Charging service renewal & Porsche Connect

[Rik_CT4s]

I am about to consider renewing the Porsche Charging Service....and to my surprise the free option has disappeared.
See below the new tariff options (Netherlands). There are many alternatives out there, I do not get this strategy to keep pushing for subscriptions while there are too many Taycan issues that are not addressed adequately (software, updates, technical issues...).
I charge at home and visit sometimes a DC station during holidays. But with these tariffs I will give it a pass.

I will however consider the Porsche Connect service though, yet undecided.

Porsche has caused quite some Taycan owners an unpleasant experience (recalls, issues, etc.), however Porsche keeps marching on selling subscriptions that in my opinion should be extended for free (at least the Porsche Connect service).

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[Scandinavian]

I am about to consider renewing the Porsche Charging Service....and to my surprise the free option has disappeared.
See below the new tariff options (Netherlands). There are many alternatives out there, I do not get this strategy to keep pushing for subscriptions while there are too many Taycan issues that are not addressed adequately (software, updates, technical issues...).
I charge at home and visit sometimes a DC station during holidays. But with these tariffs I will give it a pass.

I will however consider the Porsche Connect service though, yet undecided.

Porsche has caused quite some Taycan owners an unpleasant experience (recalls, issues, etc.), however Porsche keeps marching on selling subscriptions that in my opinion should be extended for free (at least the Porsche Connect service).

If you mainly charge at home and only occasionally use HPC charging, then there are many better alternatives out there. Both Tesla subscription for a few summer months holiday driving will save a lot of money. Ionity also have some very good rates. But of course then you will not have the “”ease of being able to use all the 600,000 charge points “”

I have certainly cancelled my subscription and have an Ionity plan for both our Taycan and i4 now.

 

[Jasper4S]

Damm, those prizes are a no go. If you charge at home mainly I would suggest to get an Anwb card without the Monthly fee and a small increase in charging costs when you use HPC. Or maybe even pay with credit/debit card at HPC stations

 

[Donar]

LOL

Pay 7,99 per month and then 0,89 for fast charging. While directly at Ionity or Fastned you pay 0,69.

 

[Jasper4S]

I changed my mind today. To be fair, I don’t expect the Porsche Charging Service to be cheaper than others. Porsche is selling a service/experience, so invoices, history etc is well logged in the MyPorsche app. I probably will keep it for this reason. Luckily my three year free trial is good for another one and a half years. I accept the higher rates and I enjoy the thought of having just one app, and thus one provider billing me for charging my vehicle. Expensive; yes. convenient; yes.

The service totally fits todays subscriptions like HelloFresh, Booking.com and Netflix etc. It is not cheaper, but saves you a lot of time and is convenient to use. It is not for everyone.

 

[tigerbalm]

I was surprised to see the IONITY rates are much worse on Audi Charging Service considering its monthly subscription pricing.

Even at €15.99/month you are going to pay 50c at IONITY.

 

[Scandinavian]

I changed my mind today. To be fair, I don’t expect the Porsche Charging Service to be cheaper than others. Porsche is selling a service/experience, so invoices, history etc is well logged in the MyPorsche app. I probably will keep it for this reason. Luckily my three year free trial is good for another one and a half years. I accept the higher rates and I enjoy the thought of having just one app, and thus one provider billing me for charging my vehicle. Expensive; yes. convenient; yes.

The service totally fits todays subscriptions like HelloFresh, Booking.com and Netflix etc. It is not cheaper, but saves you a lot of time and is convenient to use. It is not for everyone.

But it should not be more expensive either!

I also wish that you could get a summary of all the charging sessions you have done with the car. But for Porsche they do not report the charges in the car at all. And if you are outside of their network of chargers or charging at home, it does not register anything.

Here is a example of another brands reporting from the car with mileage, locations, time, estimated kWh, Soc start and end. Which I find useful to check how well the cars display report the kWh/100 km compared to overall monthly or yearly kWh consumptions.

 

[Scandinavian]

I was surprised to see the IONITY rates are much worse on Audi Charging Service considering its monthly subscription pricing.

Even at €15.99/month you are going to pay 50c at IONITY.

Quite interesting that Ionity have so different pricing in different countries!

