T4S: Onboard charger fried during power surge

[911Taycan]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post - please allow some lenience in case this topic has another thread already opened.

I own a Taycan 4S 2022 with performance battery, built in 2022.
I live in Greece and as you may appreciate the summer months can get particularly hot and as a result the AC units in my home are working overtime.

The power in my home is 3phase and I have installed a home charger with all the relevant protections.

While I was charging my car the power went out and as a result I got the attached message the next morning.
I took the car to the dealership and they told me that the onboard charger was fried by the potential surge. Thankfully the car is under warranty as this is a 3k job, however this situation has made me skeptical.

My question here is whether this is a plausible scenario and if so if it is reasonable for a 150k car to have zero protection from this sort of issue.

I'd love to get your thoughts on this.
Cheers

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[tigerbalm]

Is it the 11kW or 22kW AC charger in your car?

 

[911Taycan]

Is it the 11kW or 22kW AC charger in your car?

22kW on-board AC charger and 22kW home charger.

 

[tigerbalm]

In general the 22kW on-board charger has proven itself to be more brittle. I've gone through at least four of them – however my latest Taycan has been solid and still on the factory one.

Just mentioning as it has a bit of a history – and on this forum – I've probably been one of the more impacted.

My opinion is that the car should be capable of protecting itself from electrical faults in the grid and it has fuses on-board to protect itself. However, the focus of the fuses is more to do with cutting off power and limiting risk in a crash scenario then power surges in the grid.

It would be interesting to find out from the dealer:

1. Have Porsche requested they send the damaged unit back to them? If they have, it is a sign that Porsche want to understand what happened. Many of my failed units went back to Porsche AG.
2. Was it a fuse that blew or something else in the on-board charger? It might be hard for a dealer to know this – as they tend to treat these units as "black boxes" that are either working or not.

So the question is: did you just get unlucky and its a one off – or if what happened is regular during summer months are you at risk of future failures?

 

[911Taycan]

In general the 22kW on-board charger has proven itself to be more brittle. I've gone through at least four of them – however my latest Taycan has been solid and still on the factory one.

Just mentioning as it has a bit of a history – and on this forum – I've probably been one of the more impacted.

My opinion is that the car should be capable of protecting itself from electrical faults in the grid and it has fuses on-board to protect itself. However, the focus of the fuses is more to do with cutting off power and limiting risk in a crash scenario then power surges in the grid.

It would be interesting to find out from the dealer:

1. Have Porsche requested they send the damaged unit back to them? If they have, it is a sign that Porsche want to understand what happened. Many of my failed units went back to Porsche AG.
2. Was it a fuse that blew or something else in the on-board charger? It might be hard for a dealer to know this – as they tend to treat these units as "black boxes" that are either working or not.

So the question is: did you just get unlucky and its a one off – or if what happened is regular during summer months are you at risk of future failures?

Thank you for your comments @tigerbalm !
From my first discussion with the dealer I think their approach is exactly as you put it, a "black box" that does not work so they replace it under warranty and get it over with.

When I asked them if they have seen this before they replied that they have seen it a couple of more times to which my response was "I find it improbable that Porsche have not reacted or found a solution to this issue". My response, however, fell on deaf ears.

I will ask them if Porsche AG requested the out of order unit be sent back to them and will keep the thread updated with anything else I gather.

Thanks again.

 

[tigerbalm]

Also the 22kW chargers are Made in Ireland (in Mallow, Co. Cork) and we don't have anything that resembles a summer here – and therefore have a rock solid electrical grid!

"What is Air Conditioning?"

?

 

[BigBob]

In general the 22kW on-board charger has proven itself to be more brittle. I've gone through at least four of them – however my latest Taycan has been solid and still on the factory one.

Just mentioning as it has a bit of a history – and on this forum – I've probably been one of the more impacted.

My opinion is that the car should be capable of protecting itself from electrical faults in the grid and it has fuses on-board to protect itself. However, the focus of the fuses is more to do with cutting off power and limiting risk in a crash scenario then power surges in the grid.

