Taycan Problems are overwhelming an otherwise great car

[Vim Schrotnock]

Yes! Still under warranty. I'll definitely keep you posted.
Thanks again for your help.

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[Vim Schrotnock]

Your issues seem to be exactly the same as my car has. It is now with Porsche service and they should have the diagnostics tomorrow. The have already contacted the factory to get advice. My car would not restart even after a few hours rest or a 12 volt reset.

At present my car is showing 87% SOC but only 173 km range???

Took a long time for them to diagnose your car though?

Yes, took a while to diagnose. Let's keep everyone posted on these issues, and definitely let me/all know what you find out. I'll do the same.

 

[Scandinavian]

An update for you. My diagnosis seems not to be related to the battery itself so far, but to a control unit in the AC charger. They need to order a new unit after Porsche Germany approval and fit it. Means complete battery drop and repair .At least a week time if the unit is in stock somewhere.

Our home trip is all organised with the Porsche Assistance which was included in the extended warranty which I signed up to.

Flights arranged and taxi ordered by Porsche Assistance after feeling I had to pull teeth. But now things are looking bright for return home. Car will be transported afterwards.

I am so glad I took the extended warranty with all the costs this will incurr. Well worth it and especially since my car was one of the early ones.

My Service Advisor in France has done a stunning job to help me steer through this. Porsche Antibes should be proud of having teams lime that! Thank You!

 

[Vim Schrotnock]

Latest update is they will replace the bad battery module. Porsche is confident this was the cause of the reduced range and passive discharge problems, and the battery will be good. They have to fly in a special technician, and that will take some time, but they estimate things will be completed first week of October. Not too bad...

 

[violuma]

They have to fly in a special technician

I would have thought that by now, surgeons could assist on procedures being performed in Buenos Aires from their apartments in Shanghai penthouses over videoconference. I'm surprised somebody has to physically fly halfway across the globe to fix your car, but hope it goes well.

 

[Scandinavian]

Latest update is they will replace the bad battery module. Porsche is confident this was the cause of the reduced range and passive discharge problems, and the battery will be good. They have to fly in a special technician, and that will take some time, but they estimate things will be completed first week of October. Not too bad...

My latest update is that they need to replace the HV Battery Control Unit. I tried to Google what unit this is but still not sure.
They have also been advised to replace two battery modules that have been identified to be faulty. So car now needs to be transported to a hub that deals with this. Parts ordered but no Delivery Time as yet. Car is booked at the hub for 18 September so hopefully the parts will arrive in time??

In the meantime we have arrived back home with the help of Porsche Assistance.

I wonder if these parts all would have been included in the HV battery warranty?? But relieved that I took out the Extended Warranty on the car!!

 

[davidh]

I have enjoyed driving my Taycan Turbo S for almost three years, and 30,000 miles. At this point, my car is in the dealership with an unexplained 30% drop in range. What really bothers me is that Porsche just doesn't seem to know and/or be willing to diagnose and determine the cause of a number of problems that I have had over the life of the car, and at this point I am incredibly frustrated.

The first problem I had was the dreaded 'red screen, stop the car in a safe place', and my car was completely down. Luckily I was at a stoplight, and I restarted the car and it was good enough to get to the dealer for an extensive 'software upgrade'. Then I started getting error messages from my Porsche charger, and it was shutting down during the summer months. (I have all the upgraded outlet receptacle, wiring etc.). I resolved that I will simply cut the charging current from 40A to 36A, and this seems to have solved the problem. How can Porsche sell a very expensive charger that doesn't meet its labeled specifications?? There is a class action that was started in March on this one. Then I've had the typical rattle, charging port stuck, and a few other minor issues - no big deal here.

What has become a big deal, is I've now had two very significant problems, and Porsche simply doesn't have an answer for me. Both of my rear tires wore down to the cords on the very inside shoulder with uniform treadwear (4-5mm on all treadwear markers across the tire, including the innermost marker.). The driver's side rear was worn so badly it deflated completely. My dealer tried to tell me this is an 'alignment issue'. The alignment on the tire that failed (complete separation of the tread/sidewall in the inside rear tire) was perfect. Again, for those of us who have seen a lot of tire wear, if you have a serious alignment issue that causes the tires to wear down to the cords, you will always see uneven treadwear when you look across the tire tread. Not the case here, and there are multiple examples of this reported, WITH DIFFERENT TIRES, so it is not a tire defect. No answer from Porsche other than 'we'll monitor the tires carefully'. Something is very wrong here. Again, alignment issue would present uneven treadwear across the tire - not the case for ANY of my tires, or the other tires that have experienced the same failure.

