Taycan Battery repair walk through

[Gino]

They were right about one thing, don't believe everything you see on the internet.

What made me skeptical only few minutes into the video is the comment that in the PB battery all modules are in series, while in PB+ some are in parallel. In fact, all modules are in parallel in both PB and PB+, and each module contains 12 cells in a 6s2p configuration, so the result is 198s2p (see below). The PB battery has 168s2p configuration, and yes it has a lower output voltage, so the expert is wrong here. The comment about Ohm's Law made by the host was funny (Ohms law has nothing to do with connecting batteries in series or parallel), but I give him a pass, he's the host, so like any other journalist trying to sound smart by throwing loosely related terms around.

Some reference materials for those interested.

I added the thinner yellow lines above to clarity how the upper level modules 18,19, and 20 connect between module 17 and 21 on lower level.

That does confirm what my dealer service manager told me when I bought my 2021 in late 2023. I was told there are 12 LG pouch cells in each module but that isn’t so important to me in the video.
Seeing the precision nature of the heat transfer material to insure proper reassembly as well as the urethane seal timing where you must install & torque hundreds of bolts to attach the battery cover in 20 minutes before the seal sets. I don’t remember exactly how may bolts there are but to say the least it’s a job for at least 2 technicians working very quickly at over 20 bolts/minute. I would use one tech using an air ratchet to install all the bolts with a second tech right behind him with a torque wrench to make sure all the bolts are torqued properly. There no time to spare in that one assembly step you could easily screw up.
Again, all good information…
Keep it coming.

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[whitex]

That does confirm what my dealer service manager told me when I bought my 2021 in late 2023. I was told there are 12 LG pouch cells in each module but that isn’t so important to me in the video.
Seeing the precision nature of the heat transfer material to insure proper reassembly as well as the urethane seal timing where you must install & torque hundreds of bolts to attach the battery cover in 20 minutes before the seal sets. I don’t remember exactly how may bolts there are but to say the least it’s a job for at least 2 technicians working very quickly at over 20 bolts/minute. I would use one tech using an air ratchet to install all the bolts with a second tech right behind him with a torque wrench to make sure all the bolts are torqued properly. There no time to spare in that one assembly step you could easily screw up.
Again, all good information…
Keep it coming.

There are other technical details inaccuracies in the video. But you are right, to most people it doesn't matter if the higher capacity battery has higher voltage or not (unless they are trying to figure out why PB+ battery can deliver more power through the same wiring). Most people see value in seeing an overview of the battery repair process. The added details, even if wrong, are inconsequential to majority of viewers. They are there to add color to the story, make it sound more sophisticated, like the host mentioning Ohm's law.

It is a known human cognitive bias to fill in knowledge gaps with personal speculation, which then become facts in person's mind, especially once they've shared this made up knowledge with others. Porsche does actually provide the information to the techs, since the pages I included in my post for reference came from tech training materials. However not everyone is as detail oriented as others, and the cognitive bias serves as a mental shortcut - it costs less mental effort to make things up than learn things. This particular technician's made up information, or learned it from some presented who made up information (I've seen a PCNA presentation full of made up stuff too), but that will probably not affect the quality of the work he's doing, as he's following a strict step-by-step process, so who cares if he believes in magic electrons sent from the PIWIS to the car, as long as the Porsche procedure is followed, the repair is done to spec. Where is does come into play is when there is a new problem to be diagnosed, something for which there is no procedure from Porsche. This is where accurate technical information is important, but I thing Porsche uses engineers back in Germany for that.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed seeing the actual procedure I've never seen, and the insides of the Taycan. I even learned something new - that there are two types of cells which differ only by polarity (I never took my own battery apart). I'm just one of those geek-owners, or power-users who likes to learn way more details about their cars than most. It also didn't help (or did it help?) that Porsche couldn't sell me a car for 20 months during the pandemic, so while I was bored during COVID lockdowns, I built myself a partial Taycan-on-the-bench to play with (reverse engineer), complete with a few ECU's, including PCM, top and bottom displays, OTA module, gateway, etc - parts which I got from crashed Taycans off ebay. I guess you could say I am not an average Taycan owner. I did have my matrix headlights enabled way before any of the 3rd party shops started selling it (side note, it can be done with PIWIS3, despite what some shops have claimed in the past that they had to wait for PIWIS4 release). My car is also customized in other ways, the way I like my cars - that's part of how I enjoy car ownership.

