 4 years ago but it really isn't a thing now. You don't need a manufacturer specific charging network, there are dozens of different ones you can use in any car.
I even chose to do a Europe trip in my Taycan when I had free Supercharging in the MX, so much easier. Shared V2 sites getting 60kw max are a joke.
Taycan always over 250kw from low soc and still pulls 90kw at 90%, that's just the gen 1.
I've done 4 big Europe trips, all but one charge at Ionity, never queued or had an issue.

 

[Boss Hogg]

I make a reasonable amount of longer trips with high power DC charging and the J1.2 holds a high curve consistently well, it is noticeably improved vs my previous J1. I mostly use Ionity due to low cost and consistent speed and have very rarely been throttled with them. The J1.2 also indicates if the charger is throttling power.

Here are a couple of threads I made earlier
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/my-2025-charging-experience.20804/
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/2025-taycan-j1-2-long-ish-roadtrips-report.21744/

The lower battery temp threshold for high power DC charging with the new J1.2 battery chemistry is a nice improvement too, less energy is spent pre-heating on the way to a DC charger.

 

[Afrita]

Thanks @Boss Hogg really useful info and confirms that the charge curves I’ve seen aren’t limited to 30C ambient temperatures.

Thank you @Tim65W - over 250kW is reassuring. We all have our own criteria, and personally I’d not quite agree on Tesla’s network. They’ve opened 498 bays at 42 sites in the UK this year, many of which are v3 which in most cases only Telsa can use. That is more units than Ionity have in total and The big sites make a huge difference when it is busy. Western Europe is in my experience better served than the UK, far more non-Tesla HPCs.

The v2s are a pain and we avoid them. But there aren’t many of them and quite a few have been upgraded to v3 or v4.

However, as you’ve never queued it’s clearly less of a concern than a few years ago when non-Tesla rapids where slow <100kW units, or frequently broken, or few and far between clusters of only 4 Ionity.

In any event, I’m not going to buy another Tesla this time around! Almost certainly a Taycan.

 

[W1NGE]

Hello!

I am new here. I have owned a 2016 Tesla P90DL for a little over 5 years and have got on very well with it for both short runs and cross-Europe/length of the UK trips with the family - about 50,000 miles in total. I'm looking to change and my favoured replacement is a facelift/J1 II Taycan, probably a Cross Turismo to try and get close to the luggage space of the Tesla.

I am naturally concerned about loss of access to much of the Supercharger network and the Tesla ease of use/nav interface tech, but am balancing that against other factors (handling, interior quality, ride quality, not being associated with Elon Musk ;-), etc). I owned a 1979 911 a few years ago and remarkably the Taycan actually has a familiar feel.

In particular, I feel that I can live with greater risk of queuing to charge if the Taycan charges as fast as I am led to believe it can.

My Tesla tops out at just below 120kW and only for a short while - slower than the newer Teslas and a lot slower than is claimed for the best 800V cars from other manufacturers. I have seen a few Out of Spec Motoring YouTube videos which suggest that the Taycan can pretty reliably hit and hold well over 250kW for extended periods and that the facelift J1 II version can charge at over 300kW from around 10-60% charge. Chargers and networks vary a lot however, and it seems that a lot of UK chargers are site constrained - i.e. it is often not possible to get full charge from a unit because limited capacity is being shared across the site.

I am wondering if the collective here have found that they can reliably get 250kW or greater charge rates out of UK chargers, or at least those such as Ionity which promise those kinds of speed. I am obviously experienced with EV road trips so understand when fast charging is and is not important, and that sometimes it's too quick (and I can't finish my coffee or lunch), but want some reliable indicators as to what I can expect should I need it.

Thanks in advance!

Depends on state of charge, battery temp and ambient temp when you go to charge

Battery pre-conditioning helps manage this.

J1.1 Taycans can charge up to 270 kWh when conditions are right (low SOC) but quickly tail off once you get to 50% and higher.

J1.2 Taycans have different battery chemistry and a better charging curve for sustained high power charging for longer.

Tesla charging is open to Porsche.

Mind that if you have a J1.1 then it must have the optional 400v DC to DC voltage booster option to max out 400v 150kW EVSEs.

J1.2 doesn't have this restriction.

EVSEs can be throttled and worse still on shared infrastructure so bear in mind also.

 

[Dr Bob]

Hello!

I am new here. I have owned a 2016 Tesla P90DL for a little over 5 years and have got on very well with it for both short runs and cross-Europe/length of the UK trips with the family - about 50,000 miles in total. I'm looking to change and my favoured replacement is a facelift/J1 II Taycan, probably a Cross Turismo to try and get close to the luggage space of the Tesla.

I am naturally concerned about loss of access to much of the Supercharger network and the Tesla ease of use/nav interface tech, but am balancing that against other factors (handling, interior quality, ride quality, not being associated with Elon Musk ;-), etc). I owned a 1979 911 a few years ago and remarkably the Taycan actually has a familiar feel.

In particular, I feel that I can live with greater risk of queuing to charge if the Taycan charges as fast as I am led to believe it can.

My Tesla tops out at just below 120kW and only for a short while - slower than the newer Teslas and a lot slower than is claimed for the best 800V cars from other manufacturers. I have seen a few Out of Spec Motoring YouTube videos which suggest that the Taycan can pretty reliably hit and hold well over 250kW for extended periods and that the facelift J1 II version can charge at over 300kW from around 10-60% charge. Chargers and networks vary a lot however, and it seems that a lot of UK chargers are site constrained - i.e. it is often not possible to get full charge from a unit because limited capacity is being shared across the site.

