My 2024 Macan EV Never Seems to DC Fast Charge at its Potential

[SteveInKirkland]

I just finished 2,000 miles of DC fast charging on the road, and the one stand out issue is that I never seem to see high throughput for DC fast charging. The situation was so bad yesterday that I intended to take the car in for service to test it. But, it finally put up high numbers at a EA site in Pooler. GA this morning and it made me believe that my Macan EV might actually be working according to its specs.

On the latest 1,000 mile trip, I used a combination of Mercedes Benz chargers and EA 350 kW. The Mercedes network sites were completely unused except for me and the results were 140 kW max output. It was sad.

I'm partially griping and partially trying to understand why this never seems to work. I'm tired tonight, so I'll dig back into the questions next week.

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[daveo4EV]

99% of the time the limit is the charging stall - nothing to do with the car - also to get max charge rate you have to be low SOC (below 30%) and battery temps need to be "ideal" - otherwise all EV's suffer slower charging speeds ( not just the Macan) - also you won't see the max rate for the entire charge - as the battery fills up charge rate slows down…

there is 99.99999999999999% chance there is nothing wrong with your Macan - the charge rates you are experiences are just a result of environmental conditions outside your control…

 

[daveo4EV]

I just finished 2,000 miles of DC fast charging on the road, and the one stand out issue is that I never seem to see high throughput for DC fast charging. The situation was so bad yesterday that I intended to take the car in for service to test it. But, it finally put up high numbers at a EA site in Pooler. GA this morning and it made me believe that my Macan EV might actually be working according to its specs.

On the latest 1,000 mile trip, I used a combination of Mercedes Benz chargers and EA 350 kW. The Mercedes network sites were completely unused except for me and the results were 140 kW max output. It was sad.

I'm partially griping and partially trying to understand why this never seems to work. I'm tired tonight, so I'll dig back into the questions next week.

this thread will answer many if not all of your questions…

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...my-taycan-charge-as-fast-as-i-want-it-to.779/

there is likely nothing here that is not expected - maximum charging speeds are difficult to achieve and require optimal conditions and equipment and charging stalls that are operating at optimal levels (not a common occurrence).

 

[craz8]

EA has gone to ‘balanced’ chargers where you will likely never get that promised 350 speed. It sucks!

Electrify Canada has the older stations, and I recently touched 200kw for the first time at one.

It does seem to be necessary to get the stars to align with the station, in addition to being under 30% and at a good temperature, particularly in busy locations where other cars, and nearby businesses too, can be reducing power available.

 

[SteveInKirkland]

Before the advice starts in earnest ... it's hot on the east coast (the location of my recent trip). The car's battery was always in the ideal range or hotter to start the charging process. This is not a preconditioning problem. And, similarly, the battery SoC at charging start was as low as 11% and always 30% or less.

The one time that the car lived up to its charging potential seemed random -- the 2nd to last stop on a straight run of 19 hours with the car either driving at 80 mph or charging.

 

[daveo4EV]

Before the advice starts in earnest ... it's hot on the east coast (the location of my recent trip). The car's battery was always in the ideal range or hotter to start the charging process. This is not a preconditioning problem. And, similarly, the battery SoC at charging start was as low as 11% and always 30% or less.

The one time that the car lived up to its charging potential seemed random -- the 2nd to last stop on a straight run of 19 hours with the car either driving at 80 mph or charging.

then most likely the charging stalls were the limiting factor - many many DC Fast chargers rarely achieve their advertised charging speed

the new Taycan J1.2 charging interface has "status" as to where the "limit" is in a given charging session - Rivian has the same status…

if Macan showed the same status - I'd bet money it would show the limiting factor is the charging stall and has nothing to do with the Macan…

 

[PrudentOcean]

EA has gone to ‘balanced’ chargers where you will likely never get that promised 350 speed. It sucks!

Yes, every EA station I have used has had balanced chargers. I usually see a peak of about 130 kWh.

 

[SteveInKirkland]

Guys, I just did a 19 hour, overnight run starting at 6:53 pm and ending at 2 pm ET. I was usually the only car at the charging site. Sometimes, there was 1 other car, but usually not the entire time I was at the site. I started with a 100% AC, level 2 charged pack and the first stop was the brand new Mercedes Benz charging site at Norfolk Premium Outlets.

If 'balanced' site means that EA never supplies 350 kW to any one charger, then I understand. But why install 350 kW stations at all? Or 400 kW Alipitronic at Mercedes Benz sites?

