150KW retrofit

[MEA]

Hi Guys!

I can’t find a solid answer.. I’m looking to trade my 2020 4S for a 2021 TC4. The only option I can’t wrap my head around loosing is the on board 150kw charger. Any way it can be retrofitted?

I’m sure is as been discussed so feel free to share a link for a direct answer.

thanks

Charles

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[W1NGE]

Hi Guys!

I can’t find a solid answer.. I’m looking to trade my 2020 4S for a 2021 TC4. The only option I can’t wrap my head around loosing is the on board 150kw charger. Any way it can be retrofitted?

I’m sure is as been discussed so feel free to share a link for a direct answer.

thanks

Charles

Sadly I don't think you can (easily). The 22kW AC onboard can be retrofitted at prohibitive cost and can't imagine that if possible it would make economic sense.

Facelift will see the option disappearing as all new Taycans will have the split 400V architecture to take care of what the 150 kW DC booster did.

 

[daveo4EV]

Hi Guys!

I can’t find a solid answer.. I’m looking to trade my 2020 4S for a 2021 TC4. The only option I can’t wrap my head around loosing is the on board 150kw charger. Any way it can be retrofitted?

I’m sure is as been discussed so feel free to share a link for a direct answer.

thanks

Charles

there is no retrofit of the 150 kW 400V booster for Taycan - at least two things would be required:

1. procedure from Porsche germany documented for service
2. cost established for the given parts + procedure.
3. software recoding steps for the vehicle to "know" it has the 150kW option

#1 does not exist and I doubt it will be prioritized
#2 is unlikely to be cost effective in any way shape or form

I have always stated this was a no-brainer $460 option - but other's disagreed.

I do not see this as ever happening and even it if did the cost would be ridiculous given labor hours.

 

[DougFrisk]

Sadly I don't think you can (easily). The 22kW AC onboard can be retrofitted at prohibitive cost and can't imagine that if possible it would make economic sense.

Facelift will see the option disappearing as all new Taycans will have the split 400V architecture to take care of what the 150 kW DC booster did.

Do you have a citation for that? The Taycan and PPE platforms are similar, but different. I'm not sure I see Porsche making those hardware changes for another few years at least.

 

[hifi239]

I remember when everyone said you only need the 400V option if you live in Ireland. State Of Charge even said "don't pay the $460 for it."

 

[daveo4EV]

many many many people were wrong in my opinion on this option and I still believe it should've never been an option - 400V/800V is _NOT_ a consumer level choice and not one the user has any control over - the car should alwasy "just work" with what is provided - porsche err'd making this an option - and it's ostensible cost ($460) demonstrates it could not have been that big of a deal - they charge more for the "Sports Sound" option than this actual piece of hardware.

also I've been physically at 800V stations where for some reason lost in then charging stall logs an 800V stations and my 800V Taycan negotiated a 400V charging session - I only know this because the station was one of the rare stations that has a display screen that shows the voltage as part of the charging session data…(Prunridge, CA for those curious).

It disappoints me that there are Taycan's in existence without this option - the entire fleet should've just had this as "standard".

 

[DougFrisk]

I remember when everyone said you only need the 400V option if you live in Ireland. State Of Charge even said "don't pay the $460 for it."

Back when it looked like the Tesla charging network was going to be fully closed to other brands for the foreseeable future it was a decent decision to forego it. Even one year ago it was a gamble. A gamble that seems like it may have paid off, but we haven't really seen how Tesla is going to roll out charging across their stations yet. So far it's been very slow and they may continue doing the minimum required to get federal subsidies. Now that J3400 is a standard, they may slow their rollout of CCS1 capable chargers.

 

[Scandinavian]

Back when it looked like the Tesla charging network was going to be fully closed to other brands for the foreseeable future it was a decent decision to forego it. Even one year ago it was a gamble. A gamble that seems like it may have paid off, but we haven't really seen how Tesla is going to roll out charging across their stations yet. So far it's been very slow and they may continue doing the minimum required to get federal subsidies. Now that J3400 is a standard, they may slow their rollout of CCS1 capable chargers.

We Will see how this will roll out.

But in Europe Tesla have opened quite a lot of stations. Not all of them, I guess the ones that are most popular are slow to open up?? But in general there are so many stations available now. And nearly all of the chargers work as promised. There are a few (very few in my experience) that are out of service, but generally the stations have anything between 10 and 30 chargers available. Older V2 chargers with power sharing are a bit of PITA, but V3 are great. Hope the V4 will stat to deliver 800 volt soon as well. Cybertruck needs that, but question is if that will be approved and come to Europe.

 

[W1NGE]

Do you have a citation for that? The Taycan and PPE platforms are similar, but different. I'm not sure I see Porsche making those hardware changes for another few years at least.

Nope I don't but intuition tells.me so.

This is a mid life facelift and not a MY tweak.

 

[gnop1950]

I remember when everyone said you only need the 400V option if you live in Ireland. State Of Charge even said "don't pay the $460 for it."

There were lots of discussions about if/when Tesla might open up their charging network which would require the option for max charging at a Tesla charger. I'm one of those that bought the 400v option. I mean for $460 it was insignificant compared to every other option I chose. Big upside if Tesla opened their charging network, and really no downside except $460.

 

[MEA]

Damn… thanks for all the infos guys. In Canada it’s the same as you guys. Having a 50kw limit on 400v is ridiculous.. that’s the “fast” charging speed on entry level EV with half the size of the battery pack of the Taycan… IMO even the 150kw on 400v is not acceptable coming from Porsche.

Hopefully Tesla open access for the futur V4 to give me more options for long distances but on the other side I’ve been staying away from supercharger for the last 3 years because of the charging rates.

 

[DougFrisk]

Damn… thanks for all the infos guys. In Canada it’s the same as you guys. Having a 50kw limit on 400v is ridiculous.. that’s the “fast” charging speed on entry level EV with half the size of the battery pack of the Taycan… IMO even the 150kw on 400v is not acceptable coming from Porsche.

Hopefully Tesla open access for the futur V4 to give me more options for long distances but on the other side I’ve been staying away from supercharger for the last 3 years because of the charging rates.

Over time, Tesla is going to up the voltage on their chargers. They have to if they want to support charging on their new truck. Probably sometime next year all their new chargers will be 1000 volts. In a few years' time it will get better as they replace legacy equipment.

 

[Jhenson29]

I’ll just go on record again as not having the option and not missing it since I do zero public charging. Having it on the car would not help me in any way.

 

[daveo4EV]

I’ll just go on record again as not having the option and not missing it since I do zero public charging. Having it on the car would not help me in any way.

based on this all fast charging support should be optional since you've never used it.

 

[FlyingPoint]

there is no retrofit of the 150 kW 400V booster for Taycan - at least two things would be required:

1. procedure from Porsche germany documented for service
2. cost established for the given parts + procedure.
3. software recoding steps for the vehicle to "know" it has the 150kW option

#1 does not exist and I doubt it will be prioritized
#2 is unlikely to be cost effective in any way shape or form

I have always stated this was a no-brainer $460 option - but other's disagreed.

I do not see this as ever happening and even it if did the cost would be ridiculous given labor hours.

I was one of the folks that disagreed, mostly with your timing (June of '22 was your prediction). As for the decision not to spec it, a big mistake on my part. I will probably let my car go back to PCNA, just because I cannot deal with EA even for the occasional road trip.

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