PS> Gotta love those graph overlays from CarScanner, though without crediting the app (carefully cropped?). It implies (but not actually state) that those graphs are from Porsche diagnostics software. For those who don't know, you can generate those graphs on your phone with a free app (CarScanner) and a $20-$60 OBDII adapter.

 

[Uknown]

There are other technical details inaccuracies in the video. But you are right, to most people it doesn't matter if the higher capacity battery has higher voltage or not (unless they are trying to figure out why PB+ battery can deliver more power through the same wiring). Most people see value in seeing an overview of the battery repair process. The added details, even if wrong, are inconsequential to majority of viewers. They are there to add color to the story, make it sound more sophisticated, like the host mentioning Ohm's law.

It is a known human cognitive bias to fill in knowledge gaps with personal speculation, which then become facts in person's mind, especially once they've shared this made up knowledge with others. Porsche does actually provide the information to the techs, since the pages I included in my post for reference came from tech training materials. However not everyone is as detail oriented as others, and the cognitive bias serves as a mental shortcut - it costs less mental effort to make things up than learn things. This particular technician's made up information, or learned it from some presented who made up information (I've seen a PCNA presentation full of made up stuff too), but that will probably not affect the quality of the work he's doing, as he's following a strict step-by-step process, so who cares if he believes in magic electrons sent from the PIWIS to the car, as long as the Porsche procedure is followed, the repair is done to spec. Where is does come into play is when there is a new problem to be diagnosed, something for which there is no procedure from Porsche. This is where accurate technical information is important, but I thing Porsche uses engineers back in Germany for that.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed seeing the actual procedure I've never seen, and the insides of the Taycan. I even learned something new - that there are two types of cells which differ only by polarity (I never took my own battery apart). I'm just one of those geek-owners, or power-users who likes to learn way more details about their cars than most. It also didn't help (or did it help?) that Porsche couldn't sell me a car for 20 months during the pandemic, so while I was bored during COVID lockdowns, I built myself a partial Taycan-on-the-bench to play with (reverse engineer), complete with a few ECU's, including PCM, top and bottom displays, OTA module, gateway, etc - parts which I got from crashed Taycans off ebay. I guess you could say I am not an average Taycan owner. I did have my matrix headlights enabled way before any of the 3rd party shops started selling it (side note, it can be done with PIWIS3, despite what some shops have claimed in the past that they had to wait for PIWIS4 release). My car is also customized in other ways, the way I like my cars - that's part of how I enjoy car ownership.

PS> Gotta love those graph overlays from CarScanner, though without crediting the app (carefully cropped?). It implies (but not actually state) that those graphs are from Porsche diagnostics software. For those who don't know, you can generate those graphs on your phone with a free app (CarScanner) and a $20-$60 OBDII adapter.

I did chuckle at the screen captures, but assumed Porsche didn’t approve of sharing their diagnostics screens. I am newer to Porsche and still don’t really understand PCA and PCNA relationship.

 

[Techwizard100]

They were right about one thing, don't believe everything you see on the internet.

What made me skeptical only few minutes into the video is the comment that in the PB battery all modules are in series, while in PB+ some are in parallel. In fact, all modules are in parallel in both PB and PB+, and each module contains 12 cells in a 6s2p configuration, so the result is 198s2p (see below). The PB battery has 168s2p configuration, and yes it has a lower output voltage, so the expert is wrong here. The comment about Ohm's Law made by the host was funny (Ohms law has nothing to do with connecting batteries in series or parallel), but I give him a pass, he's the host, so like any other journalist trying to sound smart by throwing loosely related terms around.

Some reference materials for those interested.

I added the thinner yellow lines above to clarity how the upper level modules 18,19, and 20 connect between module 17 and 21 on lower level.

The Tech spoke on how the batteries were wired. Thats his understanding.

As far as as OHMs law -
Ohm's Law (V=IR) applies to both series and parallel circuits. In series circuits, the total resistance is the sum of individual resistances, and the current is the same through each component. In parallel circuits, each component experiences the same voltage, and the total resistance is less than the smallest individual resistance.

So to the comment about how the battery is wired does apply via this law.
- So don't believe every reply you see on the internet.