When I started the gripe thread, I suspected that part of the problem is the charging network and some of the problem is the car. No one has changed my view yet.

As a side note, the Norfolk Premium Outlets parking area is gated off at night which should prevent its use to customers (should be a note in the Plugshare system for "idiots made this unworkable after 9 pm"). To get access to the high powered MB site, I drove through the exit for the facility (which was still open between 9 and 11 pm).

 

[daveo4EV]

it's unlikely to be the car…often times for reasons not disclosed the chargers simply do not provide "full power" - that's a well understood fact.

there are a myriad of reasons charging networks "limit" max/ideal power:

• local grid condition
  • it may be at the moment in time the grid operators are simply unable to provide that much power - charging network operators co-operate with local power providers to not overload the local grid…based on current load conditions
• booster batteries at the site are depleted from previous vehicle's depleting them(many many sites can't provide "full power" unless local site's booster batteries have sufficient capacity)
  • it's very very common to require booster batteries to supplement the charging site's actual grid feedcapacity - once the booster battery is depleted it's charged during non-use but can't provide full power charging until the booster battery is back "online"
  • EV's that have used/visited the site prior to your visit may have benefited from "full power" but depleted the booster battery - and there was insufficient time to recharge the booster battery before the next vehicle plugged in…
• balanced load which splits the sites's total power capacity among all the stalls - the network operators may not be doing this "dynamically" - so it won't matter if there are other vehicle's charging or not
• equipment failures - equipment may have detected a fault and is simply reducing power to protect itself until the network operator decides to address the fault…
• costs (it's more expensive to provide 350 kW vs. say 80 kW) - cost management is a factor in network operation - and demand loads and grid tariffs may mandate certain operational limits
• time of use - wrong time of day - see "costs" above
• equipment reliability (equipment might be throttled slower to work around a "known" issue) - there may be 'recall' from the equipment vendor for "known issues" - that site may be under recall while the network operators may waits for an update or actual onsite repair to address a known failure condition - this is complex high powered stuff - it has issues just like our vehicle's and sometimes they limit operational capacities until the core issue can be addressed
• liquid cooled cables may not be "online" so they limit power to avoid overheating the cables…many EA chargers have liquid cooled cables - if the equipment/operator detects a problem with the cable's cooling system they will limit max power to avoid melting the cables while the site is schedule for a cable cooling repair/visit…
• thermal loads the equipment might not be able to handle - if the chargers themselves are overheated they will limit their max power delivery
  • I ran into a service guy at one site that was there to address equipment "thermal loads" - rodents had infiltrated the equipment and nested in a cavity - this rodent activity/nesting had the effect to reducing airlow and limiting cooling capacity - when the equipment failed to cool itself sufficient it simply reduced it's max power and registered a fault…the local rodent population was the reason for sub-optimal charging speeds and it remained that way until the network operator scheduled a service visit to address the fault.
• max daily budget for power delivered - many network operators limit the total "kwh's" budgeted "per-site" on a per-day, per-week basis - if the site is at/near it's total kWh's delivered daily budget they will limit power delivery to control network costs overruns for a given site…
• sometimes you get a 400V charging session even if both the car and the EV charger can do 800V - this will result in a session that can only offer what ever limit there is for 400V fastDC charging (in the case of the Macan that's about 130 kW) - this is a "miscommunication" between the car and the station - as to why/how it happens it's hard to get anyone to "care" to diagnose it.
• other reasons not listed here

all of the above reasons are factual reasons I've learned over the years from experience, interviews, and simply conversations with network staff and operators…

it's very unlikely to be the car if the battery and SOC is in the proper range for ideal charging speeds…

equipment at this sites are "upto 150kW, 350kW, 400kW" - there is no promise of always delivering "max/ideal" power…that is simply what the equipment can do if conditions are right and the network operator allows the equipment to operate at that speed…

