First Long-Distance Trip In My 3-Week-Old Taycan RWD

[Throb]

Last night my family and I took our first, of what will be regular, long-distance trips across Europe. As it's my first EV, I was obviously keen to find out how the 3-week-old car would handle the mission, and to see how reliable the charging would be.

We set off from our home in the Netherlands at 21:15, with a full charge, and I pre-heated the car. When we departed, the predicted charge at our first intermediate destination (the Channel Tunnel at Calais) was 20%. This was good. I thought I may have had to drop in to the Ionity at the Belgium/France border, but if we arrived with 20% at Calais, I would comfortably be able to delay the charge until we got to the UK at the other side of the Channel Tunnel, where there is an Ionity a few miles after leaving the train.

For the first 90 minutes of the journey, the weather was dry and pleasant. I was really enjoying the air suspension, and the quiet, relaxing ambience. The predicted arrival SoC at Calais remained around 20%, only occasionally dropping to 19%. However, after passing Ghent, it started to rain quite hard, and it carried on raining until we arrived at Calais. The range really took a hit due to the 21" RS Spyder rims not liking the standing water, and it gradually dropped over the next 90 minutes to a predicted SoC at Calais of 10%. I had a choice to make. Do I maintain the current speed and risk cutting the arrival SoC too close, or do I nip into the Ionity for a quick top up at Veurne, just before the French border? I decided to reduce my speed progressively from the 120km/h I was cruising at down to an eventual 90km/h, and avoid having to stop at Veurne. I had a bit of time in my pocket to allow the reduction in speed. Sure enough, we got to the Channel Tunnel with around an 8% SoC, and a range of 25 km. The Ionity after we deboard was about 12 km from the exit of the train.

While on the train, I read up on Zap Map the feedback on the Ionity at Folkestone Services, and it wasn't good. Lots of recent reports of the chargers being out of order. I wasn't too concerned as there was also a Gridserve charger on the same site, so I would use that in an emergency. We left the train on time, and made it to the Ionity chargers with a SoC of 4% and a range of 12 km. I was perfectly comfortable with this. I pulled up to the four Ionity units, two of which were clearly out of order. The one I did choose became out of order once I tried to activate it. So that left me one. Luckily that worked fine, and I started charging via Plug and Charge within 30 seconds of inserting the cable. After around one minute, the power ramped-up to just over 250 KW, and it maintained this until around 50%, where it gradually tapered. My target km was to be around 270 km, as this would allow us to get to our flat in Surrey, and then continue our journey a few days later to the North of England, where I plan to stop at Ionity Milton Keynes.

After 22 mins I got to a SoC of 79% and a range of 274 km. I was impressed with this. In total, we'd travelled 337.3 km and arrived with 4% SoC, which would give a predicted range of around 351 km. I think this is the worst case scenario; in winter, standing water, new car. In the future I will expect more. I was also happy with the Ionity charger. We added 70.19 kWh in 22 mins, which is an average power of 191.4 kW, and meant we added around 12 km range every minute.

Interestingly, as we got to around 60 km range, just one cup holder light went out in order to save energy. I thought it was a faulty light, but then it came back on when I charged in Folkestone. The rest of the ambient lights went off with around 30 km range, and with it the climate control.

Sponsored

 

[proficient_mathematician]

Wow, you really cut it close with 4%! Range anxiety clearly doesn’t get to you. Interested to hear how the rest of the trip goes.

 

[Throb]

Wow, you really cut it close with 4%! Range anxiety clearly doesn’t get to you. Interested to hear how the rest of the trip goes.

Yep! Well, 12 km sounds a lot better than 4%. I wouldn't have done that if there wasn't a "plan B". But yeah, I suppose cutting it fine like that on my first long journey in my first EV, at one o'clock in the morning is quite "ballsy". I was confident it would work out fine.

 

[Jasper4S]

Nice car! I thought you were still doubting between colors, or do you have an allocation for another car?

 

[kempez]

Nice write-up. Sounds like the charging choice was reasonable and 4% is still a decent buffer (as you say: 12 miles sounds a lot better than 4%!).

Are you planning on doing any travelling around the UK? Selfishly, I'd certainly be interested in your experiences!

 

[Throb]

Nice car! I thought you were still doubting between colors, or do you have an allocation for another car?

I have an allocation for a GTS ST due to be built in June next year. I'm kinda settled on Mamba Green for that.

Nice write-up. Sounds like the charging choice was reasonable and 4% is still a decent buffer (as you say: 12 miles sounds a lot better than 4%!).

Are you planning on doing any travelling around the UK? Selfishly, I'd certainly be interested in your experiences!

Yeah. Monday night we're driving from Surrey (near SW London) up to Leeds. Then across to Lancashire, northwest of Manchester and back again to Leeds. Then finally a long drive from Leeds to Maastricht.


I'll add my experiences to this thread at various stages.

 

[f1eng]

I'll add my experiences to this thread at various stages.