 

[Techwizard100]

There are other technical details inaccuracies in the video. But you are right, to most people it doesn't matter if the higher capacity battery has higher voltage or not (unless they are trying to figure out why PB+ battery can deliver more power through the same wiring). Most people see value in seeing an overview of the battery repair process. The added details, even if wrong, are inconsequential to majority of viewers. They are there to add color to the story, make it sound more sophisticated, like the host mentioning Ohm's law.

It is a known human cognitive bias to fill in knowledge gaps with personal speculation, which then become facts in person's mind, especially once they've shared this made up knowledge with others. Porsche does actually provide the information to the techs, since the pages I included in my post for reference came from tech training materials. However not everyone is as detail oriented as others, and the cognitive bias serves as a mental shortcut - it costs less mental effort to make things up than learn things. This particular technician's made up information, or learned it from some presented who made up information (I've seen a PCNA presentation full of made up stuff too), but that will probably not affect the quality of the work he's doing, as he's following a strict step-by-step process, so who cares if he believes in magic electrons sent from the PIWIS to the car, as long as the Porsche procedure is followed, the repair is done to spec. Where is does come into play is when there is a new problem to be diagnosed, something for which there is no procedure from Porsche. This is where accurate technical information is important, but I thing Porsche uses engineers back in Germany for that.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed seeing the actual procedure I've never seen, and the insides of the Taycan. I even learned something new - that there are two types of cells which differ only by polarity (I never took my own battery apart). I'm just one of those geek-owners, or power-users who likes to learn way more details about their cars than most. It also didn't help (or did it help?) that Porsche couldn't sell me a car for 20 months during the pandemic, so while I was bored during COVID lockdowns, I built myself a partial Taycan-on-the-bench to play with (reverse engineer), complete with a few ECU's, including PCM, top and bottom displays, OTA module, gateway, etc - parts which I got from crashed Taycans off ebay. I guess you could say I am not an average Taycan owner. I did have my matrix headlights enabled way before any of the 3rd party shops started selling it (side note, it can be done with PIWIS3, despite what some shops have claimed in the past that they had to wait for PIWIS4 release). My car is also customized in other ways, the way I like my cars - that's part of how I enjoy car ownership.

PS> Gotta love those graph overlays from CarScanner, though without crediting the app (carefully cropped?). It implies (but not actually state) that those graphs are from Porsche diagnostics software. For those who don't know, you can generate those graphs on your phone with a free app (CarScanner) and a $20-$60 OBDII adapter.

CarScanner was inadvertently not credited. Yes, these are from CarScanner. Host recommends. - DB

 

[Techwizard100]

I did chuckle at the screen captures, but assumed Porsche didn’t approve of sharing their diagnostics screens. I am newer to Porsche and still don’t really understand PCA and PCNA relationship.

These screens were from CarScanner App. No Porsche diagnostic screens were zoomed in on.

 

[Techwizard100]

I did chuckle at the screen captures, but assumed Porsche didn’t approve of sharing their diagnostics screens. I am newer to Porsche and still don’t really understand PCA and PCNA relationship.

PCA is the club. PCNA is the american branch of the Porsche AG car company. We are totally separate. But the club are working to support the brand any way we can.

 

[Mr.Smith]

PCA is the club. PCNA is the american branch of the Porsche AG car company. We are totally separate. But the club are working to support the brand any way we can.

Anyway to get a deeper dive into the motors and inverters?

 

[Techwizard100]

Anyway to get a deeper dive into the motors and inverters?

LMK what you would like to see. I will investigate. Next time we will have a better mic on the tech

 

[Mr.Smith]

LMK what you would like to see. I will investigate. Next time we will have a better mic on the tech

Not sure if Porsche likes to disclose the very granular details of those components.

The current inverters are IGBT and are Hitachi from others investigating, but maybe deeper that than.

 

[Techwizard100]

Not sure if Porsche likes to disclose the very granular details of those components.

The current inverters are IGBT and are Hitachi from others investigating, but maybe deeper that than.

You are correct. This will go to IP and all sorts of other questions. But we can ask.

 

[Tooney]

I appreciated seeing the thermal paste was easy to remove…and all the little details. It was a great video.

My take away is there is so much by hand work, without doing a ton of these I struggle to see how it would come close to matching the factory install of the pack. If I were the tech I would be stressed. Deburring/fixing malformed threaded holes… scraping thermal paste and attempting to measure it to apply back.. definitely seems less field serviceable than the marketing stated hahah. For having such a focus on fine tolerances and spec.. this process doesn’t seem to allow for much consistency.