Here is my pricing with Ionity direct for France. I think that represents quite good value!

 

[tigerbalm]

Quite interesting that Ionity have so different pricing in different countries!

Here is my pricing with Ionity direct for France. I think that represents quite good value!

BMW are offering -15% discount on standard IONITY pricing if you pay an additional €5.99/month. Which is terrible value vs going to IONITY directly.

But also the complexity of the pricing models is becoming unreasonable. They are not supposed to be insurance products requiring actuary to calculate totals!

https://bmw-public-charging.com/web/en/bmw-ie/tariffs

 

[tigerbalm]

FWIW – they way I handle these kinds of costs – is try and create a 6 year budget estimate. And put the required money aside every month into a dedicated savings account. And then draw from that.

I am price sensitive to these kinds of subscription costs – but it is more that I've always factored them in – and spread the cost over a longer period of time.

My current budget is:

The main flaw in it currently is that it handles price increases and inflation rather crudely. Need to refine it!

 

[Scandinavian]

But also the complexity of the pricing models is becoming unreasonable. They are not supposed to be insurance products requiring actuary to calculate totals!

Totally agree!

 

[Scandinavian]

I am also strongly questioning the value of Porsche Connect, and unfortunately my subscription just recently auto renewed.

I know it will list the chargers that can be available. But that is not reliable in my car. Often incorrect
It will also preheat when chargers are found for a long trip. But the car will warm up anyhow!
’I can preheat the car remotely. I have no other commands that can be executed.

But that’s it!

I know I will loose Apple Music, Spotify through PCM, but I also use CarPlay anyhow.
Traffic information in the PCM, for me has been so unreliable that I tend to use Google maps any way. Much more reliable and up to date.
Internet radio and satellite view will also require a subscription. But what value do they bring?

What I can not find out though is if you need the Connect subscription to be able to use CarPlay??

Paying 600 Euros including charging subscription is a lot for next to no benefit!

 

[Jasper4S]

I am also strongly questioning the value of Porsche Connect, and unfortunately my subscription just recently auto renewed.

I know it will list the chargers that can be available. But that is not reliable in my car. Often incorrect
It will also preheat when chargers are found for a long trip. But the car will warm up anyhow!
’I can preheat the car remotely. I have no other commands that can be executed.

But that’s it!

I know I will loose Apple Music, Spotify through PCM, but I also use CarPlay anyhow.
Traffic information in the PCM, for me has been so unreliable that I tend to use Google maps any way. Much more reliable and up to date.
Internet radio and satellite view will also require a subscription. But what value do they bring?

What I can not find out though is if you need the Connect subscription to be able to use CarPlay??

Paying 600 Euros including charging subscription is a lot for next to no benefit!

I had an outage couple of months ago, believe me, Porsche Connect is a must. Without it, it felt like a 1995 car

 

[Scandinavian]

I had an outage couple of months ago, believe me, Porsche Connect is a must. Without it, it felt like a 1995 car

What was missing for you when you had the outage?

I frequently have issues connecting with the car that can last a few days. I hardly ever use the navigation since it is so out of date with traffic info etc. The navigation has also numerous times taken me down roads that re not passable or have changed direction of the flow. Not just here at home but also on trips to foreign towns.
I never use Hey Porsche commands, not found any use for it.
Only thing I have used is the preheating of the cabin. I will miss that, but apart from that I can not see anything else to justify the subscription.

 

[Jasper4S]

What was missing for you when you had the outage?

I frequently have issues connecting with the car that can last a few days. I hardly ever use the navigation since it is so out of date with traffic info etc. The navigation has also numerous times taken me down roads that re not passable or have changed direction of the flow. Not just here at home but also on trips to foreign towns.
I never use Hey Porsche commands, not found any use for it.
Only thing I have used is the preheating of the cabin. I will miss that, but apart from that I can not see anything else to justify the subscription.

Google Maps satellite view, Apple Music, live HPC availability data, when playing radio no album/artist images and no calendar sync. But most annoying was that I could not preheat my vehicle with the app and see the SoC. I took a ferry that same trip, and couldn’t put my vehicle in transport mode. So when the ferry took off alarm went on and the backend team got a silent alarm and had to call me.

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