I’ll be very interested too.
I was brought up in the Fylde, live in Oxfordshire now and have a daughter living on Anglesey who will be our first trip in the Taycan too.

 

[Throb]

I’ll be very interested too.
I was brought up in the Fylde, live in Oxfordshire now and have a daughter living on Anglesey who will be our first trip in the Taycan too.

For a legend like yourself, Frank, it’ll be my pleasure! Next time I drive it will be Monday evening from Surrey to Leeds. I plan to make one stop to charge at the Ionity Milton Keynes. Full details to come!

 

[Throb]

@f1eng Here's an update on my long journey, which hopefully gives you some useful info for your trip to Anglesey. And good luck with your pick-up today! Enjoy it, and post some photos asap.


So, I'm in Leeds now after driving from Surrey on Monday evening. This journey didn't go quite as well as the one from Holland to Surrey.

We left Surrey at 21:28 with 39% charge and a predicted range of 134 km, which placed the Ionity chargers just off the M1 at Milton Keynes comfortably within range, as they were 102 km away according to the sat nav, which also predicted a SoC on reaching them of 10%. I set the cruise around the M25 and up the M1 at 100 km/h, and we arrived at the chargers 1 hour 12 minutes later, with 11% battery charge and a remaining range of 35 km. Three of the four chargers were occupied, with one of those occupied by an unattended car with the owner nowhere to be seen for the entire length of my visit and the car already fully charged. That would have been really annoying for someone to turn up after me, unable to charge straight away because some inconsiderate ignoramus has parked their car for the night. Anyway, I plugged in and Plug & Charge worked flawlessly again, with the charge starting within 30 seconds after I simply plugged in the cable. However, the power started at 76 kW and slowly went down. After 5 mins it started to climb again, but very slowly. I unplugged 15 mins later with the power now at 149 kW. Even though it had increased, I wanted to try a different charger. The person next to me pulled out and I swapped bays. I plugged in again and immediately got 149 kW...but it never went above that, and slowly decreased to 100 kW. In total I was parked for 39 minutes across two chargers, and put in 70.36 kWh, which meant an average power of 108.2 kW. Not bad, but not the 252 kW I was getting a few days earlier at Folkestone. I unplugged at 85% battery, which allowed me a little buffer to get to Leeds, 241.3 km north of Milton Keynes. I cruised at 120 km/h, and arrived in Leeds at 01:40, 2 hours and 16 mins after leaving MIlton Keynes. The consumption was 25.6 kWh/100km.

The journey was very comfortable. The Porsche is lovely to drive.

I charged for 5 hours and 29 minutes at my mum's house on the 7.4 kW charger, and added 42.49 kWh before setting off across the Pennines to Preston at 07:15 later that morning. I got to Preston in just under two hours without needing a charge. It is now sitting in my detailers unit, fully machine polished and ceramic coated. I will pick it up tomorrow lunchtime and drive back to Leeds. It currently has a SoC of 22% and a remaining range of 70 km. I'll stop at the Ionity chargers just off the M65 at Blackburn, about 15 km east of Preston.

So, I'm still very happy with the Taycan. What I do like is the very accurate predictions for the SoC at the destination. This makes charging for a particular journey much easier. The relatively slow charging at Milton Keynes was disappointing. I was navigating to the chargers, but I don't think the car pre-heated the battery, which could explain the slow charge. Just so I'm clear, I have to have the Ionity charger as the destination? Am I doing anything wrong, because it was the destination?

 

[McgR]

So, I'm in Leeds now after driving from Surrey on Monday evening. This journey didn't go quite as well as the one from Holland to Surrey.

We left Surrey at 21:28 with 39% charge and a predicted range of 134 km, which placed the Ionity chargers just off the M1 at Milton Keynes comfortably within range, as they were 102 km away according to the sat nav, which also predicted a SoC on reaching them of 10%. I set the cruise around the M25 and up the M1 at 100 km/h, and we arrived at the chargers 1 hour 12 minutes later, with 11% battery charge and a remaining range of 35 km. Three of the four chargers were occupied, with one of those occupied by an unattended car with the owner nowhere to be seen for the entire length of my visit and the car already fully charged. That would have been really annoying for someone to turn up after me, unable to charge straight away because some inconsiderate ignoramus has parked their car for the night. Anyway, I plugged in and Plug & Charge worked flawlessly again, with the charge starting within 30 seconds after I simply plugged in the cable. However, the power started at 76 kW and slowly went down. After 5 mins it started to climb again, but very slowly. I unplugged 15 mins later with the power now at 149 kW. Even though it had increased, I wanted to try a different charger. The person next to me pulled out and I swapped bays. I plugged in again and immediately got 149 kW...but it never went above that, and slowly decreased to 100 kW. In total I was parked for 39 minutes across two chargers, and put in 70.36 kWh, which meant an average power of 108.2 kW. Not bad, but not the 252 kW I was getting a few days earlier at Folkestone. I unplugged at 85% battery, which allowed me a little buffer to get to Leeds, 241.3 km north of Milton Keynes. I cruised at 120 km/h, and arrived in Leeds at 01:40, 2 hours and 16 mins after leaving MIlton Keynes. The consumption was 25.6 kWh/100km.

