Taycan to Lofoten Islands, Norway (Follow Our Trip Report)

[Donlam]

Nice. Enjoy safe journeys.

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[cityhpper]

As always - truly amazing documentation and pictures!

 

[T-Fury]

My absolute favorite posts on the forum! Thank you for taking time to share your journey with all of us

 

[tigerbalm]

Day 3: Aalborg (Denmark) –> Oslo (Norway)

We checked out of our Airport Hotel shortly after 10:00 in the morning.



It is a short 65 km to the port of Hirtshals.



Where we enter the queue for our ferry – the Colorline Supersede 1 – to Norway. A light dusting of snow continues to fall while we wait.

It is so nice being able to run the air conditioning on an EV without needing an “engine” on. We can see car’s all around is – turning on and off their idling motors to try and keep comfortable.



Boarding the ship through the bow doors.

Giving our car a chance to thaw out a little on the parking deck.



After a relatively smooth crossing – there was a slight sea swell – but nothing that would make us feel sea sick – we disembark down the ramp into Norway. Into a much more intense winter environment than we left behind in Denmark.

We are quickly through the port – and leave Kristiansand behind us as we head north east towards the capital Oslo.

We stop off at our planned charging location at IONITY Lillesand – admiring both the winter landscape and the unbelievable Norwegian charging rate of €0.07c/kWh in equal measure!



About an hour after leaving Lillesand – we decide to stop off for some food – having not eaten much on the boat. Typical of Norway, there are plenty of chargers around – in this case three networks: Recharge, Circle K and Mer.

One of our guiding principals of our road-trips is to try and grab a charge where we can if we’re going to be stopping anyways. So we plug into a n available 150 kW Mer station before heading off for food.

This will allow us to take out our final planned IONITY stop and also we use this opportunity to setup the new Mer plug & charge with our car – so we no longer need to use the Mer RFID token that we carry.



It has now gotten dark.

And with the consistent snowfall – driving conditions become more challenging. We didn’t expect this so far south – but it is what we came to see here in Norway and are delighted to get experience it so immediately.

There is a steady flow of trucks and traffic jams as we pass the larger towns.

Arriving into Oslo and the familiar shoe in the middle of an underground roundabout.

Where we plug in for an overnight 22 kW charge.



Unloading our luggage.



And check-in to our favourite hotel in Oslo – the unusually named The Thief.

The days charging stats

Location	Start SOC %	End SOC %	kWh added	Cost	Duration	Ambient Temp	Battery Temp	Charger Type	Network
IONITY Lillesand	30%	82%	44.34	€7.25	22 mins	-2	32	DC 350 kW	IONITY
Extra Øygårdsdalen	64%	99%	29.47	€16.65	34 mins	-1	28	DC 150 kW	Mer

Today we did 389 km over 7:36 hours, with an average speed of 59 km/h, consuming 25.8 kWh/100km.

 

[TaycanRe]

Hey! Delighted to see that some things never change, with yet another journey to Norway to hit the Lofoten Islands in a Taycan. Can't wait to see the updates and photos from this promising trip!

 

[or1]

Great read and great pictures as always. And nice to see that you visited Lillesand Ionity, which is close to me and where I go if home charging is not enough.

 

[Donar]

Great to follow this. Makes me want to go on a roadtrip with the Taycan also. Have a 4 day road trip planned in May and also thinking to go to Norway (via Sweden instead of a ferry). Never been there.

 

[tigerbalm]

Day 4: Oslo (Norway) –> Trondheim (Norway)

As we were parked in underground garage at 7.5C – all the snow attached to our car melted overnight – leaving a large puddle all around the car.



Stopping at a Circle K to pick up some proper Norwegian winter screen wash capable of handling –18c temperatures, it was interesting to see the compacted snow in the tyre grove patterns – exactly what it is supposed to do on winter tyres to aid grip.

Today we head northwards to Trondheim.

Stopping at IONITY Øyer to take on-board some energy.



With the E6 well plowed – we’re able to make good progress at the posted speed-limits.

When parking up for rests and food – it is easy to push the car against a snow drift – resulting in blocked sensors that have to be cleared – if you want to have full assistance systems.

Our night-vision camera does have a built-in heater that can melt snow – but the ACC radar requires regular clearing.

It’s a lovely calm and clear day as we climb up to higher altitudes.

Though the outside temperature does drop to -11c. Thankfully our November 2022 manufactured high-voltage heater keeps the cabin warm.

Before dropping down to sea level.

As darkness descends and our matrix lights and night-vision spring to life.

We arrive safely at our hotel – The Britannia – in Trondheim for tonight. The car needs a wash but blends in perfectly here in Norway!



The days charging stats

Location	Start SOC %	End SOC %	kWh added	Cost	Duration	Ambient Temp	Battery Temp	Charger Type	Network
IONITY Øyer	33%	82%	49.54	€8.10	21 mins	-3C	39	DC 350 kW	IONITY
IONITY Dombås	31%	65%	28.91	€4.73	12 mins	-5C	35	DC 350 kW	IONITY

Today we did 540 km over 8:50 hours, with an average speed of 62 km/h, consuming 24.6 kWh/100km.

 

[thecoloradokid]

@tigerbalm

You continue to serve as a model for the rest of us who enjoy long road trips in our Taycans. You make my 2,500km drives to throughout the American Rockies or American plain states seem like a drive to the local market when you post about these epic drives to the Arctic Circle!

I did have a question for you. You mentioned in your first post you had a DC charging issue that required repair. I was wondering what happened since I was on the second to last stop on my return leg of a near 3,000km road trip two weeks ago when my '22 CT4S had a complete electrical failure just after plugging into an Electrify America charger. I had to get the vehicle towed 240 miles back to Denver since the car went into shutdown mode.

