-4 and the heater kaput… wish me luck

[alexsas]

I am due to drive 1000kms back to the UK… endurance test ahead… and it looks like broken heater causes max charge limit of 30kw… oh well, thank you, Porsche, for a wonderful car…

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[RBGtaycan]

May the wind be at your back! ..and may the lord give you patience and electrons! Good luck

 

[FlyingPoint]

Beyond unreal, this whole heater thing is shameful from any OEM much less Porsche. This reminds me of the old days with British Leyland electronics and that was 50 years ago. Perhaps Porsche should go back to the old VW beetle heater - there was nothing electrical. Simply pull the lever on the floor and you had heat.

 

[McgR]

I have been on holidays with the Taycan 5 times. Three times skiing. This is my real nightmare. I was lucky until now that the heater broke in 2022 three weeks before the holidays and the onboard charger this year 2 days before departure.

good luck on your trip back. Let us know how it goes.

ps I would probably call Porsche assistance to provide alerernative transportation and get your car back to the UK. Like this it is hardly drivable cold inside, fogging up windows and extreme low charge speed

 

[alexsas]

Thank you all for your kind words, I have now called Porsche assistance who initially told me that heater is not covered, but then they saw the weather they agreed that it is a problem… waiting for them to turn up…

 

[Gareth Swain]

Lost my heater in Les Arcs back in 21. Heated seats were a god send. Don’t recall any charging issues. Good luck

 

[alexsas]

What is annoying that in my 6 months of ownership the car has been 5 times to the dealer, and every time they would religiously note down in big red letters that my winter tyres are not NF0 spec, but they only scheduled the heater recall for July for me. Knowing all the time that the car travels to the cold places… oh well.

In the meantime got a call from a French breakdown bloke who couldn’t speak English, and I couldn’t speak French. Let’s see…

 

[alexsas]

Lost my heater in Les Arcs back in 21. Heated seats were a god send. Don’t recall any charging issues. Good luck

It’s been very cold here… I understand the “heater” heats up both battery and the cabin, so I went to Ionity (with all seats and steering wheel on full heat), but it won’t do more than 30kw…. I was thinking if I drive it harder the battery might heat itself naturally, but I don’t want to risk turning a 12 hour journey into a 24 hour one….

In despair I almost bought boot warmers (little packets that somehow become warm when activated) because my feet were freezing , but it was crossing the misery line of traveling in a £150k car…. Maybe I will laugh about it one day

 

[alexsas]

Two very nice chaps came on a truck and took the Taycan away.

the Porsche assistance promised to bring the car to England, and to buy me the tickets and taxi. Fingers crossed…

 

[JP_21]

I know it's no consolation (and not particularly helpful) but even on the back of the recovery truck your car looks amazing! And so clean, given the weather.

 

[alexsas]

I know it's no consolation (and not particularly helpful) but even on the back of the recovery truck your car looks amazing! And so clean, given the weather.

Thank you… that’s the only thing that holds me back from throwing in a towel…

 

[alexsas]

Just wanted to share an interesting observation about how things seem to work…

when I started my downhill journey with 99% battery and broken heater, recuperation will stop working after the first attempt at injecting some energy into battery. I.e. it will try to recuperate once and then it won’t happen again until the battery charge drops to about 90%. This single recuperation attempt will happen after the circling ignition on/off.

so my theory is that recuperation is not clever enough to know that the heater is broken despite the error code present (otherwise it wouldn’t even try to recuperate), but when the system feels the energy surge it will stop the regen. It looks like when the battery is full the excess energy goes into the heating system.

it is probably a very nurdy post, but I thought it was interesting.

the borderline dangerous thing is that the brake pedal behaviour is VERY different without the regeneration, so it made for a couple of hairy moments going downhill until I relearn it… but when the charge level drops so it can feed the battery the regen is suddenly back and it surprises you again. Not sure they thought it all through…

 

[alexsas]

a sad update. After a week of no news, I called the Porsche breakdown to be told they won't be doing anything because "the car is driveable" and no heating is no issue for them. Neither is the issue that they promised it will be recovered having the description of the issue, nor their recovery peoples' assessment had any relevance...

Oh well... waiting for a call from 'a manager'...

 

[Scandinavian]

Just wanted to share an interesting observation about how things seem to work…

when I started my downhill journey with 99% battery and broken heater, recuperation will stop working after the first attempt at injecting some energy into battery. I.e. it will try to recuperate once and then it won’t happen again until the battery charge drops to about 90%. This single recuperation attempt will happen after the circling ignition on/off.

That fact is well known! No recuperation at High SoC! Where would the system put the energy? It is the same in a Tesla model 3performance, BMW i4 and the Taycan.

I get that all the time when setting off on a longer road trip and charging the battery to 95 or 100%. I live 500 meters above sea level and going downhill I need to use the friction brakes.
If you however have a different feel on the brake pedal with high DoC, I think you need to visit the dealer to check it. I have never experienced any difference between recuperation or physical brakes.

 

[Scandinavian]

a sad update. After a week of no news, I called the Porsche breakdown to be told they won't be doing anything because "the car is driveable" and no heating is no issue for them. Neither is the issue that they promised it will be recovered having the description of the issue, nor their recovery peoples' assessment had any relevance...

Oh well... waiting for a call from 'a manager'...

Was that Porsche France that said they would not do anything. In that case get on to a higher level of support because that is BS! Porsche Assistance in France have twice towed my car to the dealer because of the faulty heater.

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