Taycan battery may repeat Bolt battery disaster

[RickDC]

I sold my 2021 Taycan to Carvana with 5800 miles, the best car I ever had, no intent to sale the car. I have to said that when I bought the car, the fact that Porche was using LG battery pouch always was in my mind, this type of pouches are notorious for failing and fire risk, the perfect sample was Chevy Bolt battery Armageddon. Having said that I took my car for two recalls, one was the battery and I got a Macan EV loaner. I visited a Porsche dealer in Tysons Corner VA and they have a nice 2025 Taycan “with the new batteries CATL” started the process of trade-in my Taycan and they refused to buy a Taycan because the battery issues with the models 2020-2024. I was stoned that a Porsche that still under warranty was not worth it for a trade-In.
I ordered a Macan 4S with that uses CATL batteries, delivered expected this weekend.
now I know why Taycan resale value will be 0 in few years, what we expect when the car is not even accepted for trade-In.
PS the battery issue is way worse than we are told. GM had to replaced all batteries to solved, will Porsche do that ?? I don’t think so, they will wait until battery warranty expires.

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[daveo4EV]

GM reneg'd on replacing all the Bolt batteries to my knowledge…I lemon'd my Bolt and made GM purchase it back when they restricted me to 80% of available battery capacity and I could no longer park the vehicle inside my garage - both issues communicated in writing from GM's battery notice…

also your title says "Volt" when I think you meant "Bolt" - and there are a number of awkward typo's in your posting that you might want to proof read.

and I think you might want to change the word "may" in your title to "will".

 

[Tooney]

I am sorry you had this experience. Thanks for sharing it.
Another post in the forum indicated that the Macan EV is using newly designed CATL batteries. If those batteries are a newly released design, what assurance is there that those batteries will not experience problems 3 to 4 years from now?

 

[SergeyIndy]

I am sorry you had this experience. Thanks for sharing it.
Another post in the forum indicated that the Macan EV is using newly designed CATL batteries. If those batteries are a newly released design, what assurance is there that those batteries will not experience problems 3 to 4 years from now?

^ Exactly the point. Just because Macan EV uses CATL prismatic 12-module and 180 cells each does not mean that it is more reliable without long term testing.

This is not the biggest issue with Macan EV at the moment it is endless software and hardware issues.

 

[ejcintr]

^ Exactly the point. Just because Macan EV uses CATL prismatic 12-module and 180 cells each does not mean that it is more reliable without long term testing.

This is not the biggest issue with Macan EV at the moment it is endless software and hardware issues.

The Macan EV is having endless HW and SW issues? So Porsche learned nothing from their experience with the Taycan?

 

[chun]

^ Exactly the point. Just because Macan EV uses CATL prismatic 12-module and 180 cells each does not mean that it is more reliable without long term testing.

This is not the biggest issue with Macan EV at the moment it is endless software and hardware issues.

These batteries power most EVs in china, and they do not have battery issues.

so there’s that

it’s a much more robust design, as each one cell has its own casing. It’s better chemistry. It’s larger temperature bracket for charging. It’s has better charging curve. It has capabilities of much higher speeds (some Chinese cars with these batteries at 65-75kw go as fast as 500 kWh charging peak speed; with curves hitting 250kwh at 80%) .

It’s a bit absurd to even compare LG pouch batteries, especially those from 2020 models, using an even older design (same chemistry), which were already “old technology” when lg started producing them in Poland; to these Chinese batteries which are the standard in china.

we will see how porsche treats the batteries after those 8 years.

as far as i know, recalls apply out of warranty also. And i doubt European legislation will allow them to have bombs on the roads and not force them to make recalls. For now they are just kicking the can down the road to the next CEO, so he has to deal with this bullshit, so they can keep advertising to investors their great technology and not have to lose billions by having to replace 150.000+ batteries at once

 

[Bennachie]

Bollox..............mostly

 

[Vercingetorix]

I won’t buy Firestones because 30 years ago a bunch of them blew up.

 

[SergeyIndy]

The Macan EV is having endless HW and SW issues? So Porsche learned nothing from their experience with the Taycan?

The type of issues that Macan EV is having is mind boggling. The delay resulted in the rushing poor quality out the door VW Tiguan style. The buyers who come from other brands seen worse, so what is a bunch of panel gaps, charge cover sticking out, uneven paint, mismatched seat leather perforation, Bose going out completely, random errors requiring lock and wait. Then who knows may be not too far away the heaters, onboard chargers, and batteries start going bad.

This would be unthinkable to accept on the current Macan ICE production. We have one and it is just as perfect and high quality that Porsche is known for.

 

[tonysmart]

Gentlemen, frankly, all these concerns and insistence on the supposed fire issues are getting tiring. The Taycan has experienced an extremely small number of fire incidents compared to other electric cars, and these cases are absolutely negligible relative to the total number of units sold.


Unlike other manufacturers, Porsche has likely issued widespread recalls out of caution and professionalism, and it is actively implementing software-based monitoring systems.