The second big problem is my battery seems to have lost about 30% of its range overnight after getting the car back from the dealer. I showed them a photo of my estimated range at 85% of 236 miles before I took the car in. After I got the car back, I got 170 miles at 85% under the same conditions - in my garage with the same charger, same weather. I also tried to fast charge the car (very rarely do this, but they left me a car with only 80 miles, and I needed more range. Plugging into a 150KW station, the car never requested more than 90KW. First time that's ever happened. The first input I got from my dealer was that it appeared to be a 'high voltage battery issue'. They only have 3 techs qualified to work on the HV battery, so after a few days, the tech got back to me and said all the battery cells are in perfect condition. He measured all 33 cell modules and all 198 cells and said they came out to 3.9Volts and 73% charge, so the cells are all balanced and have correct voltages. I'm not sure why they were only 73% charge.

The dealer is trying to tell me that everything is fine, and that they charged the car to 100% and got 222 miles in Range Mode, which is evidently within the acceptable specs. I just checked via Porsche Connect, and my car is showing 190 mile range at 96% which equates to 198 mile range at 100% charge. I have never had less than 200+ mile range at 85% charge in my three years and 30K miles. There is clearly something wrong, and I am getting quite frustrated that Porsche does not seem to be capable of diagnosing either my tire or battery issues. I will say that the dealer is doing their best, and I have a very good relationship with them. This series of problems has really soured me on the car though - it's a shame.

 

[davidh]

I have enjoyed driving my Taycan Turbo S for almost three years, and 30,000 miles. At this point, my car is in the dealership with an unexplained 30% drop in range. What really bothers me is that Porsche just doesn't seem to know and/or be willing to diagnose and determine the cause of a number of problems that I have had over the life of the car, and at this point I am incredibly frustrated.

The first problem I had was the dreaded 'red screen, stop the car in a safe place', and my car was completely down. Luckily I was at a stoplight, and I restarted the car and it was good enough to get to the dealer for an extensive 'software upgrade'. Then I started getting error messages from my Porsche charger, and it was shutting down during the summer months. (I have all the upgraded outlet receptacle, wiring etc.). I resolved that I will simply cut the charging current from 40A to 36A, and this seems to have solved the problem. How can Porsche sell a very expensive charger that doesn't meet its labeled specifications?? There is a class action that was started in March on this one. Then I've had the typical rattle, charging port stuck, and a few other minor issues - no big deal here.

What has become a big deal, is I've now had two very significant problems, and Porsche simply doesn't have an answer for me. Both of my rear tires wore down to the cords on the very inside shoulder with uniform treadwear (4-5mm on all treadwear markers across the tire, including the innermost marker.). The driver's side rear was worn so badly it deflated completely. My dealer tried to tell me this is an 'alignment issue'. The alignment on the tire that failed (complete separation of the tread/sidewall in the inside rear tire) was perfect. Again, for those of us who have seen a lot of tire wear, if you have a serious alignment issue that causes the tires to wear down to the cords, you will always see uneven treadwear when you look across the tire tread. Not the case here, and there are multiple examples of this reported, WITH DIFFERENT TIRES, so it is not a tire defect. No answer from Porsche other than 'we'll monitor the tires carefully'. Something is very wrong here. Again, alignment issue would present uneven treadwear across the tire - not the case for ANY of my tires, or the other tires that have experienced the same failure.

The second big problem is my battery seems to have lost about 30% of its range overnight after getting the car back from the dealer. I showed them a photo of my estimated range at 85% of 236 miles before I took the car in. After I got the car back, I got 170 miles at 85% under the same conditions - in my garage with the same charger, same weather. I also tried to fast charge the car (very rarely do this, but they left me a car with only 80 miles, and I needed more range. Plugging into a 150KW station, the car never requested more than 90KW. First time that's ever happened. The first input I got from my dealer was that it appeared to be a 'high voltage battery issue'. They only have 3 techs qualified to work on the HV battery, so after a few days, the tech got back to me and said all the battery cells are in perfect condition. He measured all 33 cell modules and all 198 cells and said they came out to 3.9Volts and 73% charge, so the cells are all balanced and have correct voltages. I'm not sure why they were only 73% charge.

The dealer is trying to tell me that everything is fine, and that they charged the car to 100% and got 222 miles in Range Mode, which is evidently within the acceptable specs. I just checked via Porsche Connect, and my car is showing 190 mile range at 96% which equates to 198 mile range at 100% charge. I have never had less than 200+ mile range at 85% charge in my three years and 30K miles. There is clearly something wrong, and I am getting quite frustrated that Porsche does not seem to be capable of diagnosing either my tire or battery issues. I will say that the dealer is doing their best, and I have a very good relationship with them. This series of problems has really soured me on the car though - it's a shame.

Sorry to hear about all these problems. On the subject of range have you tried to measure the actual range. It could be that you still have the same actual range, but the predicted range is completely wrong. Also the dealer should be able to give you a state of health reading from your battery. This SOH can be read out through the OBD connector.

 

[Tooney]

Some US dealers have certified HV battery techs on staff. They can repair Taycan batteries and replace modules without having to wait for a specialist to fly in.

