the PIN is because porsche needs every chance they can get to remind you of the 911 ?Day 14: Stuttgart (Germany) -> Karlsruhe (Germany) + Porsche Museum
We are probably the easiest going – roll with it – kind of travellers. When on a trip like this, it is impossible to plan for every eventuality so being flexible is essential to having a successful journey and a good time.
We had planned to stay two nights at our current hotel – Althoff Hotel am Schlossgarten in Stuttgart – but unusually for us – have decided to move on this morning to a new hotel.
The three reasons for the decision – in no particular order – were:
#1 Destination charging
Though the hotel shows up as having EV chargers on hotels.com – the reason I originally booked it – the hotel wrote to me in advance of my stay to say they had no charger compatible with my vehicle.
This turned out to be untrue and there was a standard working Type 2 charger in the hotel underground car park. However, I only stumbled upon it accidentally late at night and by that stage it was blocked by a non-EV car.
This is the only hotel that we failed to get any charge at due to misinformation. Ironic that in the home of Porsche, that we'd experience our first five-star hotel that would be so EV unfriendly.
#2 Rats
There are rats everywhere outside the hotel. We're not talking one or two but dozens at once. At one stage on our attempt to walk to a nearby restaurant there were numerous in front and behind us.
This is not necessarily the fault of the hotel – and might be due to the extensive construction taking place at the nearby main train station – but it was enough to make my co-driver uncomfortable with staying, using the underground car park and generally walking within the local environs around the hotel.
#3 Bar
With such an extensive driving trip – by necessity alcohol isn't a big feature – but we're coming towards near the end of the long driving sections and we thought we'd have a drink at the hotel bar after last nights dinner – only to be told that every empty table/seat was reserved.
Even though we were guests at this 5-star hotel – it was made fairly clear that we were not wanted. Instead, we went back to our room. As I mentioned earlier – we're not too fussy – but I don't like paying to be made feel unwelcome.
Mercedes-Benz Museum
So after check-out we headed to the Mercedes-Benz Museum – in the rain – good timing on having mostly indoor activities today. The car park had plenty of EV chargers free.
The charger started to immediately giving us 20kW of power – that would quickly make up for the lack of destination charging last night. Thank you Mercedes-Benz!
The museum is very impressive and well done. Being that we're here on a wet Thursday morning – its very quiet – which allows us to easily spend time at each exhibit. I think the 1930's cars were the ones that stuck out for me – they have such design flair.
In term's of EV's they had this prototype police car.
And this general concept EV.
Which I thought had some Taycan elements to its design.
And close up of an EV motor and battery components.
Porsche Museum
Then it was on to Porsche Museum – thankfully the rain had stopped at this stage.
Traffic was really heavy in Zuffenhausen and it was difficult to find your way and manoeuvre around the general area.
Parking was easy and there was again tons of chargers. We decided to top up again – as much for the novelty of doing so at Porsche as anything. The chargers only gave 11kW here – half the speed of Mercedes-Benz.
Our Taycan is now parked 100 meters from where it was "born".
Why PIN protect them and then tape the code to the chargers – ? ?
After grabbing some Currywurst in the cafeteria we headed up to the museum proper.
They certainly make a big deal right at the start that Porsche + Electricity are not at all strangers.
The PCM looks solid – and trouble free.
There are so many great cars here – I think its very difficult to pick one. But I enjoyed seeing "The Pink Pig" in real life.
They had a Euro NCAP crashed Taycan 4S.
And a Taycan battery cell from LG Chem.
Some bits of the museum was like being at a nicely appointed dealer.
It was interesting to see a Formula E car up close.
With both the Mercedes-Benz and Porsche Museum's the buildings that house them are as much a part of the attraction as the exhibits themselves.
Karlsruhe
It was then time to head out of Stuttgart for our new hotel – Hotel Der Blaue Reiter – in Karlsruhe. While it was only around 55km away – it took 1.5 hour due to traffic jams. New hotel is great – even has its own brewery attached to it – shouldn't be too difficult to get a beer tonight!
