Dslev
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- David
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2021
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 146
- Reaction score
- 73
- Location
- California
- Vehicles
- 2021 Taycan Turbo
I just made the trip from LA to Vegas. Here are my thoughts: Elevation is a killer, but if you use "Range Mode" the car will monitor and adjust vehicle features and charging along the way, as long as you map the route using the PCM (it works quite well). Use Range mode and activate (forgot the name) the feature that allows the car to shut down or modify functions to extend range automatically, it's a toggle right below "plug and charge" in the PCM. Barstow Walmart has a ton of chargers, and four 350KW charges, very quick. Put your A/C to eco, it should do it automatically in Range Mode, mine didn't always, and turn off the passenger display. One feature that is useful, when you map the route, you can choose the charge you want the car to be at when you reach your destination, I chose 35%, so my charge in Barstow was extended by 15 minutes. The computer will adjust the final charge a bit depending on your travels. I kept my speed at 78. Plug and Charge worked really well, plug in and it begins to charge, no app needed. Good LuckTLDR
I ran my battery to zero and had to be towed. A few insights and questions follow.
Background
I make the trip between San Diego and Las Vegas quite frequently. The first leg of the eastbound trip is from my apartment in San Diego to an Electrify America in a little town called Hesperia up in the mountains. The trip is 130 miles.
I always drive in Sport Plus mode, Normal suspension, Normal ride height. When I begin the trip, the car always tells me that I have 200 miles of range left. So in other words, I give myself a 70 mile cushion. Despite ostensibly having 70 excess miles to work with, I always roll into the Hesperia EA with a low but comfortable 11 miles of range remaining.
The elevation of my start point in San Diego is near zero. The elevation in Hesperia is 3,100 ft so the trip is net uphill. I normally travel at around 75 mph.
Differences this Trip
I left earlier this time. Very little traffic. Average speed was in the 90's. It was 45 degrees outside. Chilly for Southern California I suppose, but by no means extreme.
Car hit 0 miles of range with a "park car immediately" message in Hesperia, six miles from my destination. I pulled into a Chevron and got a tow truck to get me the remaining six miles to my charger.
What it's like to be a Moron while Driving
At around 15% you get a friendly message telling you to mind your range. You've all seen that one. At somewhere around 5% you get a more sternly worded message indicating to charge immediately. This wasn't an option for me. It's not like there were any other chargers nearby according to my PlugShare app. The lowest number on the range indicator is 3 miles. You don't see 2 or 1. It goes from 3 immediately to a double dash ("--") for some reason. So it cheats you out of two miles. On the main console it shows zero:
A turtle icon appears on the screen which I assume is Taycan's way of saying, "I'll let you drive a tiny bit more but I'm going to make your life difficult until you feed me."
What it's like to be a Moron while Waiting for the Tow Truck
I had a fair amount of time to think about my poor choices. I initially thought, "I'm going to take one for the team. I'll drive slowly along this isolated/safe road in the direction of my EA charger, see how many miles past zero I can get before it quits, and report back to the Taycan forum with a result. After all, the closer I get the less distance I'll have to be towed, and who knows, it's only six miles to the charger so maybe I'll make it."
After doing a bit of Googling I decided against it. I read that you can damage your battery driving past zero and if you truly hit "real" zero your battery is permanently killed. So I just waited at Chevron for the tow.
Some Findings
There's so much contradictory information out there but from what I gather, there're two types of zero: FakeZero and RealZero. At FakeZero, there's still 15% SOC available which means that had I kept blasting toward my destination, presumably I would've made it, albeit in turtle mode. But driving below FakeZero damages the battery and isn't recommended. If you get to RealZero, your battery is toast.
There are posts on this site indicating that if you plug in to charge at 0%, the charge rate is ridiculously slow due to "preconditioning" that must take place first. This is false, at least at FakeZero. I plugged in at FakeZero and instantly started getting 250kW. In the time it took me to take a lap around Walmart and use the restroom, I was back at 80% SOC and I was on my way.
It's More Common than You Think
I asked my tow driver how often he tows EVs that stall out due to lack of charge. He said I was the first Porsche he's handled but he tows Tesla drivers all the time. And they, like me, all seem to stall out in the same place, after that big uphill climb leading into Hesperia. They check their range prior to the hill, it looks ok, they attempt the hill and run out of juice. And each time they tell the tow driver, "Man, I really thought I could make it." I think I said the same thing to him.
When I showed up at Electrify America there was a nice guy charging his ID4 who saw the my car being unloaded from the tow truck. He said, "How many miles short were you?" I told him six and he said that sounds about right. He'd had the same experience.
Negative Effects?
The car seems healthy with one notable exception. Now, when I charge to 100%, the range shows 189 instead of 207 (in Sport Plus mode). Not sure why the drop. Could it be that I damaged the battery? Possibly. But another possibility is that the range estimator simply reset itself. When I first got the car in June 2021, the 100% range was pegged to 189 miles then gradually crept up as I continued driving. Hopefully that'll happen again. We'll see.
Closing Questions and Thoughts
When I left San Diego, I had a 70 mile surplus (200 miles of range to cover 130 miles of distance) but that 70 mile surplus turned out to be a six mile deficit! That's a pretty big miscalculation. I assume the factors involved were: (a) 90+ cruising speed, (b) net uphill from 0 to 3,100 ft, (c) 45 degree temperature. Which of these is the most important factor? I'm not sure. The range estimator had no idea what my average speed was going to be, nor the fact that a major uphill climb was imminent so I can't really blame the tech. But is there some mathematical formula I can manually use myself to scale down the estimated range based on elevation differential, intended speed, etc.? Nothing exact of course but something rough maybe? I can't lie. Being able to drive only 124 miles on a near full charge kind of bums me out.
My fellow charger at EA was telling me that Tesla owners have the option to purchase this thing where if you run out of juice, you plug it into your car and you can get another few miles. That would've saved me, although man, it must be super heavy to carry around in your trunk. Anyway, does Porsche offer something like this?
Would there be any meaningful range benefit from setting the ride height to Low while on the freeway?
Thanks for listening and don't forget to check your range.
Range mode also drops the vehicle more than normal and adjusts the rear wing, all to minimize drag, looks cool dropped to the ground. Make sure when you pull up to charge you lift the car, don't want to hit a parking block.
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Instead of driving to the gas station.
... If all cars were this solid, both dealers and manufacturers would be less profitable 
