Dreaded Red Electrical System Error & Poll

[optik382]

Well, I got the car back. Of course with some kind of nasty grease stain on the wrap that can't be removed :-(. The issue was with the 22kW on-board charger. It told the car there was an error with the electrical ground, and in those circumstances a relay will keep the HV battery pack disconnected from the rest of the vehicle, thus thus the un-drivable state and need for tow.

They replaced the charger and the car's working fine now. I got the feel though that it's just a matter of time before the charger fails again and leaves me stranded. I tried to understand if the 22kW charger is less reliable than the standard (7 or 11kW?) one, but no one at the dealership could help.

Side note, I need new tires at 11,000 miles. Ouch. I do sometimes drive aggressively, but I've never even taken this car canyon carving none the less to a track.

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[snstevens]

Well, I got the car back. Of course with some kind of nasty grease stain on the wrap that can't be removed :-(. The issue was with the 22kW on-board charger. It told the car there was an error with the electrical ground, and in those circumstances a relay will keep the HV battery pack disconnected from the rest of the vehicle, thus thus the un-drivable state and need for tow.

They replaced the charger and the car's working fine now. I got the feel though that it's just a matter of time before the charger fails again and leaves me stranded. I tried to understand if the 22kW charger is less reliable than the standard (7 or 11kW?) one, but no one at the dealership could help.

Side note, I need new tires at 11,000 miles. Ouch. I do sometimes drive aggressively, but I've never even taken this car canyon carving none the less to a track.

Except in this case, I've not read of people having trouble with the 22Kw HV Charger.

 

[Genau]

They replaced the charger and the car's working fine now. I got the feel though that it's just a matter of time before the charger fails again and leaves me stranded. I tried to understand if the 22kW charger is less reliable than the standard (7 or 11kW?) one, but no one at the dealership could help.

My 11 kW charger failed, and the dealership went through two replacement units to get one that worked. (Model year 2020 was not available with the 22 kW charger.)

 

[f1eng]

Except in this case, I've not read of people having trouble with the 22Kw HV Charger.

Actually the 22kW charger had a known weakness. IIRC @tigerbalm had at least one fail on his 4S and ended up eventually with an updated unit.

 

[tigerbalm]

Actually the 22kW charger had a known weakness. IIRC @tigerbalm had at least one fail on his 4S and ended up eventually with an updated unit.

Three replacements. The fourth was installed with Porsche saying: we can't guarantee it won't fail either – as there is no difference between it and the replaced units. It was software that was not handling the harmonics correctly – and causing the units to fail.

The improved software came out with "the big update" in 2022 – soon after my last replacement and its been rock solid ever since.

Once I was comfortable with it – I put the 22 kW option back on my pending Turbo S order.

 

[Buckeye]

I am interested to know if replacing cells has *ever* resulted in a reliable pack long-term, or if every cell replacements has eventually led to a full pack replacement.

I’d love to hear from people who have been down this road. My Turbo is getting cells replaced and I’m concerned it’s only a temporary fix.

 

[Caraholic]

I’d love to hear from people who have been down this road. My Turbo is getting cells replaced and I’m concerned it’s only a temporary fix.

I feel the same way had 12 cell packs replaced in mine. So far so good other then my range went from 280 at full to no 220. Just chalking this up to the winter.

 

[AaronS]

My Story, for what it's worth -- I have a 2020 Taycan 4S that was purchased as a CPO with 9K miles in February 2022 (original purchase was September of 2020 so CPO warranty runs through September 2026). Last Friday morning (2/23), without warning, got the dreaded Electrical System Error (which I didn't know was dreaded until after seeing it and firing up some Googling on the topic). Had the car towed to the nearest dealer, at which point they told me the entire thing appeared dead (nothing came on anymore). Middle of last week they said that it appeared both the 12V and HV batteries were dead and they were looking into a fix, and on Friday they said either HV cells would need to be replaced or the entire battery replaced. Today they heard back from Porsche that the instruction is to replace the entire pack. On the one hand, I guess I'm glad as certainly concerned re: reliability of replacing only some cells, on the other hand they said it could take anywhere from 4 weeks to 6 months, sounds like the new pack will need to be shipped from Germany via a specialty handler of some type. They are providing a loaner (though apparently their policy is I need to swap loaners every 15 days, no idea why) so for now I have a Cayenne and I guess I'll try out a bunch of different porsches (including other base taycans as they do have some taycan loaners), but certainly will be missing my Taycan. Experience definitely has me (A) glad that I have a CPO so there is no possible argument over coverage through 2026 and (B) concerned about owning one of these after that as this would be a nightmare out of warranty. I'm prone to switiching cars anyway, but the depreciation here will be a tough pill to swallow for sure

Main point -- it does seem like they are now repalcing whole batteries without first doing individual cells. Will be curious how long this takes and hopefully battery condition of the new one is worth it. Ugh.