The days charging stats:
Location Start SOC % End SOC % kWh added Cost Duration Ambient Temp Battery Temp Charger Type Network Mercedes-Benz Museum, Germany 71% 100% 24.237 €0.00 1 hour 12 minutes 18.0 30 AC 22kW None/Free Porsche Museum, Germany 93% 100% 5.85 €0.00 23 minutes 20 32 AC 11kW None/Free
Today we did 117km over 3:58 hours, with an average speed of 30km/h, consuming 21.6 kWh/100km.
Awesome trip report. Thank you for sharing ! Great perspective on owning an EV and enjoying the trip.Day 14: Stuttgart (Germany) -> Karlsruhe (Germany) + Porsche Museum
We are probably the easiest going – roll with it – kind of travellers. When on a trip like this, it is impossible to plan for every eventuality so being flexible is essential to having a successful journey and a good time.
We had planned to stay two nights at our current hotel – Althoff Hotel am Schlossgarten in Stuttgart – but unusually for us – have decided to move on this morning to a new hotel.
The three reasons for the decision – in no particular order – were:
#1 Destination charging
Though the hotel shows up as having EV chargers on hotels.com – the reason I originally booked it – the hotel wrote to me in advance of my stay to say they had no charger compatible with my vehicle.
This turned out to be untrue and there was a standard working Type 2 charger in the hotel underground car park. However, I only stumbled upon it accidentally late at night and by that stage it was blocked by a non-EV car.
This is the only hotel that we failed to get any charge at due to misinformation. Ironic that in the home of Porsche, that we'd experience our first five-star hotel that would be so EV unfriendly.
#2 Rats
There are rats everywhere outside the hotel. We're not talking one or two but dozens at once. At one stage on our attempt to walk to a nearby restaurant there were numerous in front and behind us.
This is not necessarily the fault of the hotel – and might be due to the extensive construction taking place at the nearby main train station – but it was enough to make my co-driver uncomfortable with staying, using the underground car park and generally walking within the local environs around the hotel.
#3 Bar
With such an extensive driving trip – by necessity alcohol isn't a big feature – but we're coming towards near the end of the long driving sections and we thought we'd have a drink at the hotel bar after last nights dinner – only to be told that every empty table/seat was reserved.
Even though we were guests at this 5-star hotel – it was made fairly clear that we were not wanted. Instead, we went back to our room. As I mentioned earlier – we're not too fussy – but I don't like paying to be made feel unwelcome.
Mercedes-Benz Museum
So after check-out we headed to the Mercedes-Benz Museum – in the rain – good timing on having mostly indoor activities today. The car park had plenty of EV chargers free.
The charger started to immediately giving us 20kW of power – that would quickly make up for the lack of destination charging last night. Thank you Mercedes-Benz!
The museum is very impressive and well done. Being that we're here on a wet Thursday morning – its very quiet – which allows us to easily spend time at each exhibit. I think the 1930's cars were the ones that stuck out for me – they have such design flair.
In term's of EV's they had this prototype police car.
And this general concept EV.
Which I thought had some Taycan elements to its design.
And close up of an EV motor and battery components.
Porsche Museum
Then it was on to Porsche Museum – thankfully the rain had stopped at this stage.
Traffic was really heavy in Zuffenhausen and it was difficult to find your way and manoeuvre around the general area.
Parking was easy and there was again tons of chargers. We decided to top up again – as much for the novelty of doing so at Porsche as anything. The chargers only gave 11kW here – half the speed of Mercedes-Benz.
Our Taycan is now parked 100 meters from where it was "born".
Why PIN protect them and then tape the code to the chargers – ? ?
After grabbing some Currywurst in the cafeteria we headed up to the museum proper.
They certainly make a big deal right at the start that Porsche + Electricity are not at all strangers.
The PCM looks solid – and trouble free.
There are so many great cars here – I think its very difficult to pick one. But I enjoyed seeing "The Pink Pig" in real life.
They had a Euro NCAP crashed Taycan 4S.
And a Taycan battery cell from LG Chem.
Some bits of the museum was like being at a nicely appointed dealer.
It was interesting to see a Formula E car up close.
With both the Mercedes-Benz and Porsche Museum's the buildings that house them are as much a part of the attraction as the exhibits themselves.
Karlsruhe
It was then time to head out of Stuttgart for our new hotel – Hotel Der Blaue Reiter – in Karlsruhe. While it was only around 55km away – it took 1.5 hour due to traffic jams. New hotel is great – even has its own brewery attached to it – shouldn't be too difficult to get a beer tonight!
