[March 2026 Update] - Porsche's ONLY OTA update hobbles North American Taycans to max 9.6 kW charge rate…

[gnr3312]

Ok, something new I just noticed today, a day after installing this update. I tried charging my iPhone while driving using a usb-c cable like always, pre-update it would charge really fast, normally 70% to 90%+ in 45 mins of highway driving (commute). Today I went from 68% to 72% in 40 mins, so I’m not happy. I know that one instance a trend doesn’t make, but as I test it more I’m going to be making a call to the dealership if they also nerfed mobile device charging.

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[whitex]

his time though I was especially sketched out, so instead of slapping my adapter onto the NACS plugs, I used an available J1772, even though those plugs are even slower.)

I choose the slower charging EVSE if I plan to park somewhere longer, including overnight destination charging. Two reasons, 1) maybe someone else needs a quicker charge while I don't, and 2)I don't want to rush back to unplug sooner.

 

[Jonathan S.]

I choose the slower charging EVSE if I plan to park somewhere longer, including overnight destination charging. Two reasons, 1) maybe someone else needs a quicker charge while I don't, and 2)I don't want to rush back to unplug sooner.

Certainly make sense in that context.
In my context:

• The choices are kind-of-slow L2 vs even-slower L2.
• Nobody there cares in general, especially since given the free charging I suspect it's used almost exclusively by people who just want free kWh, rather than by people who really need it for their roundtrip.
• I'm not there long enough to top out at 100%.
• If the goal were to unplug upon reaching 100% then come back and move the car, nobody has any means of knowing there (other than checking out the parking lot after each run).

BTW, the wonderful irony is that on weekends and holidays, the parking is NOT free. But the incremental kWh consumption is always free.
(I wouldn't be surprised though if all these EVSE are eventually replaced with new units that are paid. That happened recently with a somewhat nearby ski resort whose EVSE were of the same vintage.)

 

[M3Taycan]

There it is. I’m not sure how to feel about it because I do want the upcoming plug and charge capability, and the extra hour it’s not a big deal right now as I charge overnight but still went from 10.4 kW to 8.8 kW.

Yep! I am experiencing the same KW reduction after the WSS4 update.

 

[whitex]

(I wouldn't be surprised though if all these EVSE are eventually replaced with new units that are paid. That happened recently with a somewhat nearby ski resort whose EVSE were of the same vintage.)

Free AC charging used to be either government subsidy driven, or more commonly business owners wanting to attract affluent customers (back in the days when most common EV's were Model S & X - this is also why most of them had the NACS connectors natively, helped by the fact that Tesla used to give destination HPWC's away to businesses for free). It used to work too, a restaurant or shop with a free HPWC would get a family in a Tesla who would schedule their trip around stopping to charge and eat dinner, or go shopping. Today that same free EVSE attracts a family which brings their own food and lawn furniture to use while they charge their Bolt to 100%, so the economics of installing them have changed.

 

[whitex]

Did anyone dump a VAL via PIWIS on their car before and after the WSS4 update? Perhaps we could identify a coding setting that sets the OBC limit.

 

[Jonathan S.]

Free AC charging used to be either government subsidy driven, or more commonly business owners wanting to attract affluent customers (back in the days when most common EV's were Model S & X - this is also why most of them had the NACS connectors natively, helped by the fact that Tesla used to give destination HPWC's away to businesses for free). It used to work too, a restaurant or shop with a free HPWC would get a family in a Tesla who would schedule their trip around stopping to charge and eat dinner, or go shopping. Today that same free EVSE attracts a family which brings their own food and lawn furniture to use while they charge their Bolt to 100%, so the economics of installing them have changed.

I can see how that would have worked as an inducement at some ski resorts in the early years of EV adoption.
Now though, reliability would be a bigger draw. But I don't know of any ski resorts in northern New England with a decent chance of getting a plug on a weekend. Even on a weekday, this particular bank is often entirely in use.
Fortunately, all the major highways to access northern New England finally have good DCFC coverage via varying combos of Tesla, Rivian, MB, and Ionna.
(Hmm, all of them car companies who are installing these stations sans gov't subsidies or mandates....)