I also wonder what reliability will be for updated 2025+ Taycans vs the new Macan on brand new PPE platform. Usual rule of thumb on cars is that with new models you're better off waiting which would argue for Taycans, but at the same time with technology evolving you have to wonder if they've learned some lessons and one would be better off just going Macan/PPE or other newer platform models?

 

[snstevens]

My Story, for what it's worth -- I have a 2020 Taycan 4S that was purchased as a CPO with 9K miles in February 2022 (original purchase was September of 2020 so CPO warranty runs through September 2026). Last Friday morning (2/23), without warning, got the dreaded Electrical System Error (which I didn't know was dreaded until after seeing it and firing up some Googling on the topic). Had the car towed to the nearest dealer, at which point they told me the entire thing appeared dead (nothing came on anymore). Middle of last week they said that it appeared both the 12V and HV batteries were dead and they were looking into a fix, and on Friday they said either HV cells would need to be replaced or the entire battery replaced. Today they heard back from Porsche that the instruction is to replace the entire pack. On the one hand, I guess I'm glad as certainly concerned re: reliability of replacing only some cells, on the other hand they said it could take anywhere from 4 weeks to 6 months, sounds like the new pack will need to be shipped from Germany via a specialty handler of some type. They are providing a loaner (though apparently their policy is I need to swap loaners every 15 days, no idea why) so for now I have a Cayenne and I guess I'll try out a bunch of different porsches (including other base taycans as they do have some taycan loaners), but certainly will be missing my Taycan. Experience definitely has me (A) glad that I have a CPO so there is no possible argument over coverage through 2026 and (B) concerned about owning one of these after that as this would be a nightmare out of warranty. I'm prone to switiching cars anyway, but the depreciation here will be a tough pill to swallow for sure

Main point -- it does seem like they are now repalcing whole batteries without first doing individual cells. Will be curious how long this takes and hopefully battery condition of the new one is worth it. Ugh.

I also wonder what reliability will be for updated 2025+ Taycans vs the new Macan on brand new PPE platform. Usual rule of thumb on cars is that with new models you're better off waiting which would argue for Taycans, but at the same time with technology evolving you have to wonder if they've learned some lessons and one would be better off just going Macan/PPE or other newer platform models?

From my perspective you appear to have won the lottery. A great car with minimal miles, an extended warranty, a brand-new battery, and a dealer that is providing really nice loaners.

I'd go to Vegas if I were you ?

 

[anonymouse]

Well I’ve joined the ‘electrical fault’ club, although with only a yellow message I probably only get associate membership. Car won’t go into drive, so it is awaiting a tow. However my car was very kind to me, breaking down the morning after we returned from a road trip to Germany and a Netherlands. A near miss - could have been a real mess If it had stranded me somewhere in Europe!

 

[AaronS]

From my perspective you appear to have won the lottery. A great car with minimal miles, an extended warranty, a brand-new battery, and a dealer that is providing really nice loaners.

I'd go to Vegas if I were you ?

Haha I guess that is a good way to look at it! My car is now up to 31K miles so not exactly minimal anymore though I've had it 2 years and enjoyed putting on the 20K+ otherwise worry free miles it's had, definitely was my favorite car I've owned in my life to this point (and for the cost, it better be!!), and hopefully with the new battery it will have many many more to come. I'm certainly aware that driving other nice Porsches while my nice Porsche is getting fixed with the minor inconvenience of swapping cars twice a month as the price more than qualifies as "first world problems!!" The service advisor at the dealer may actually feel worse about it than I do, she's always very apologetic that it's going to be a long fix (which I appreciate). Certainly could be worse!