It took about week, but I got the car back and they replaced the high voltage charger/distributor, the 12v lithium battery, and the DC voltage converter. They also installed the WPS9 recall, which, in hindsight, I should have done sooner.

What repairs did you have done to your vehicle?

Anyway, happy motoring and keep safe up up there in northern Norway.

Cheers!

 

[allroadusa]

If I'm not mistaken the DC booster has been changed.
I got inspired by this type of road trip report. I used to travel across Europe driving the Panamera. I don't have any intend to change with the Taycan.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[tigerbalm]

Day 5: Trondheim (Norway) –> Mo i Rana (Norway)

One of the planning principals we adopt on road-trips is to never relay on a destination charge – treat them as a bonus if you can get them. However, sometimes we don’t apply this rule if we’re certain we’re going to get a charge overnight. Usually based on the charger being controlled by valet parking and we’ve booked or discussed it with them before arriving.

Last nights stay at The Britannia was one of these occasions. In our planning notes we put: “Plan to arrive at hotel with 20% charge. Valet controlled destination charging booked (250 NOK/€22)”.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. Despite booking the parking and charging slot three months in advance in writing and mentioning it twice on check-in – the car was left overnight on the street outside the hotel where we had stopped for it to be taken to the hotel underground.

In the morning, we were told there was “no driver” to move it and therefore it went uncharged. This was annoying as we were relying on that charge to get away from Trondheim quickly – and we could have easily driven it into the garage ourselves had we been informed.

As it was fixed price parking and charging cost – we also arrived with a relatively low state of charge to maximise the value!

We are due to stay in this hotel again next week on our return leg – and we’re in two minds to change our booking – despite being assured we’ll get charged next time.

So we decide to use the Porsche Charging Planner to suggest a location – and it picks a 400 kW Recharge station about 15 minutes away – which we find easily.

We plug in but decide to use a Fortum charge & drive RFID token we carry – instead of using our Porsche Charging Service Card – for cost reasons and to take the “time” element out of the billing.

Which is just as well – as the car has not had enough time to prepare the battery – having sat outside in -7c temperatures overnight. The battery was only at 3c when we start charging – and therefore it would only pull between 50-60 kW.

We decide to get enough charge here to allow us to reach another charger about 100 km away – so we would arrive there with a well prepared battery and take on energy at a faster rate.



We drive through the many tunnels on the northern outskirts of Trondheim.

And under the city airport runway.

Until we reach our new charging stop at Verdal – another Recharge station – with a well prepared battery.





Unfortunately, this turns out to be a 400V station – so we’re limited by our 150 kW 400V booster on-board. Something the very clear charging display screen makes obvious with a “Vehicle Limits” icon – explaining that it is the car that is preventing the full 200 kW instead of the station.

And yes, the QR code works to see all the details about this charging session – including the charging curve!



After we take on enough energy to reach our originally planned IONITY further north – we continue on the E6 northwards – stopping briefly for some food at AMFI Steinkjer – and grabbing some unplanned 22 kW AC power from a nearby Mer charger.



Continuing on the E6 the roads are clear and we make good progress.

However, it isn’t long before some real arctic conditions set in.

We capture some dramatic ice road driving footage with our mounted GoPro.



And pull into IONITY Namsskogan – a relatively new station this far north – we passed it being built out this time last year. If we’d had our overnight destination charge at Trondheim – we’d have reached here without any difficulty and probably a more than an hour earlier.



As we pull in – we notice a Cayenne EV and a 718 EV under test – just pulling out of the station! Unfortunately, we were not quick enough with our camera to capture them through our snow covered windscreen. However, the 718 EV’s shape and size is looking VERY appealing.

Yes, those brake lights through the snow is a 718 EV – you’ll have to trust us!

After taking on board enough energy to get us to our hotel tonight – we set off again and pass under the sign that marks the start of proper Northern Norway.

As darkness beings to fall and the icy roads continue into the night.

With our night-vision camera keeping a look out for Elk from their heat signature and movement behaviour – before they are visible to the naked eye.

With some careful driving we arrive safely at our overnight hotel in Mo I Rana – where unlike our hotel last night – we immediately park beside the many destination chargers and plug in for a 22 kW AC overnight top up.

We’ll tackle crossing the Arctic Circle tomorrow morning will a full charge on-board.

The days charging stats

Location	Start SOC %	End SOC %	kWh added	Cost	Duration	Ambient Temp	Battery Temp	Charger Type	Network
Recharge Ranhelm	19%	45%	23.95	€13.37	25 mins	-3C	3	DC 300 kW	Recharge
Recharge Verdal	16%	70%	48.45	€26.99	24 mins	-5C	36	DC 200 kW	Recharge
AMFI Steinkjer	63%	74%	10.0	€4.46	32 mins	-3C	28C	AC 22 kW	MER
IONITY Namsskogan	19%	82%	56.29	€9.12	18 mins	-8C	38C	DC 350 kW	IONITY
Scandic Mo i Rana	24%	100%	63.6	€17.05	4 hours	-9C	24C	AC 22 kW	Hotel

Today we did 475 km over 8:48 hours, with an average speed of 55 km/h, consuming 26.6 kWh/100km.

 

[tigerbalm]

If I'm not mistaken the DC booster has been changed.

Yep, that component got replaced and it has been rock-solid so far.

 

[tigerbalm]

What repairs did you have done to your vehicle?

HV Booster component was replaced.

 

[thecoloradokid]

@tigerbalm Just looking at your pictures makes me want to book a flight to Cancun!!!!

 

[tigerbalm]

Arctic Circle

Crossed the arctic circle today, where it was a bitterly cold -10C outside.







Here is some raw unedited footage to get a sense of the environment in this area.

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