How good is your Taycan at winter?

[W1NGE]

Sadly, the guessometer is as good as it gets. It annoys me that there is nowhere in the Taycan that I can read out the instantaneous power draw. But cold weather driving has been atrocious.

My Taycan has pretty poor efficiency anyway. Our Mini happily does 4m/kWh, the Taycan will do 3m/kWh in summer. On cold days, it struggles to get to 2.5m/kWh - even on long trips.

I know from accidentally having the recharge planner on that the battery heater draws enormous power. So best to preheat while charging at home. And the Taycan takes an amazing amount of time - relative to our Mini - to get the cabin up to temp. So, yes, 1hr min for preconditioning.

My feeling is also that the Taycan requires much more power (than our Mini) to keep the cabin at temperature. I have a suspicion that this comes down to the poorer insulation offered by the panoramic sunroof. Add to this the car's on-going effort to keep the HVB sweet.

Reason I returned to the forum today is that even after preheating the car for one full hour, the mirrors were still unusable because of moisture. Did I miss some control somewhere "Please clear mirrors during preheat"? I noticed also during driving that those mirrors aren't clearing as well and as quickly as they should. To the inside, there is usually some residual moisture that won't clear.

J1.1 is a bit of disaster in this regard - J1.2 will fair better but by how much I can't really comment - perhaps 30%. I had the same consumption with my J1.1 Taycans.

Never had an issue on mine with clearing the mirrors - same on Macan & 911 - as long as it is overnight moisture and not from rain (obviously). The only way to control is to use the rear demister aided by airflow when the car is moving to clear any heavy moisture.

Can't remember if pre-heat activated the heated mirrors by default - I think not - and only if the rear demister is switched on during pre-heat (ambient temp dependent < 3C I think). So if it was 'warm' then the rear demister wouldn't have activated but if it had then both the rear window and mirrors should have been heated for up to 10 mins (auto shutoff).

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[ct4s]

There is no ability to defrost the mirrors and rear screen until you get in the car.
This is where the Taycan / app has crude software.
So, a poor effort from Porsche.

Also, it would be great if the app showed the car's temp, so I can better judge how long I need to pre heat for - a cheap MG4 does this! Current approach is to get out of bed and stick my head out of the bathroom window. (A one hour preheat is often excessive.)

I can't help feeling that a car with frameless windows and the ability to remote heat, should have a heating element in the doors so the window can drop / close correctly when it's frosty.
And similar for the pop out door handles.

 

[W1NGE]

There is no ability to defrost the mirrors and rear screen until you get in the car.
This is where the Taycan / app has crude software.
So, a poor effort from Porsche.

Also, it would be great if the app showed the car's temp, so I can better judge how long I need to pre heat for - a cheap MG4 does this! Current approach is to get out of bed and stick my head out of the bathroom window. (A one hour preheat is often excessive.)

I can't help feeling that a car with frameless windows and the ability to remote heat, should have a heating element in the doors so the window can drop / close correctly when it's frosty.
And similar for the pop out door handles.

That's not correct in my experience (J1.1). The rear demister will automatically be turned on (and therefore the mirrors too) when in preheat assuming the ambient temp / detected moisture meets the pre-set criteria. Mine often came on in winter - rear window, mirrors, wheel) during a pre-heat.

I only ever pre-heated for 20 mins or so if the car was outside / work car park - everything demisted and interior toasty (21C).

It would be useful to have the interior temp but if 5C outside then there's a good chance the interior of the car will be similar if parked outside.

From the manual:

 

[ovonrein]

Oh, and another fun part of winter driving is trying to work out how to keep the wind screen warm. The automatic AC is totally hopeless. I eventually worked out - by reading the manual - that you have to select AC/Individual and then the little man at the bottom who allows you to configure the air distribution. Automatic is fine for summer but in winter I need all the warm air to hit the wind screen first...

EDIT: One upshot from this quest was that I finally learned how to tame the hurricane from the AC in auto. There is also a little man with (up to the default of) 3 waves in his face. You can reduce to 2 or 1 to slow down the automatic AC.

 

[ct4s]

That's not correct in my experience (J1.1). The rear demister will automatically be turned on (and therefore the mirrors too) when in preheat assuming the ambient temp / detected moisture meets the pre-set criteria. Mine often came on in winter - rear window, mirrors, wheel) during a pre-heat.

I only ever pre-heated for 20 mins or so if the car was outside / work car park - everything demisted and interior toasty (21C).

It would be useful to have the interior temp but if 5C outside then there's a good chance the interior of the car will be similar if parked outside.

From the manual:

That's good to know.
I was simply going off what I can see in the app, where I can set a cabin temp and individual seat heating, and the heated wheel is linked to the dirver's seat setting.

I had no idea it intelligently did the rear window.
I don't recall it doing anything, but maybe I didn't give it long enough. I usually, activate the heating 30 mins before my commute.

For the next cold spell, I'll try the departure timer feature.
I have no interest in heating the battery for a 6 mile journey, so hopefully it'll just do the cabin.

 

[ovonrein]

... the vehicle intelligently controls ...

That does not sound like I have much control over whether the exterior mirrors will heat.

 

[ovonrein]

I have no interest in heating the battery for a 6 mile journey, so hopefully it'll just do the cabin.

But you cannot stop this. The car will heat that battery. And in my experience, it does that as the LAST part of the preheating cycle, AFTER the cabin is at temp. So, if you do not allow this battery preheating to complete before departure (because your preheat time allowance is too short), the car will drain your battery like crazy when you drive off (as it tries to get the battery up to temp).

 

[ct4s]

But you cannot stop this. The car will heat that battery. And in my experience, it does that as the LAST part of the preheating cycle, AFTER the cabin is at temp. So, if you do not allow this battery preheating to complete before departure (because your preheat time allowance is too short), the car will drain your battery like crazy when you drive off (as it tries to get the battery up to temp).