 

[Hirschaj]

My Story, for what it's worth -- I have a 2020 Taycan 4S that was purchased as a CPO with 9K miles in February 2022 (original purchase was September of 2020 so CPO warranty runs through September 2026). Last Friday morning (2/23), without warning, got the dreaded Electrical System Error (which I didn't know was dreaded until after seeing it and firing up some Googling on the topic). Had the car towed to the nearest dealer, at which point they told me the entire thing appeared dead (nothing came on anymore). Middle of last week they said that it appeared both the 12V and HV batteries were dead and they were looking into a fix, and on Friday they said either HV cells would need to be replaced or the entire battery replaced. Today they heard back from Porsche that the instruction is to replace the entire pack. On the one hand, I guess I'm glad as certainly concerned re: reliability of replacing only some cells, on the other hand they said it could take anywhere from 4 weeks to 6 months, sounds like the new pack will need to be shipped from Germany via a specialty handler of some type. They are providing a loaner (though apparently their policy is I need to swap loaners every 15 days, no idea why) so for now I have a Cayenne and I guess I'll try out a bunch of different porsches (including other base taycans as they do have some taycan loaners), but certainly will be missing my Taycan. Experience definitely has me (A) glad that I have a CPO so there is no possible argument over coverage through 2026 and (B) concerned about owning one of these after that as this would be a nightmare out of warranty. I'm prone to switiching cars anyway, but the depreciation here will be a tough pill to swallow for sure

Main point -- it does seem like they are now repalcing whole batteries without first doing individual cells. Will be curious how long this takes and hopefully battery condition of the new one is worth it. Ugh.

I also wonder what reliability will be for updated 2025+ Taycans vs the new Macan on brand new PPE platform. Usual rule of thumb on cars is that with new models you're better off waiting which would argue for Taycans, but at the same time with technology evolving you have to wonder if they've learned some lessons and one would be better off just going Macan/PPE or other newer platform models?

This sucks, and is awesome for you at the same time. Congrats!

 

[Tooney]

From my perspective you appear to have won the lottery. A great car with minimal miles, an extended warranty, a brand-new battery, and a dealer that is providing really nice loaners.

I'd go to Vegas if I were you ?

Porsche has chosen to keep its spare parts inventory costs low by making NA customers wait for HV battery replacements to ship from Europe, as opposed to regional inventory. A lot cheaper to let Taycan owners spend months in loaners while their broken cars sit outside in dealer repair lots than it is to have a HV battery repair and replacement process that minimizes owner downtime.

Porsche POSIWID.

(The real winnings in lotteries comes from operating them.)

 

[briomir]

Soooo it's now my turn with the dreaded red ring... About a month ago the red ring came up, I left the car and locked it for a few minutes and it was fine - thought it'd just be a one time thing (wishful thinking, I know). Then two weeks ago the car had the red ring and wouldn't start - Porsche assistance came the next morning and it worked (sod's law). The technician that came was very helpful and advised that I take it to the dealership whilst it can still move. Did that, they looked at it, said they couldn't recreate the fault and returned the car after 64days.

Fast forward 6 days, the red ring comes up again and Porsche assistance came out again - this time the car is still inoperable. Towed it to the dealers and has been there since last Thursday - no word as to whether the fault is still on the system or not.

The first technician when they plugged in their OBD reader said there was an HV temp sensor fault - Porsche couldn't identify the fault code and hence why they returned the car in the first incident. The second technician said he wouldn't bother with the OBD as it's likely the same issue - said let Porsche deal with it (which is fair).

I'm now worried that the fault will have gone away by the time they look at it in the workshop, and they'll call and say they can't recreate the fault... I'd have to take the car back and drive in anticipation of the fault coming up again. Any advice from fellow owners as to what I can do now? Can I insist that they deal with it even if they cannot recreate the fault? Seems mad that I'd be expected to take an obviously faulty car back just because they couldn't recreate the fault...

Many thanks in advance!

 

[AJLewis1158]

Ok, you can add me to the list of ”Electrical System Error” Taycan owners. My 2022 Taycan GTS just give me that dreaded red message last night. I had no idea what it meant until I searched this forum and saw that a few others have had the same issue.

After I finished charging my GTS I saw the message. Fortunately, I was parked in my garage and not out on the highway. The car will still turn on but, I can only switch to neutral (drive or reverse doesn’t work). Called Porsche and had it towed to the dealership today. My SA said that he had only seen one other Taycan at the dealership with this warning message. The one that came in had to have the entire battery pack replaced. They are still working on my diagnosis, but I‘m expecting this will be a long journey.

The good news (I hope) is that the dealership give me a 2024 Taycan base model to drive as long it takes to get my GTS repaired. I’ve read several horror stories in the forum about the timeline to get certain of the battery issues resolved. I’m certainly hoping for the best, but expecting that my experience may not be much better than the average of others that have shared their stories here.

I certainly hope that Porsche is able to eliminate these kind of issues from the Taycan line going forward. My expectation for their workmanship is much higher than this.

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