 

[whitex]

New England finally have good DCFC coverage via varying combos of Tesla, Rivian, MB, and Ionna.

(Hmm, all of them car companies who are installing these stations sans gov't subsidies or mandates....)

Are you sure about that? IIRC a big part of Tesla’s willingness to open their superchargers to non-Tesla cars, were government incentives. Rivian, MB might have been a similar story, but I never tracked opening of those..

 

[Jonathan S.]

Are you sure about that? IIRC a big part of Tesla’s willingness to open their superchargers to non-Tesla cars, were government incentives. Rivian, MB might have been a similar story, but I never tracked opening of those..

Yes, that was a subject of widespread discussion, but the specifics were always lacking.

When I set this NEVI db:
https://evstates.org/awards-dashboard/
... to include the categories of Conditionally Awarded, Awarded, Under Construction, and Open, total funding is $572.5m and Tesla's share is $35.3m, so ~6% of the total. Ionna has received $3.5m (two stations in CA, one in CO), and Rivian $1.7m (two in CO, one each in IL, UT, MI). MB doesn't show up in the selection list.

Overall, these four networks sure aren't dependent upon NEVI.

Out of total $653m funding awarded (including some add'l status categories I excluded from the above tally), Francis Energy has received $107.8m and Love's $57.1m.
After that, nobody has anywhere near even just 10% of the total, with Tesla in 3rd place (but less than 6% of that broader total, and obviously a trivial portion of that Tesla spends each year on its TSCN expansion in the U.S.).

As for the remainder of the $5b in NEVI funding, blame some combination of the award process structure set up by the Biden Administration and the award process implementation by state DOTs (with probably a neutral effect overall from the Trump Administration, given the relatively brief pause that then led to a relaxing of various award criteria).

Focusing just on the Open category, across the four states of MA, CT, NH, and VT, only a single NEVI station exists (my brother-in-law's company), so that definitely isn't a source of funding for all these game-changing stations for skiers in Northern New England.

CFI has far less transparency. But given the many lame aspects of the CFI station near me, I doubt that any of the Rivian, MB, Tesla, or Ionna stations receive CFI funding.

 

[chun]

Ok, something new I just noticed today, a day after installing this update. I tried charging my iPhone while driving using a usb-c cable like always, pre-update it would charge really fast, normally 70% to 90%+ in 45 mins of highway driving (commute). Today I went from 68% to 72% in 40 mins, so I’m not happy. I know that one instance a trend doesn’t make, but as I test it more I’m going to be making a call to the dealership if they also nerfed mobile device charging.

I can confirm this happens in switzerland also, so maybe not tied to the car update, but an iphone update? I don't think I received WSS4, but then again... i've been so many times to the dealer for other issues, who knows what they installed.

 

[gnr3312]

On the bright side, I plugged in to a Tesla supercharger and the session started without me doing anything on the Tesla app.

 

[SergeyIndy]

On the bright side, I plugged in to a Tesla supercharger and the session started without me doing anything on the Tesla app.

I will need to try this, so may be it is true the WSS4 making Tesla superchargers Plug & Charge, but I would rather have my 11kW AC charging back.

 

[RED!]

On the bright side, I plugged in to a Tesla supercharger and the session started without me doing anything on the Tesla app.

Didn’t work for me yesterday
All slow and no advantages
My percentage charge vs range now sux too. I’m going to take the car in. There’s no way I’ve lost almost 50 kms of range and I’m getting no warning

 

[Leccy61]

WSS4 landed on my car today and I think it installed, but when I clicked to have a look at that final notification it disappeared and the pcm did a refresh and there’s now no evidence of anything having happened. The app of course is blissfully unaware. I’ll look out for any strange behaviours. Classic Taycan OTA!

 

[SergeyIndy]

Well @Leccy61, your AC charging now is at 9kW max, that is all there is to notice after WSS4. Then, there is WST2 that says takes 10 min to install.

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