Example: Porsche Monterey has 4 350 kW 800V high speed chargers they have on site for their service/sales use (don't stop there to charge on your road trip - dealer business use only). In speaking with the local service manager - these 4 chargers have an onsite booster battery - the "feed" from the grid can not provide 4x350 kW (1350 kW) - but they charge an on site booster battery "overnight" - when the battery is "full" they can charge 4-5 Taycan's at full speed per-day - after that the max speed the chargers can provide is 80-120 kW because they no longer have the booster battery full enough to supplement the grid feed for "max power"…

network charging speeds are not guaranteed - the network operators have ultimate authority as to charging speeds delivered for any given charging session…it's a common outcome to have the charger-stall limit it's max power offered to the vehicle: Porsche Taycan .2, Rivian, Lucid charging software shows the "max power" offered on the vehicle's in car displays during a charging session - they have added this "feature" to their vehicle's for this _EXACT_ reason and to assist their service networks and customers with the information necessary to diagnose why a given charging session is being limited - they would not have bothered to add this information if it was un-necessary or not common…

it's very unlikely there is anything wrong with your Macan, it's DC charger, or it's battery - it is however very likely and plausible that the network sites you visits were simply not operating at max power when you happened to be there…

if you believe different I wish you luck…

 

[SteveInKirkland]

if you believe different I wish you luck…

Dave, the problem with the car is that it doesn't tell me enough information about what is happening with the battery and charging. It's the same problem I've had with it since first purchase.

Instead of you *guessing* about what might be happening to my car from years of experience, Porsche could just surface all of the relevant information and tell it to me. Better yet, they could make the log available to me for download and conduct post analysis. Allowing this level of insight would cost them nearly nothing.

Every Porsche 911 is built assuming it will be one of the ones that lasts 50 years in service. 3rd parties can do a lot of the servicing. People restore them. The equivalent in the electric world is to give me all the data about the battery and charging system, and, eventually, to let 3rd parties service it.

 

[daveo4EV]

Dave, the problem with the car is that it doesn't tell me enough information about what is happening with the battery and charging. It's the same problem I've had with it since first purchase.

Instead of you *guessing* about what might be happening to my car from years of experience, Porsche could just surface all of the relevant information and tell it to me. Better yet, they could make the log available to me for download and conduct post analysis. Allowing this level of insight would cost them nearly nothing.

Every Porsche 911 is built assuming it will be one of the ones that lasts 50 years in service. 3rd parties can do a lot of the servicing. People restore them. The equivalent in the electric world is to give me all the data about the battery and charging system, and, eventually, to let 3rd parties service it.

yeah they are doing some of this with Taycan 1.2 - but I agree with you - there is no way to tell why you're not getting max charging speed…

as far as 3rd parties servicing Prosche vehicle's - with modern cars and "locks" on ECU's - those days are over my friend - and that's true of modern complex ICE and EV's

from your posting you seem more frustrated by the "black box" nature of your digital vehicle than the charging speeds - but yeah I get it - I'm not optimistic your feedback will be prioritized - I"m not saying it's invalid - but I don't see it as anything anyone will address.

Taycan 1.1 and Macan do NOT provide enough information about charging sessions to diagnose "root cause" - that's a fact - so you're left to "guess" what the situation is. I don't see that changing until they decide to bring the J1.2 Taycan charging software updates to Macan…

and yeah -modern cars are harder/impossible/more-difficult for non-factory service people to service - that's a trend that's independent of EV's…

 

[SteveInKirkland]

In the Pacific Northwest and the Southeast of the USA, it is very possible to have the battery pack, motors, and virtually all aspects of the car 3rd-party serviced and replaced for Teslas, Bolts, Leafs, F150 Lightening, Hummer, Cadillac, etc. And Tesla surfaces a lot of information about the charging session. Chinese EVs can also provide a lot of data through 3rd party tools.

It's really *just* Porsche and European nameplates that are behind on this, and the problem can easily be fixed by EU regulation changes. And some of those are already coming for 2026.

 

[sor]

When you talk about expectations, you are looking for something along the lines of this?

https://evkx.net/models/porsche/macan/macan_4/chargingcurve/chart/?battery=0

Specifically you are never able to hit 200+ kw?

 

[SteveInKirkland]

When you talk about expectations, you are looking for something along the lines of this?

https://evkx.net/models/porsche/macan/macan_4/chargingcurve/chart/?battery=0

Specifically you are never able to hit 200+ kw?

Yes, the graph is my expectation. The reality was that almost all my DC fast charging sessions hit a maximum of 130 kW.

There is a real difference: the car can't go from 20% to 80% in 30 minutes at the reduced rate. So, EA charging sessions from 20% to 80% were not "free" (included in the 1 yr of free charging for 30 minute or less sessions). The money doesn't bother me. The wait bothers me. This side effect is just indicative of the problem.

 

[PrudentOcean]

I’ve hit the 30 minute limit before reaching my charging target (85% is the maximum SoC allowed at the EA that I use). The solution is to end the session and start another one.

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