 

[Vim Schrotnock]

I'd rank my dealer in the upper quartile for sure in terms of customer support and technical know-how. Like any dealer they have their issues, but overall I believe they have done a good job and treated me well. I have a very nice Macan loaner for the time my car is in the shop (prob 6 weeks), and I'm not sure what else they could be doing that they haven't already done. While they aren't a 'premier' dealer in terms of technical expertise, they are quite good, and I have spoken/met directly with their lead technician a number (too many ha ha) of times.

I also think it's important to keep things in perspective. There are so many serious problems that we encounter in life, getting a $100K+ car repaired doesn't really matter much in comparison.

 

[Caraholic]

Here is an update to the post I sent this morning:

Dear Simon,

In addition, the car's battery capacity has gone from 96% at 10 am on Friday to 83% at 7:00 am on Monday with no work done and the car parked at the dealer the entire time.

Best regards,

Mike Hooven

wow mine is doing the exact same thing. Going from 100-70 in three days of sitting. They have indicated that it’s the high voltage battery charger. Hopefully this is it but I don’t have high hopes.
I bought my CPO turbo a couple months back and have never gotten over 200miles at a 100% charge. I also can never get any where near you mi/kWh. Best I have done is 2.8 and that was in range mode on a long high way trip. This was with no ac and very small gentle throttle inputs. What’s weird is when I drive the car very hard I get about 2.2 while my standard just a-b driving is a 2.4. One thing to add is lately right before I dropped the car off every mile was costing me 1% in battery. Though the mileage indicator never updated to reflect this.

 

[Scandinavian]

wow mine is doing the exact same thing. Going from 100-70 in three days of sitting. They have indicated that it’s the high voltage battery charger. Hopefully this is it but I don’t have high hopes.
I bought my CPO turbo a couple months back and have never gotten over 200miles at a 100% charge. I also can never get any where near you mi/kWh. Best I have done is 2.8 and that was in range mode on a long high way trip. This was with no ac and very small gentle throttle inputs. What’s weird is when I drive the car very hard I get about 2.2 while my standard just a-b driving is a 2.4. One thing to add is lately right before I dropped the car off every mile was costing me 1% in battery. Though the mileage indicator never updated to reflect this.

Sounds like your car is a MY 2020??

It sounds like your dealer has diagnosed the problem. The sudden decrease of SOC when the car is standing was the initial issues that I found on mine s well. Plus the drop in overall range to 200 miles and below. Then the next stage was the very quick range drop while driving the car. However the mi/kWh all seemed normal and I get about 2.8 to 2.9 normally.

My car has been in the shop for about 2 weeks now and awaiting spares.

Faults diagnosed so far:
- HV Battery charging Control Unit failure
- Two battery modules needs to changed, so battery needs to come off the car and it has been transported to a special hub for work to be carried out. Problems is the shortage of spares and issues with lack of components as well.

 

[Caraholic]

Sounds like your car is a MY 2020??

It sounds like your dealer has diagnosed the problem. The sudden decrease of SOC when the car is standing was the initial issues that I found on mine s well. Plus the drop in overall range to 200 miles and below. Then the next stage was the very quick range drop while driving the car. However the mi/kWh all seemed normal and I get about 2.8 to 2.9 normally.

My car has been in the shop for about 2 weeks now and awaiting spares.

Faults diagnosed so far:
- HV Battery charging Control Unit failure
- Two battery modules needs to changed, so battery needs to come off the car and it has been transported to a special hub for work to be carried out. Problems is the shortage of spares and issues with lack of components as well.

yes it’s a 2020. Just hoping it’s not the battery too? Mainly because I dont want to get it back then have to give it up for another month or so. Have a great Cayenne Coupe loaner but I have really been missing the Taycan.

 

[SergeyIndy]

Really sorry to hear about these issues. I can confirm that my new one loses no charge when not driven for a week. Then I spoke to the Gold tech at the dealership and he said to keep the highest status he needs to complete HV battery training by knowing how to disassemble and replace supporting modules, and he is about to retire, and has not been working on Taycans at all.

 

[Vim Schrotnock]

Sounds like your car is a MY 2020??

It sounds like your dealer has diagnosed the problem. The sudden decrease of SOC when the car is standing was the initial issues that I found on mine s well. Plus the drop in overall range to 200 miles and below. Then the next stage was the very quick range drop while driving the car. However the mi/kWh all seemed normal and I get about 2.8 to 2.9 normally.

My car has been in the shop for about 2 weeks now and awaiting spares.

Faults diagnosed so far:
- HV Battery charging Control Unit failure
- Two battery modules needs to changed, so battery needs to come off the car and it has been transported to a special hub for work to be carried out. Problems is the shortage of spares and issues with lack of components as well.

Latest update on my car is there are TWO battery modules that need to be changed. They are still estimating early October when they can fly in the tech from Atlanta to do the switch out. I'm not sure why they aren't changing the HV battery charging control unit - I guess they haven't found any 'error codes', but I'm concerned the HV charger might be part of the problem. Any thoughts??

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