The days charging stats:
Location Start SOC % End SOC % kWh added Cost Duration Ambient Temp Battery Temp Charger Type Network Mercedes-Benz Museum, Germany 71% 100% 24.237 €0.00 1 hour 12 minutes 18.0 30 AC 22kW None/Free Porsche Museum, Germany 93% 100% 5.85 €0.00 23 minutes 20 32 AC 11kW None/Free
Today we did 117km over 3:58 hours, with an average speed of 30km/h, consuming 21.6 kWh/100km.
Certainly, every charger had the same – 0911 – pin.the PIN is because porsche needs every chance they can get to remind you of the 911 ?
Looking forward to it. I'm going to be so sad when this trip ends ... I feel like I've been making my way through Europe with you. Great reports!Black Forest
Have we left the best drive for last ?
Awesome!What's in our frunk?
- Juice Booster 2 Travel Charger
- Travel Charger 5 meter extension cable
- Adaptors:
- UK
- Swiss
- Schuko
- Italian
- 32A 3-phase industrial
- 32A 1-phase industrial
- 16A 3-phase industrial
- 16A 1-phase industrial
- Mennekes branded Type 2 AC Charging Cable
- Porsche Cleaning Kit
- Screenwash
The travel charger handles everything from 3 amp single phase up to 32 amp three phase electricity supplies. It also handles the three phase electrical networks without a neutral – like those found in Norway.
That was my thought too – its my current favourite Porsche colour – so would be great if I have actually seen it "in-the-flesh".Oslo Blue 911?
Location | Start SOC % | End SOC % | kWh added | Cost | Duration | Ambient Temp | Battery Temp | Charger Type | Network |
Porsche Centre Baden-Baden, Germany | 71% | 98% | 27.05 | €23.15 | 28 minutes | 21.0 | 31 | DC 300kW | Porsche Charging Service |
Have truly enjoyed reading your daily posts. Thank you for taking the time. Wonderful format.Day 15: Karlsruhe (Germany) -> Freiburg (Germany)
Getting a little lazier as the trip nears its end – we left our hotel at midday – heading via the B500 through the Black Forest to Freiberg
As we didn't pick up a destination charge last night – we picked hotel at last minute – so the PCM routed us via a charger at Porsche Centre Baden-Baden.
This is the first time that I've used these style of chargers and I found the instructions/UI very easy to understand. They were quick to get started with my Porsche Charging Service card. The good folks at the Porsche Centre noticed us charging and came out to offer coffee/food.
It is worth mentioning that as these chargers are not IONITY – there is both a time and energy consumed aspect to the costs. This helps keep the chargers available – but I think Porsche should drop the time aspect on their own chargers and make them the same cost to use as IONITY - not more expensive as they currently are.
After topping up to 98% – we went into the busy town centre – to Wallstreet in Hamilton – for lunch .
In the town, we saw our first Audi e-tron GT that appeared to be some sort of promotional vehicle.
It was getting late at this stage – so time to head south along the B500 and into the Black Forest.
The scenery was great and the road network here is excellent. However, a combination of trucks, slow traffic and a lot of 70/50 km/h restrictions – limits the sports car enjoyment of this particular route.
We've had plenty of that on this trip so enjoyed the views and kept up to the limits or overtook traffic when the situation allowed.
Due to the time, we didn't stop at any touristy sights – such as the Alternative Wolf and Bear Park Black Forest or the many Cuckoo Clock sellers & manufacturers along the route.
We arrived at our hotel – Dorint Thermenhotel in Freiburg for our last night in Germany.
As its Friday evening - the hotel is busy – and the destination chargers are busy.
One of the cars is a hybrid – so I hope that they won't be plugged in all night. If we can't get a charge here – we'll just grab an IONITY charge tomorrow along our route.
The days charging stats:
Location Start SOC % End SOC % kWh added Cost Duration Ambient Temp Battery Temp Charger Type Network Porsche Centre Baden-Baden, Germany 71% 98% 27.05 €23.15 28 minutes 21.0 31 DC 300kW Porsche Charging Service
Today we did 238km over 5:17 hours, with an average speed of 46km/h, consuming 21.5 kWh/100km.