The journey was very comfortable. The Porsche is lovely to drive.

I charged for 5 hours and 29 minutes at my mum's house on the 7.4 kW charger, and added 42.49 kWh before setting off across the Pennines to Preston at 07:15 later that morning. I got to Preston in just under two hours without needing a charge. It is now sitting in my detailers unit, fully machine polished and ceramic coated. I will pick it up tomorrow lunchtime and drive back to Leeds. It currently has a SoC of 22% and a remaining range of 70 km. I'll stop at the Ionity chargers just off the M65 at Blackburn, about 15 km east of Preston.

So, I'm still very happy with the Taycan, but the relatively slow charging at Milton Keynes was disappointing. I was navigating to the chargers, but I don't think the car pre-heated the battery, which could explain the slow charge. Just so I'm clear, I have to have the Ionity charger as the destination? Am I doing anything wrong, because it was the destination?

PCM has to schedule it as a charging stop. So it has to show in PCM that it is scheduling a chariging stop for x minutes en y kWh and will also show the total number and free chargers. If you just put in the address without pcm knowing it has to charge it won’t precondition. I have seen temperatures up to 40 deg C

 

[McgR]

If I want to specific charge stop I enter the address and select look for chargers near this destination. It will the show the same location but now as a charger and it will use this. Kind a strange but if I enter Ionity Wetteren, it will navigate to that location but doesn’t always use it as a charge stop.

how did you navigate? Did youfirst chose Ionity as your final destination? And then entered the second destination? That might be the problem. The car has to know where you want go.

If I do a longer trip I enter the final destination. Let PIRM do the calculations. I check if this is about the same as ABRP suggests en if I want a specific charger to be sure to have Ionity I enter it as mentioned above.

by the way really anti socialthe guy that leaves his car all night at the charger. Ionity also charged per minute but not when connected with Porsche card.

 

[Throb]

PCM has to schedule it as a charging stop. So it has to show in PCM that it is scheduling a chariging stop for x minutes en y kWh and will also show the total number and free chargers. If you just put in the address without pcm knowing it has to charge it won’t precondition. I have seen temperatures up to 40 deg C

Interesting. I'm driving today around 100 km, and I'll need to charge at an Ionity, so I'll try putting my final destination in and letting it schedule a stop at Ionity and see if it pre-conditions the battery.

If I want to specific charge stop I enter the address and select look for chargers near this destination. It will the show the same location but now as a charger and it will use this. Kind a strange but if I enter Ionity Wetteren, it will navigate to that location but doesn’t always use it as a charge stop.

how did you navigate? Did youfirst chose Ionity as your final destination? And then entered the second destination? That might be the problem. The car has to know where you want go.

I knew I wanted a specific Ionity location, so I just put in the destination after searching for chargers. If I understand you correctly, I should have put in my final destination and it let schedule the stop itself at the Ionity along the way, then it would have pre-conditioned the battery?

by the way really anti socialthe guy that leaves his car all night at the charger. Ionity also charged per minute but not when connected with Porsche card.

That's interesting. I'm not sure it even charged. The car was plugged in, but the charger screen just had the welcome screen up. It hadn't even been charging. I'm wondering if he was trying to make it look he was charging, but in reality was trying to get free parking for the night? The chargers are next to a large park and ride car park.

 

[McgR]

Interesting. I'm driving today around 100 km, and I'll need to charge at an Ionity, so I'll try putting my final destination in and letting it schedule a stop at Ionity and see if it pre-conditions the battery.




I knew I wanted a specific Ionity location, so I just put in the destination after searching for chargers. If I understand you correctly, I should have put in my final destination and it let schedule the stop itself at the Ionity along the way, then it would have pre-conditioned the battery?



That's interesting. I'm not sure it even charged. The car was plugged in, but the charger screen just had the welcome screen up. It hadn't even been charging. I'm wondering if he was trying to make it look he was charging, but in reality was trying to get free parking for the night? The chargers are next to a large park and ride car park.

Yes if you only put in the charger and navigate there it will think it is your final destination and it won’t pre condition. It needs to know you need to charge there.

so put in your final destination, let pcm calculate the route and suggest a charger. If it is not the one you wanted, add the Ionity as a stop over and see if it now uses this one as a charge stop. This works often. If it doesn’t you can chose show chargers near this location and it will use it.

 

[tigerbalm]

While on the train, I read up on Zap Map the feedback on the Ionity at Folkestone Services, and it wasn't good.

From IONITY support in August – would have hopped it would be resolved by now.

 

[Throb]

From IONITY support in August – would have hopped it would be resolved by now.

Thanks for the info. I wonder if that's why I seem to have had a free charge at Folkestone? Still hasn't appeared in my Porsche Charging Service account, and yet the other Ionity charges did immediately. The charge at Folkestone was super quick and worked flawlessly, however.

Sponsored