+1
A highly variable, potentially error-prone process. Maybe PCNA's decision to ship batteries under recall to a central contractor for module replacement will help.

Thanks much for the video, @Techwizard100 and Porsche Naples.

 

[Gino]

There are other technical details inaccuracies in the video. But you are right, to most people it doesn't matter if the higher capacity battery has higher voltage or not (unless they are trying to figure out why PB+ battery can deliver more power through the same wiring). Most people see value in seeing an overview of the battery repair process. The added details, even if wrong, are inconsequential to majority of viewers. They are there to add color to the story, make it sound more sophisticated, like the host mentioning Ohm's law.

It is a known human cognitive bias to fill in knowledge gaps with personal speculation, which then become facts in person's mind, especially once they've shared this made up knowledge with others. Porsche does actually provide the information to the techs, since the pages I included in my post for reference came from tech training materials. However not everyone is as detail oriented as others, and the cognitive bias serves as a mental shortcut - it costs less mental effort to make things up than learn things. This particular technician's made up information, or learned it from some presented who made up information (I've seen a PCNA presentation full of made up stuff too), but that will probably not affect the quality of the work he's doing, as he's following a strict step-by-step process, so who cares if he believes in magic electrons sent from the PIWIS to the car, as long as the Porsche procedure is followed, the repair is done to spec. Where is does come into play is when there is a new problem to be diagnosed, something for which there is no procedure from Porsche. This is where accurate technical information is important, but I thing Porsche uses engineers back in Germany for that.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed seeing the actual procedure I've never seen, and the insides of the Taycan. I even learned something new - that there are two types of cells which differ only by polarity (I never took my own battery apart). I'm just one of those geek-owners, or power-users who likes to learn way more details about their cars than most. It also didn't help (or did it help?) that Porsche couldn't sell me a car for 20 months during the pandemic, so while I was bored during COVID lockdowns, I built myself a partial Taycan-on-the-bench to play with (reverse engineer), complete with a few ECU's, including PCM, top and bottom displays, OTA module, gateway, etc - parts which I got from crashed Taycans off ebay. I guess you could say I am not an average Taycan owner. I did have my matrix headlights enabled way before any of the 3rd party shops started selling it (side note, it can be done with PIWIS3, despite what some shops have claimed in the past that they had to wait for PIWIS4 release). My car is also customized in other ways, the way I like my cars - that's part of how I enjoy car ownership.

PS> Gotta love those graph overlays from CarScanner, though without crediting the app (carefully cropped?). It implies (but not actually state) that those graphs are from Porsche diagnostics software. For those who don't know, you can generate those graphs on your phone with a free app (CarScanner) and a $20-$60 OBDII adapter.

I envy you having the time to play with a bench top Taycan! What a cool way to intimately get to know your Taycan.
I do like the information to be as accurate as possible but have also found discrepancies between what Porsche people tell me and then what I see is actually true from Porsche documentation.
I would love to have a full set of Porsche maintenance manuals to understand every aspect of the vehicle’s build because I find it interesting to know even though I’m unlikely to take mine apart like I’ve done with previous Porsche’s when I was younger.
I appreciate your inputs to keep the information as accurate as possible since I hate when people embellish rather than just stick to the facts but hey I’ll take 90% accurate information with a splash of mostly harmless off script remarks…

 

[Techwizard100]

I envy you having the time to play with a bench top Taycan! What a cool way to intimately get to know your Taycan.
I do like the information to be as accurate as possible but have also found discrepancies between what Porsche people tell me and then what I see is actually true from Porsche documentation.
I would love to have a full set of Porsche maintenance manuals to understand every aspect of the vehicle’s build because I find it interesting to know even though I’m unlikely to take mine apart like I’ve done with previous Porsche’s when I was younger.
I appreciate your inputs to keep the information as accurate as possible since I hate when people embellish rather than just stick to the facts but hey I’ll take 90% accurate information with a splash of mostly harmless off script remarks…

This is not ment to be a technical training course. :0 It is targeted at a wide audience so i'll take 90% too.

 

[Techwizard100]

+1
A highly variable, potentially error-prone process. Maybe PCNA's decision to ship batteries under recall to a central contractor for module replacement will help.

Thanks much for the video, @Techwizard100 and Porsche Naples.

Its a start right? - Ever seen a Tesla battery inside? Its far more difficult to manage individual cells. I think Porsche is +1.

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