Taycan died at Electrify America charger - how to deal with it if it happens to you

mikelevitt

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Hello all,

I was in the middle of a road trip to Indianapolis from the Detroit area, and stopped at an EA charger in Indy - the only one in the city, on Friday night.

As I was charging (started at 10%) the charger screen suddenly turned red, as did the light on the charge port. "Charging error." I had about 60% charge at this point. It was about 10 PM, the Walmart closed at 11.

I unplugged the charger, and there was a message on the of the dash "Electrical fault, please service vehicle." The car was dead, and would not start or function in any way. The only thing I could do was shift from park into neutral.

I called the Porsche 800 number, which was incredibly frustrating. They put my in some kind of line to get a top truck, and sent me a link to an app which just showed me that no towing company would accept the job. They knew nothing about the fault, and told me "we just schedule towing." Then I got transferred to the concierge - who was supposed to set up lodging, transportation. Their only offer was to check and see if there were any ubers near my location, but could not answer whether I needed to go with the tow truck to the dealer, how I was supposed to get back to my hotel, whether I could get a loaner or rental car, or how I was supposed to work the next day or back to Michigan. But they did tell me that there was a $60 limit on Uber and a 3 day limit on loaners or hotels. And every question was answered with "Call customer relations" which of course was not open until Monday.

A tow truck driver did arrive about 11:15 PM - at this point I was standing next to my dead car in a isolated Walmart parking lot, in a kind of sketchy area of Indy, by myself, with my dead $100k+ plus car.

Tow driver was great, and a friend of a mechanic I knew from racing, so we had a good time trying to figure out how to back the Taycan on a flatbed. Tip - the tow hook is REVERSE THREADED!

We got it hooked up and I got in to put it in neutral and it fired right up. So I unhooked it, gave the guy a big tip, and went on my way.

Next morning I had it at the local Porsche dealer. They scanned it, and it just showed a charging communication error, and had no idea why it had shut down. Somebody at the dealer may have admitted that they knew almost nothing about the cars, and said that fixing them was like throwing darts at a wall. My salesman emailed me and said that he had heard that if this happens you should lock the doors, and let it sit for 20 minutes and it would reset itself.

So that's the moral I guess. If it dies when charging, lock it up, let it reset, and go on your way. BTW, this was not a dead 12v battery. I had driven about 400 miles that day. The rest of the trip was amazing, and by the time I arrived back home I wasn't pissed off any more, but you can only imagine the joy I felt standing in a parking lot in the ghetto being told to call a number nobody would answer for another 3 days or so...
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So that's the moral I guess. If it dies when charging, lock it up, let it reset, and go on your way. BTW, this was not a dead 12v battery. I had driven about 400 miles that day. The rest of the trip was amazing, and by the time I arrived back home I wasn't pissed off any more, but you can only imagine the joy I felt standing in a parking lot in the ghetto being told to call a number nobody would answer for another 3 days or so...
First, I'm glad that your story ended more or less "happy". I've had to charge in a few dodgy places as well, and your story is my worst nightmare. Thanks for sharing. Do you plan to provide any formal feedback to Porsche? I think they need to hear about your experience first hand. The failure itself is problematic, but they missed a few opportunities to make a bad situation a bit better.
 

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The number of reports for this red electrical fault is concerning. These are usually an early indication of a more serious problem (i.e. big battery failure). The dealers cannot detect that at the first visit, but eventually the car dies completely and the 20-min reset no longer fixes the problem.
I suggest that you insist on proper diagnostic and a fix because next time you might not be that lucky.

You can read this thread as an example https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...lectrical-system-fault.6359/page-3#post-95537
 
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mikelevitt

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The number of reports for this red electrical fault is concerning. These are usually an early indication of a more serious problem (i.e. big battery failure). The dealers cannot detect that at the first visit, but eventually the car dies completely and the 20-min reset no longer fixes the problem.
I suggest that you insist on proper diagnostic and a fix because next time you might not be that lucky.

You can read this thread as an example https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...lectrical-system-fault.6359/page-3#post-95537

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure how to report this to Porsche, since the people on the 800 line seem to be an outsourced towing dispatcher.... Guessing I'll get it into the dealership (again) to get it documented and into the permanent record of the car, for the lemon law suit when it happens over and over again.
 
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NOLAStorm

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They put chargers in the ghetto?
 


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They put chargers in the ghetto?
chargers can be found in all sorts of places.
in my tesla days I spent much time charging at their chargers located in some very dodgy places.
mobile al. was one that was odd, they had a sign that had a phone number to call for a security escort to the mall that was about 700 feet from the chargers.
 

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Thanks for the info. I'm not sure how to report this to Porsche, since the people on the 800 line seem to be an outsourced towing dispatcher.... Guessing I'll get it into the dealership (again) to get it documented and into the permanent record of the car, for the lemon law suit when it happens over and over again.
the 800 number is essentially just a dispatching service.
porsche customer care is where you can report malfunctions but I have found the service to be a black hole where complaints are taken, sometimes they send a boilerplate apology other times you get no response.

taking the car into the dealership and documenting the issue is what you'll need to do.
 