Umm - that's a bit crap and pointless for most of my usage requirements.

Maybe I'll stick to a manual cabin preheat via the app each day. Or does this method also heat the battery too?

 

[d00d]

The communication issue has two parts; cellular network availability, and if the car is paying attention or not.
I wake the car by unlocking it via remote, then move the `Climate control' toggle in the application.

 

[Dabz]

My Taycan has pretty poor efficiency anyway. Our Mini happily does 4m/kWh, the Taycan will do 3m/kWh in summer. On cold days, it struggles to get to 2.5m/kWh - even on long trips.

I know from accidentally having the recharge planner on that the battery heater draws enormous power. So best to preheat while charging at home. And the Taycan takes an amazing amount of time - relative to our Mini - to get the cabin up to temp. So, yes, 1hr min for preconditioning.

My feeling is also that the Taycan requires much more power (than our Mini) to keep the cabin at temperature. I have a suspicion that this comes down to the poorer insulation offered by the panoramic sunroof. Add to this the car's on-going effort to keep the HVB sweet.

I also have a Mini EV and J1.1 Taycan, so getting 4.5mi/kWh in the Mini and 2.9/3 in the summer with 1.9/2 in the winter on the Taycan. However look at the weight difference between them, the amount of air inside the cabin to heat, the window real estate to clear, the big tyres and small wheels on the mini. It's not anywhere near a fair comparison.

The Mini app is also poor for pre-heating - while it heats up in minutes, you only have a choice of off or on - you can't set the temperature in summer or winter.

 

[ovonrein]

However look at the weight difference between them...

Of course. There are a million reasons. The tires on the Taycan are 3x the size of those on the Mini. Still, bottom line these winter days: Mini guessometer 30kWh=100m; Taycan guessometer 93kWh=200m. Shocker.

... you only have a choice of off or on - you can't set the temperature ...

Different car and story but the Mini always heats up to the temperature dialled into the dash. I honestly don't need the Porsche functionality of remotely setting that temperature. Dash is good enough.

 

[ovonrein]

Maybe I'll stick to a manual cabin preheat via the app each day. Or does this method also heat the battery too?

Yes and no. The Taycan will preheat the HVB last. So if your preheat window is short, then the Taycan will not get beyond heating the cabin, I imagine. But latest when you set off, the car will start heating the battery. So I find more convenient to do off mains (ie I give a long preheat window).

 

[W1NGE]

Oh, and another fun part of winter driving is trying to work out how to keep the wind screen warm. The automatic AC is totally hopeless. I eventually worked out - by reading the manual - that you have to select AC/Individual and then the little man at the bottom who allows you to configure the air distribution. Automatic is fine for summer but in winter I need all the warm air to hit the wind screen first...

EDIT: One upshot from this quest was that I finally learned how to tame the hurricane from the AC in auto. There is also a little man with (up to the default of) 3 waves in his face. You can reduce to 2 or 1 to slow down the automatic AC.

Do you have the top vent open (independently controlled)?

I've not experienced these issues and if Auto is not on you can find that doesn't help everywhere else.

Check the top vent and if not preheated then hit the max button to force air to the screen.

 

[Dabz]

Still, bottom line these winter days: Mini guessometer 30kWh=100m; Taycan guessometer 93kWh=200m. Shocker.

Is that a shocker though? It doesn't surprise me in the slightest. It makes perfect sense that the smaller, lighter car can achieve a far better efficiency. It's like saying "shocker: 911 24.6mpg, Audi Diesel 54mpg". It's entirely expected

 

[f1eng]

Sadly, the guessometer is as good as it gets. It annoys me that there is nowhere in the Taycan that I can read out the instantaneous power draw. But cold weather driving has been atrocious.

My Taycan has pretty poor efficiency anyway. Our Mini happily does 4m/kWh, the Taycan will do 3m/kWh in summer. On cold days, it struggles to get to 2.5m/kWh - even on long trips.

I know from accidentally having the recharge planner on that the battery heater draws enormous power. So best to preheat while charging at home. And the Taycan takes an amazing amount of time - relative to our Mini - to get the cabin up to temp. So, yes, 1hr min for preconditioning.

My feeling is also that the Taycan requires much more power (than our Mini) to keep the cabin at temperature. I have a suspicion that this comes down to the poorer insulation offered by the panoramic sunroof. Add to this the car's on-going effort to keep the HVB sweet.

Reason I returned to the forum today is that even after preheating the car for one full hour, the mirrors were still unusable because of moisture. Did I miss some control somewhere "Please clear mirrors during preheat"? I noticed also during driving that those mirrors aren't clearing as well and as quickly as they should. To the inside, there is usually some residual moisture that won't clear.

EDIT: And while we are on the subject, the steering wheel heating seems some weird after-thought. Did I miss an indicator in the dash that tells the status? Reason I ask is that the preheating activates the steering wheel heating but when I get into the car, I have no idea whether (it is on and) I need to switch it off.

My car on preheat from the app heats the cabin fine after about 15 minutes, but sometimes longer to demist as well and certainly longer before the windows are no longer frozen to their seal. It takes a full hour to warm the battery to a level where it is efficient though.
The heater is 10kW so yes, pretty powerful.
I would not expect the same consumption between a mini and a Porsche, either driving the car or heating the cabin.
It is slightly disconcerting not knowing whether conditions are such that the heated rear screen, wing mirrors and steering wheel on but I know whether my steering wheel is on by its temperature.

I get ~2.6 m/kWh on a long run in summer, ~2.3 in winter.
Short journeys around 1.6 in summer and ~1.2 now.
FWIW

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