⚡️ Home Charging Issues after Software Update? (Tracking Thread)

[daveo4EV]

So, small update after the Porsche engineer visit.

Spent half a day logging everything at my home, both with my car and another test Macan without the update. As expected, the pre-update Macan charged with no issues.

One unexpected resolution was found by accident during testing - after plugging the car to charge and during the initial clicking of the wallbox, switching on a high power appliance bumps up the baseline (don't know which parameter) and the car starts charging. In my case an air compressor was used for this purpose multiple times, also, switching on the central vacuum system worked on the test Macan. Not sure how reliable this is, I will test this more in upcoming days - as the car is charging now

Long story short: Porsche will now analyze the data collected and are confident that the solution will be found shortly.

thank you for this update - I'm particularly pleased that the pre-update Macan "just worked" and the post-update Macan did not work (as expected) - having a reproducible test case that exhibits the problem (or not) is normally "key" for any engineering progress on a software bug…

I have high confidence they will figure out what the core issue is given that they now have data logs of a working and non-working Macan.

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[daveo4EV]

But if the issue is not voltage and it's TDH, turning on appliances that are contributors to this, increases the TDH which makes it deviate from the ideal range, and that's not what we want. I'm assuming you want less TDH and more frequency stability.

voltage sag's when there is a big draw…it might get lowered by as much a 5V

 

[nick729]

thank you for this update - I'm particularly pleased that the pre-update Macan "just worked" and the post-update Macan did not work (as expected) - having a reproducible test case that exhibits the problem (or not) is normally "key" for any engineering progress on a software bug…

I have high confidence they will figure out what the core issue is given that they now have data logs of a working and non-working Macan.

I had taken 2 different Macans from the dealer about a month ago and tested them myself. One was pre-update, so they already knew the outcome before testing it themselves. Engineers flew in yesterday and they were downgrading one of the Macans to the pre-update version for testing and benchmarking i assume. After data logging the pre-update Macan was updated on the spot and as expected it stopped charging

 

[daveo4EV]

I had taken 2 different Macans from the dealer about a month ago and tested them myself. One was pre-update, so they already knew the outcome before testing it themselves. Engineers flew in yesterday and they were downgrading one of the Macans to the pre-update version for testing and benchmarking i assume. After data logging the pre-update Macan was updated on the spot and as expected it stopped charging

this is soooo good! _PROOF_ the software update _IS_ the root cause of the problem!

 

[annwills]

So, small update after the Porsche engineer visit.

Spent half a day logging everything at my home, both with my car and another test Macan without the update. As expected, the pre-update Macan charged with no issues.

One unexpected resolution was found by accident during testing - after plugging the car to charge and during the initial clicking of the wallbox, switching on a high power appliance bumps up the baseline (don't know which parameter) and the car starts charging. In my case an air compressor was used for this purpose multiple times, also, switching on the central vacuum system worked on the test Macan. Not sure how reliable this is, I will test this more in upcoming days - as the car is charging now

Long story short: Porsche will now analyze the data collected and are confident that the solution will be found shortly.

So, small update after the Porsche engineer visit.

Spent half a day logging everything at my home, both with my car and another test Macan without the update. As expected, the pre-update Macan charged with no issues.

One unexpected resolution was found by accident during testing - after plugging the car to charge and during the initial clicking of the wallbox, switching on a high power appliance bumps up the baseline (don't know which parameter) and the car starts charging. In my case an air compressor was used for this purpose multiple times, also, switching on the central vacuum system worked on the test Macan. Not sure how reliable this is, I will test this more in upcoming days - as the car is charging now

Long story short: Porsche will now analyze the data collected and are confident that the solution will be found shortly.

So, small update after the Porsche engineer visit.

Spent half a day logging everything at my home, both with my car and another test Macan without the update. As expected, the pre-update Macan charged with no issues.

One unexpected resolution was found by accident during testing - after plugging the car to charge and during the initial clicking of the wallbox, switching on a high power appliance bumps up the baseline (don't know which parameter) and the car starts charging. In my case an air compressor was used for this purpose multiple times, also, switching on the central vacuum system worked on the test Macan. Not sure how reliable this is, I will test this more in upcoming days - as the car is charging now

Long story short: Porsche will now analyze the data collected and are confident that the solution will be found shortly.

Allow me to add my thanks for taking the time to keep us informed. This appears to have been a thoughtful, honest and logical reaction to the problem by Porsche Germany. Wonder why no one at Porsche NA bothered to take the same steps and instead kept us in the dark for 3 months.

 

[dgkhn]

this is soooo good! _PROOF_ the software update _IS_ the root cause of the problem!

That is great; although if I understand correctly, that test was on a three-phase circuit. Let's hope it generalizes to the North American single phase scenario also.