It would be interesting to find out from the dealer:

1. Have Porsche requested they send the damaged unit back to them? If they have, it is a sign that Porsche want to understand what happened. Many of my failed units went back to Porsche AG.
2. Was it a fuse that blew or something else in the on-board charger? It might be hard for a dealer to know this – as they tend to treat these units as "black boxes" that are either working or not.

So the question is: did you just get unlucky and its a one off – or if what happened is regular during summer months are you at risk of future failures?

What he said! They have an upgraded 22kw unit that they fit as replacement now (and/or different software - i cut remember) . They initially told anyone with the existing unit to throttle back AC charging speed to 7kws until they solved the design issue. If yours hasn't been in for the recall since you bought it, then it's probably just the onboard unit being not really fit for purpose.

Mine just packed up because it felt like it. Stopped charging on AC but would still charge on DC. Was a quick fix as dealership had the part.

 

[simcity]

No consolation, but I had to replace the OBC in my old Tesla MX. It wasn’t cheap. Basically the protection fuses had blown. Tesla don’t offer a repair. Only replace. There are third parties that now repair these things. I know of one in Croatia and another in the UK.

 

[SpaceMaster]

@911Taycan It probably was the onboard charger that caused the breakers to open in your house, and not the other way around. It is a common issue with the early 22KW onboard chargers and the ones they fit now have a different part number. I've had mine replaced under warranty and the failure was very similar to what you are describing.

 

[SemPan]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post - please allow some lenience in case this topic has another thread already opened.

I own a Taycan 4S 2022 with performance battery, built in 2022.
I live in Greece and as you may appreciate the summer months can get particularly hot and as a result the AC units in my home are working overtime.

The power in my home is 3phase and I have installed a home charger with all the relevant protections.

While I was charging my car the power went out and as a result I got the attached message the next morning.
I took the car to the dealership and they told me that the onboard charger was fried by the potential surge. Thankfully the car is under warranty as this is a 3k job, however this situation has made me skeptical.

My question here is whether this is a plausible scenario and if so if it is reasonable for a 150k car to have zero protection from this sort of issue.

I'd love to get your thoughts on this.
Cheers

This error is common on models with a 22 kW on-board charger, not necessarily a failure of the latter from voltage surges. On my Taycan Turbo, this unit was replaced after 1.5 years of operation and this error has already appeared twice on the new one. The first time disappeared 30 minutes after the car was closed, and this morning after the car was turned off and on. Due to power surges, the wall charger may fail, I got out after a strong thunderstorm and a surge in the mains, and the voltage is not supplied to the car after disconnecting the network immediately.

 

[buhhy]

What he said! They have an upgraded 22kw unit that they fit as replacement now (and/or different software - i cut remember) . They initially told anyone with the existing unit to throttle back AC charging speed to 7kws until they solved the design issue. If yours hasn't been in for the recall since you bought it, then it's probably just the onboard unit being not really fit for purpose.

Mine just packed up because it felt like it. Stopped charging on AC but would still charge on DC. Was a quick fix as dealership had the part.

Interesting! My 22kw charger just failed recently and I had to push my car out of a multi-story parking lot to get towed. I hope there's an upgraded version as this issue was quite inconvenient and I'd like to experience it again.

 

[BigBob]

Interesting! My 22kw charger just failed recently and I had to push my car out of a multi-story parking lot to get towed. I hope there's an upgraded version as this issue was quite inconvenient and I'd like to experience it again.

Wow! Are you an Olympic power lifter, or the Rock or something?

Hope they get it fixed quickly for you. There shouldn’t be the shortage on parts anymore I guess.

 

[buhhy]

Wow! Are you an Olympic power lifter, or the Rock or something?

Hope they get it fixed quickly for you. There shouldn’t be the shortage on parts anymore I guess.

Not at all ?, took 2 of us to barely push it. One person can't move the car at all. Supposedly the parts should be in by next Monday. Hopefully nothing else wrong with it.

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