Write to Porsche NA CEO re: Mobile Charger Connect

[Mr. 2021 Taycan]

The Porsche Mobile Charger Connect does not meet its published specifications and needs to be replaced by Porsche.

The letter I wrote to the Porsche NA CEO is below. I encourage others with this charger to write.

October 16, 2022

Mr. Kjell Gruner
President and Chief Executive Officer
Porsche Cars North America
One Porsche Drive
Atlanta, GA 30354-5313

Dear Mr. Gruner,

I am the owner of a 2021 Porsche Taycan 4S with the Performance Battery Plus, VIN XXXXXXXXXXXXX, I recently received a letter from Porsche NA regarding the WMP2 Campaign to “Rework Charging Electronics for Porsche Mobile Charger.”

I am writing to ask that Porsche take all steps necessary so that those with Mobile Charger Connect devices having suitable electric service can reliably realize the maximum 9.6 kW of AC power delivered to the Taycan battery as specified.

Prior to my purchase, I had a dedicated 50 Amp electric circuit installed to accommodate the Porsche Mobile Charger Connect per its published specifications, including use of a NEMA 14-50 plug as included with the charger. I recall my electrician measuring 42 Amps delivered at the wall plug when installed.

Over the past 20 months, I had the charger device set to accept 40 Amps and routinely realized maximum charging power of 9.2 kW until a few days ago. This power delivery equates to 40 Amps at 230 Volts, within the capacity of the circuit and within the specification of the Mobile Charger Connect. I never experienced any charging errors or apparent overheating until recently, when Porsche remotely updated the Mobile Charger Connect software.

Since acquisition, I have routinely used a profile that limits charging to 85% of battery capacity. Presuming this charging limit relates to usable battery capacity, I am charging to 85% of 83.7 kWh, or 71.1 kWh. So, at 9.2 kW I was able to charge the battery from 10% to 85% in about 7 hours ((71.1-7.11)/9.2).

After reading the letter about the WMP2 campaign and checking information on the Internet, I connected the charger and noted it was set to only accept 20 Amps and was delivering total charging power of 4.2 kW, confirming that Porsche had remotely updated the charger software.

At 4.2 kW it would take about 15 hours to charge from 10% to 85%. This amount of time is not acceptable and is materially different than what you represent to your customers. “Full charge in up to 9.5 hours with the Performance Battery/10.5 hours with the Performance Battery Plus.” At 4.2 kW it would take 18 hours to get a “full charge” of 83.7 kW.

Operating the charger at 20 Amps effectively DOUBLES at home charging time.

The Taycan is specified to accept 11 kW of AC while the Mobile Charger Connect is specified to deliver 9.6 kW. Why should any customer accept 4.2 kW and why would Porsche force this on your customers without explanation and remediation?

The letter regarding WMP2 references the potential of overheating NEMA plugs. I never experienced any issue over 20 months. But, after the software update I am.

I manually increased the power on the Mobile Charger Connect, setting it back to 40 Amps and continued the charging session, noting total charging power was shown as 8.4 kW. I received a “charging error” after several minutes. I disconnected then reconnected the charger to initiate a new session and again received a charging error after several minutes of charging activity. I then set the charger to 20 Amps and completed the charging session after several hours with no further errors. Given the absence of issues when charging at 40 Amps over the first 20 months of ownership, it seems possible that charging software in the Taycan itself has also been updated and contributes to the charging errors now being seen. Can you offer an explanation?

This experience has me baffled as to Porsche’s business values. I would appreciate your attention to what is clearly a material product defect.

Please resolve this issue in the interests of your customers.

Yours Truly,





References:

https://www.porsche.com/usa/aboutporsche/e-performance/charging-bev/#road~open

https://files.porsche.com/filestore...e-Mobile-Charger-Connect-Operating-Manual.pdf

https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/products/taycan/charging-18558.html

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[daveo4EV]

good letter - the bold section about reducing resell value is a strech since vehicile can still charge at 9.6/11kW via non-Porsche EVSE's which are affordable and plentiful

but it's a good letter.

 

[Mr. 2021 Taycan]

good letter - the bold section about reducing resell value is a strech since vehicile can still charge at 9.6/11kW via non-Porsche EVSE's which are affordable and plentiful

but it's a good letter.

Thanks for the observation. I edited the letter before it got in the mail.

 

[Reg]

Thanks for the observation. I edited the letter before it got in the mail.

Mail? People still use that?
Is there no email contact someone can find? Or the head of PR, Marketing, Customer Relations, heck even the Investor's Relation group.

 

[Mr. 2021 Taycan]

Mail? People still use that?
Is there no email contact someone can find? Or the head of PR, Marketing, Customer Relations, heck even the Investor's Relation group.

[email protected]

Yes, a real letter. The email address just gets a lip service response.

 

[Mr. 2021 Taycan]

Received this response to my letter from Porsche NA by phone and email:

"Per our conversation today; Charging the vehicle over 20 amps is a safety issue.

The engineers are currently working on a solution and the WMP2 campaign is a temporary fix."

This implies that Porsche NA intends to resolve any safety issue and provide full 40 AMP compatibility to the Porsche Mobile Charger Connect. When? I have no idea.

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