 

[daveo4EV]

That is great; although if I understand correctly, that test was on a three-phase circuit. Let's hope it generalizes to the North American single phase scenario also.

even if it doesn't there is now precedent for power-voltage-quality issues causing problems for Macan's to charge - and the the update is the reason it no longer works - now as to if the fix for Europe does not fix North America - well it's not forgone conclusion it _IS_ the update that is causing the faults - and they may need a different fix for North America, but either way the current update has a very very bad fleet wide regression that affects charging…

this rules out PCNA blaming the victims…

 

[nick729]

That is great; although if I understand correctly, that test was on a three-phase circuit. Let's hope it generalizes to the North American single phase scenario also.

They are aware of the issues in NA too, I have referred them to this thread a while back and also talked about it this morning.

 

[dgkhn]

even if it doesn't there is now precedent for power-voltage-quality issues causing problems for Macan's to charge - and the the update is the reason it no longer works - now as to if the fix for Europe does not fix North America - well it's not forgone conclusion it _IS_ the update that is causing the faults - and they may need a different fix for North America, but either way the current update has a very very bad fleet wide regression that affects charging…

this rules out PCNA blaming the victims…

I'm not disagreeing in principle. But... it's not apparent to me whether it is PAG, PCNA, or individual dealers/service writers/service managers, or some combination, who are blaming the victims.

Reading through the posts here, Porsche's entire approach to the EV's nets out to blaming the victims, which is terrible for Porsche as a brand, and for Porsche loyalty, and really seems inexcusable to me. I mean, responses such as, "you're using the wrong EVSE" are truly horrendous, and the whole system from top to bottom, which resists clarity, communication, accuracy, honesty and accountability is quite disheartening.

Speaking for myself, I was willing to order a Macan EV sight unseen because I trusted Porsche. So far, I happen to have lucked out, in that after 17 months and 12,000 miles, my Macan 4 (so far!) has been great. But every day I get into it there's this little buzz in the back of my brain, and I am not too likely to trust Porsche again. With 7 months left on my lease, I am now really torn because as much as I do love this car, I am no longer comfortable with Porsche.

 

[lukine]

I'm not disagreeing in principle. But... it's not apparent to me whether it is PAG, PCNA, or individual dealers/service writers/service managers, or some combination, who are blaming the victims.

Reading through the posts here, Porsche's entire approach to the EV's nets out to blaming the victims, which is terrible for Porsche as a brand, and for Porsche loyalty, and really seems inexcusable to me. I mean, responses such as, "you're using the wrong EVSE" are truly horrendous, and the whole system from top to bottom, which resists clarity, communication, accuracy, honesty and accountability is quite disheartening.

Speaking for myself, I was willing to order a Macan EV sight unseen because I trusted Porsche. So far, I happen to have lucked out, in that after 17 months and 12,000 miles, my Macan 4 (so far!) has been great. But every day I get into it there's this little buzz in the back of my brain, and I am not too likely to trust Porsche again. With 7 months left on my lease, I am now really torn because as much as I do love this car, I am no longer comfortable with Porsche.

Are you one of the owners who isn’t able to charge at home? I completely understand where you’re coming from. I’m a first time Porsche owner, and I expected much better from a luxury brand. Unfortunately I did not lease the car, I purchased it, so there will likely be less options for me and most likely my options will require me to either take a big loss on buy back value or put in a lot more to buy new one. I do love the way Porsche cars drive. I even went to the Porsche Ice track experience last month in Montreal. And it was really fun. But this ordeal has been a huge turn off. The way they have responded to this issue has been way too slow, and disappointing to say the least. They’re tarnishing their own brand by putting the blame on owners or “external influences” instead of taking accountability. All in all, I wouldn’t recommend Porsche to my friends anymore.

 

[dgkhn]

Are you one of the owners who isn’t able to charge at home? I completely understand where you’re coming from. I’m a first time Porsche owner, and I expected much better from a luxury brand. Unfortunately I did not lease the car, I purchased it, so there will likely be less options for me and most likely my options will require me to either take a big loss on buy back value or put in a lot more to buy new one. I do love the way Porsche cars drive. I even went to the Porsche Ice track experience last month in Montreal. And it was really fun. But this ordeal has been a huge turn off. The way they have responded to this issue has been way too slow, and disappointing to say the least. They’re tarnishing their own brand by putting the blame on owners or “external influences” instead of taking accountability. All in all, I wouldn’t recommend Porsche to my friends anymore.

No; since I have been fortunate so far in not experiencing the issues the update is apparently intended to address, and seeing the issues some people are experiencing post update, I am taking the approach of not fixing what isn't broken (i.e. deferring getting the update until either I need it or it is evidently fully baked.)

My comments are really a response, in general, to PCNA's and dealers' inability to address the various bugs people are experiencing, but the issues with this update are an especially clear indication of where Porsche is going wrong in my view.

(If I were not an avid automobile forum participant, based on my own experiences alone, I would think everything is great! (Again, I superstitiously say, "so far.")) My personal Macan EV experience has been great to date. And yes, I know that the tendency is for people to come to forums when they are having problems. I am saying this more as an observer of how apparently incoherent/inept/inadequate the service support for these cars has been and continues to be.

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