Beyond that, one could just argue about the range, especially for the first version, but in my opinion, the Taycan remains an absolutely fantastic car, unmatched in many aspects.


This unfounded fear does not do justice to the product. There are certainly many owners who, like myself, are in love with this vehicle. Period.

 

[n3ophyte]

^^^
Well said

 

[chun]

This unfounded fear does not do justice to the product. There are certainly many owners who, like myself, are in love with this vehicle. Period.

When porsche stops telling people to not park near buildings, in underground parkings and to not charge above 80% to avoid the risk of the car catching on fire; the fear will indeed go away.

Until then, Porsche claims the car catches on fire. And not only they say it can, they belive it strong enough to not want to have to pay for any collateral damage when it happens, despite the reputation risk it brings.

This is not unfunded fear.

And the fact that Porsche does not have a stance on what happens to the batteries beyond 8 years is also a concern.

Combine that with the fact that they got rid of LG batteries for all of their future EVs, making their stance very clear on the reliability of those batteries, and it is VERY hard to claim that the battery fears are unfounded.

 

[tonysmart]

I am just saying that many people, maybe most of Taycan owners, did not get any message about not parking close to building or to limit charge to 80% (which was a best practice anyway for any EV). Take myself: I just got noticed that I had to have my battery inspected. Inspection done, no restrictions whatsoever.
So many people can actually live happily with their awesome Taycan. Happy customers simply do not saturate forums and chats with messages and this could give a misperception of reality to new users or Porsche enthusiasts.

I just felt it is worth to underline that the problem, which is a contained and, in the vast majority of the cases, absolutely negligible youth issue, is not such a nightmare in real world, otherwise we would hear plenty of news about Taycan catching fire here and there.

 

[tonysmart]

Exactly! Personally I haven t heard a single case. Searching on the web it looks like it may have happened like three times… as I said, negligible.

 

[daveo4EV]

Gentlemen, frankly, all these concerns and insistence on the supposed fire issues are getting tiring. The Taycan has experienced an extremely small number of fire incidents compared to other electric cars, and these cases are absolutely negligible relative to the total number of units sold.


Unlike other manufacturers, Porsche has likely issued widespread recalls out of caution and professionalism, and it is actively implementing software-based monitoring systems.

Beyond that, one could just argue about the range, especially for the first version, but in my opinion, the Taycan remains an absolutely fantastic car, unmatched in many aspects.


This unfounded fear does not do justice to the product. There are certainly many owners who, like myself, are in love with this vehicle. Period.

it's a little more dire than this - I understand your perspective - but it is a factual "hit" to the product and the vehicle - no buyer is going to overlook this written warning and limitations with the product - and it _IS_ a modification of the products capabilities and suitability post-sale - and products that are not updated, modified, or resolved will carry factual reduction in value and ability to transfer/sell the asset to future buyers.

you are correct - but it's a disclosure nightmare - and upon disclosure will significantly reduce any perceived value if the buyer was uninformed prior to disclosure - should you fail to disclose (accidentally of course) your personal liability is unlimited…even if Porsche should've notified the new owner.

I agree 100% the actual number of fires or problems will be minuscule (if any) - but given this is now out there this generation of Taycan's is forever "problematic" with the manufacturer of the vehicle transferring liability to the vehicle owner should a problem occur due to circumstances outside the "approved" use cases outlined in the written limitations:

factually _ALL_ 2020-2024 Taycan's have the following restrictions in their use as a vehicle:

• don't use more than 80% of the battery
• don't park the vehicle inside
• and resolution (i.e. replacement) of the affected battery units is "unclear"
• any additional limitations spelled out from Porsche regarding use of the product.

so it honestly doesn't matter that you're happy with the product or that the problem will no occur. The cat's out of the bag, the damage has been done, and this product fundamentally tainted unless you can demonstrate that the battery issues have been resolved and the products full functionality is restored.

Vehicle's that are repaired or inspected and resolved should be able to be easily sold at normal market value - but all others have suffered a hit.

No respectable consumer is going to consider an unresolved Taycan at it's full value with the written/required restrictions in place and the vehicle has restrictions limiting it's full functionality as as general purpose vehicle.

there is also the possibility of the Taycan invalidating insurance for other things - if your Taycan has an unresolved battery issue, and it burns down your house, no self respecting insurance company is going to honor your home policy if you parked the vehicle inside when Porsche told you in writing not to. And then the home owner and same vehicle owner is in a real mess…

this disclosure in certain states in North America is almost an automatic buy back from porsche due to the significant modifications of the product's for normal/expected use. If you happen to live in a state where it's favorable I'd highly recommend you get Porsche to relieve you of your vehicle under favorable buyback terms that are most likely mandated due to these disclosures - the vehicle will never be worth more than what Porsche is mandated to pay you under these circumstances and you can easily obtain a replacement product.

your perspective is realistic, but naive. The damage is done and it's huge.

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