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mikelevitt

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the 800 number is essentially just a dispatching service.
porsche customer care is where you can report malfunctions but I have found the service to be a black hole where complaints are take, sometimes they send a boilerplate apology other times you get no response.

taking the car into the dealership and documenting the issue is what you'll need to do.
Yeah, it's funny, because my visit to the dealership didn't actually generate any paperwork. They just read the codes, told me what they were, and I went on my way. I'll have my wife take it in and get it in the record. There are a few other things that need to be addressed too, like the missing XM radio... I'm scared to call customer care after the experience I had on my Boxster S. Total time suck with no results at all. It's a good thing the cars are good, because the service is not!
 


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mikelevitt

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They put chargers in the ghetto?
Walmart Supercenter, 4650 S Emerson Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46203

Apparently there were 3 people shot near a school about a mile away the night I was stuck there. I'm not sure if "ghetto" is the right word, but it is definitely a seedy looking lower-middle class or poor area of town. I definitely did not feel very comfortable stuck there, and I am a guy who runs around DETROIT in the middle of the night in my Taycan. It was the lack of mobility and conspicuity that made me uncomfortable as much as the location.
 

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Walmart Supercenter, 4650 S Emerson Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46203

Apparently there were 3 people shot near a school about a mile away the night I was stuck there. I'm not sure if "ghetto" is the right word, but it is definitely a seedy looking lower-middle class or poor area of town. I definitely did not feel very comfortable stuck there, and I am a guy who runs around DETROIT in the middle of the night in my Taycan. It was the lack of mobility and conspicuity that made me uncomfortable as much as the location.
Understood. Given crime stats in urban areas I wouldn’t be comfortable as a sitting duck either. I’m in New Orleans but I think having a hybrid or electric car may deter car jackers/thieves. My neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying and EVs are more common but charging infrastructure here is still very much behind. There’s a couple of chargers at area Whole Foods locations and parking garages but that’s about it.
 

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Walmart Supercenter, 4650 S Emerson Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46203

Apparently there were 3 people shot near a school about a mile away the night I was stuck there. I'm not sure if "ghetto" is the right word, but it is definitely a seedy looking lower-middle class or poor area of town. I definitely did not feel very comfortable stuck there, and I am a guy who runs around DETROIT in the middle of the night in my Taycan. It was the lack of mobility and conspicuity that made me uncomfortable as much as the location.
I’ve charged there a few times. I wouldn’t want to be there at night, especially after the Walmart has closed.
 

whitex

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My salesman emailed me and said that he had heard that if this happens you should lock the doors, and let it sit for 20 minutes and it would reset itself.
Maybe a stupid question, doesn't Porsche have a way to reset it without the 20 minute wait? In all my Teslas there have always been a couple of resets you can trigger from the cabin, one via computer, one via a key press combination. If that fails, you can pop the frunk and disconnect both the 12V and HV battery (indirectly, by unplugging the fireman's loop). The latter triggers a complete reboot as everything is power cycled. Doesn't Porsche have anything like that? I would think it being on a higher level than Tesla they should just have a master reset switch under the hood that does exactly that, cut all power in order for a cold boot of all systems - I would expect that from a company which thinks through its product usecases. Computers going bonkers is definitely a usecase in today's world of evergrowing software complexity.
 

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mobile al. was one that was odd, they had a sign that had a phone number to call for a security escort to the mall that was about 700 feet from the chargers.
Are you sure they didn't just an umbrella stand with shotguns to borrow instead? I mean like pedestrian crossing flags in some places - a bucket on each end to pick one up to cross, then drop it off on the other end. It would be so much faster than call and wait for an escort. ?
 
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mikelevitt

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Maybe a stupid question, doesn't Porsche have a way to reset it without the 20 minute wait? In all my Teslas there have always been a couple of resets you can trigger from the cabin, one via computer, one via a key press combination. If that fails, you can pop the frunk and disconnect both the 12V and HV battery (indirectly, by unplugging the fireman's loop). The latter triggers a complete reboot as everything is power cycled. Doesn't Porsche have anything like that? I would think it being on a higher level than Tesla they should just have a master reset switch under the hood that does exactly that, cut all power in order for a cold boot of all systems - I would expect that from a company which thinks through its product usecases. Computers going bonkers is definitely a usecase in today's world of evergrowing software complexity.
I've spoken to the 800 roadside service line, and the concierge they transfer you to, and neither of them knew anything about the car or the problem at all. I think they are probably just a phone banking company.

When I took the car to the dealer for service, they also had no idea why it had died, or how to fix it. The only useful information I got was from my salesman who told me about the 20 minute reset time.

I haven't had the problem since the first time, so I can't confirm if waiting 20 minutes actually works...
 

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I've spoken to the 800 roadside service line, and the concierge they transfer you to, and neither of them knew anything about the car or the problem at all. I think they are probably just a phone banking company.

When I took the car to the dealer for service, they also had no idea why it had died, or how to fix it. The only useful information I got was from my salesman who told me about the 20 minute reset time.

I haven't had the problem since the first time, so I can't confirm if waiting 20 minutes actually works...
How does the 20 minute reset work? You just don't touch anything for 20 minutes? Were you hanging around outside the car or inside? As per others, am curious if there is another way to do a reset that does not take 20 minutes as that is a long time. Full reset on the Tesla takes about 5-10 mins, I think. I would hate to wait 20 mins and then nothing happened.
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