I am wondering if the collective here have found that they can reliably get 250kW or greater charge rates out of UK chargers, or at least those such as Ionity which promise those kinds of speed. I am obviously experienced with EV road trips so understand when fast charging is and is not important, and that sometimes it's too quick (and I can't finish my coffee or lunch), but want some reliable indicators as to what I can expect should I need it.

Thanks in advance!

First off, I wouldnt worry about loosing the Tesla network. I worried about this after 4 years of Tesla ownership before I got my Taycan but it is a not worth the worry. I live in a similar location to you and spend lots of time driving down the M6/M40. In the old days it was a first stop at Tebay and the Tesla chargers were fine if you avoided high summer weekends or bank holidays. With the Taycan now, I can stop anywhere (you could in the Tesla – but never did!). Northbound, there are places to stop all the way from the M25, with no queues except at 'silly' times. There are at least 6 fast chargers on the M6 northbound between Standish and Gretna. Southbound is not quite as good but there is a big choice (as long as you like Starbucks).

Charging speed is a different matter but overall I would favour the Taycan. The charge speed on the Taycan can be fast but is limited mainly by the charger you are on and your battery temperature. On a charger that will deliver the power and with the right temp in the battery then I see 250kW+ and I am surprised that it is still up at 150KW at 85-90% SoC (I usually give up at 85%). It certainly can charge faster than the tesla (M3). The issue though is firstly will the charger deliver that? Ionity is usually good but get 11 other cars on the Ionity at Carlisle and you will be down between 100 and 150KW. Other networks can be worse. Many times I find you cant get more than 100-150KW out of a charger but that's the network issue not the car. The Tesla network was just as bad.
The other issue is temperature. Fast charging is good at a battery temp of 40°C but not as good at 30°C. The problem is that on the Taycan, you cant control the pre-heat. You can only get the charging pre-heat to work by setting it through the on-board route planning and so if your planned charger isnt on it, you have to bodge it by telling the car to go to another charger it has got on the planner. Bottom line is even that doesnt always work so the battery doesn't preheat all the way. The battery however does heat up to 30°C on a long run, so by the time you are down to Carlisle, you have enough temp to get a decent charging speed. You can go into Sport + mode to get more heat in I usually dont bother.

My overall experience is that with the Tesla I found I was having to stop for 25-30mins to get enough charge in to go to the next charge stop (assuming 2 stops on a 7 hr journey) whereas I seem to get around 20 mins on the Taycan (more charging places to choose to stop at and faster charging once over 50-60% SoC).

The 'winter' effect is also something to think about. Summer trips in the Tesla gave me circa 300 mile range whereas in winter I was down to 200 miles on some very cold winter trips (cold for UK!!!). The Taycan heats its battery far better so I tend to get 270 miles in summer and 240 in winter.

 

[Tim65W]

Thanks @Boss Hogg really useful info and confirms that the charge curves I’ve seen aren’t limited to 30C ambient temperatures.

Thank you @Tim65W - over 250kW is reassuring. We all have our own criteria, and personally I’d not quite agree on Tesla’s network. They’ve opened 498 bays at 42 sites in the UK this year, many of which are v3 which in most cases only Telsa can use. That is more units than Ionity have in total and The big sites make a huge difference when it is busy. Western Europe is in my experience better served than the UK, far more non-Tesla HPCs.

The v2s are a pain and we avoid them. But there aren’t many of them and quite a few have been upgraded to v3 or v4.

However, as you’ve never queued it’s clearly less of a concern than a few years ago when non-Tesla rapids where slow <100kW units, or frequently broken, or few and far between clusters of only 4 Ionity.

In any event, I’m not going to buy another Tesla this time around! Almost certainly a Taycan.

Don't get me wrong, the Tesla network is great, it keeps all the millions of Teslas off the proper fast chargers. My point was that you don't need a car specific network.
It's just as easy to charge any car now but that's only been the case in the last 3 or 4 years.
I had 4 years with Teslas and switched to a Taycan 4 years ago, zero regrets.

 

[tophamn]

as long as you like Starbucks

No-one 'likes' Starbucks, surely? ?

 

[Afrita]

No-one 'likes' Starbucks, surely? ?

Put it this way, I’ll miss Tebay.

 

[Dr Bob]

Put it this way, I’ll miss Tebay.

It is certainly one of the best services on the motorway network but its a magnet for all the Teslas. As it serves both northbound and southbound, the Tesla chargers get busy even with the extra capacity put in the last few years. Tesla drivers just dont seem to use any of the other chargers springing up on the motorways as they are more expensive.
Mrs Bob misses Tebay as well!
As long as you are not bothered by the higher cost, it is far better using the multitude of other chargers that normally are very empty. On our last trip up the M40/M6 in November, we stopped at the NEC in Birmingham. They seem to have 500+ high speed chargers (maybe a bit of an exageration) with no one else on them when we stopped. Bit of a faff driving in an out (and nothing but a Stardbucks near) but overall an easy stop and charge. Another stop at Forton (or is it called Lancaster now?) where we were again the only car on a charger (and they are putting in another dozen or so chargers).
Life after the Tesla is actually far better - especially when driving the Taycan.

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