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

[SteveInKirkland]

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.

I did this once during Friday's trip and it didn't work any more! We did 29 minutes at the charger and then I pulled the plug, took my spouse to a bathroom at WaWa, and then drove back to finish the charging. And I got charged for every minute over 30 minutes for the two combined sessions at that charger!

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[jwatte]

Is it one session per day?

Also, it'd be fine with a 30 minute session if they actually deliver close to 300 kWh, but those "balanced" chargers that say 350 on the label, but deliver 80 when you plug in at empty ...

 

[SteveInKirkland]

Is it one session per day?

Also, it'd be fine with a 30 minute session if they actually deliver close to 300 kWh, but those "balanced" chargers that say 350 on the label, but deliver 80 when you plug in at empty ...

I didn't do enough testing to know whether it is limited to 1 session per day. It could be 30 minutes of charging every 5 hours.

But it was smart enough to give me the first minute free on the 2nd session after the first session had 29 minutes of charging.

 

[SteveInKirkland]

A bunch of people claim you have to wait 1 hour to get another 30 minute free charging session.

 

[sor]

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.

Is it fair to say that it generally follows the 400v curve on that graph? I imagine you’ve probably cycled through the stats on the charger to ensure it’s doing more than 400?

 

[PrudentOcean]

I’ve done back-to-back charging sessions twice and never was charged for it.

 

[SteveInKirkland]

Is it fair to say that it generally follows the 400v curve on that graph? I imagine you’ve probably cycled through the stats on the charger to ensure it’s doing more than 400?

Yes, it did follow the 400v curve. No, it was not always doing more than 400 ... which caused me to wonder if the car was damaged.

 

[Zcd1]

….The reality was that almost all my DC fast charging sessions hit a maximum of 130 kW.

But do SOME of your sessions hit higher peak speeds, and if so, what peak and for how long?

 

[SteveInKirkland]

But do SOME of your sessions hit higher peak speeds, and if so, what peak and for how long?

Yes. Across 2,000 miles of DC fast charging, 2 sessions were basically at the curve potential for the car. I think we covered this in the rest of the thread.

It was most depressing to see the slow charging rate at the brand new Mercedes Benz charging station at Norfolk Premium Outlets. If I find the photos that I took for Plugshare, I will upload them.

 

[Zcd1]

Yes. Across 2,000 miles of DC fast charging, 2 sessions were basically at the curve potential for the car. I think we covered this in the rest of the thread.

It was most depressing to see the slow charging rate at the brand new Mercedes Benz charging station at Norfolk Premium Outlets. If I find the photos that I took for Plugshare, I will upload them.

I read the entire thread but didn’t see that specific information.

Is MB’s network 400V or 800V? A Google search was inconclusive on that…

Has it been confirmed that the Macan EV is capable of charging faster than 130kW on MB’s network?

Our (800V) Genesis GV60 is capable of up to 240kW, but on 400V networks like the Tesla Supercharger network, it’s capped at 97KW…

 

[SteveInKirkland]

I read the entire thread but didn’t see that specific information.

Is MB’s network 400V or 800V? A Google search was inconclusive on that…

Has it been confirmed that the Macan EV is capable of charging faster than 130kW on MB’s network?

Our (800V) Genesis GV60 is capable of up to 240kW, but on 400V networks like the Tesla Supercharger network, it’s capped at 97KW…

Yes, the MB Norfolk Premium Outlets location is 800v 400 kW Alpitronic CCS chargers and I have seen video evidence of someone charging at peak-ish charge curves for the Macan EV at that location.

 

[ColdCase]

As an example, the local area has four 350 kW rated EA stations. When I pull in at 10-20% with the battery in the optimum range, I usually see 250 kW at the most distant station, but only 225 or 200 at the nearby ones. Pull in to top off a 50%+ charge, I may not see 100 kW, sometimes not even 60.

I just got back from the nearby station and charged from ~12% to 80% in 23 minutes (68kWh), well within the 30 minute free electric time, thats about 250 miles for me. Next door was a Honda that was barely pulling 60kw at 10%... so it could be worse.

 

[daveo4EV]

I read the entire thread but didn’t see that specific information.

Is MB’s network 400V or 800V? A Google search was inconclusive on that…

Has it been confirmed that the Macan EV is capable of charging faster than 130kW on MB’s network?

Our (800V) Genesis GV60 is capable of up to 240kW, but on 400V networks like the Tesla Supercharger network, it’s capped at 97KW…

this is an excellent point

just because the macan is an 800V vehicle
just because any given DCFast charger can do 800V charging

does not mean the station and the EV will selecte/negotiate an 800V session…

all 800V chargers can also must be able to do 400V charging for compatibility with 400V EV's…
all 800V EV's can also do 400V for compatibility with 400V charging stations…

just because your 800V EV plugs into an 800V DCFast charger does NOT guarantee it will negotiate an 800V charging session…for any number reasons (nearly all out of your control) you may end up with a 400V charging session…

there is always a negotiation between the EV and the charging station as to how this whole thing is going to proceed…

when I owned my 2020 Taycan and used a local 800V charging station:

Prunedale Shopping Center
8065 San Miguel Canyon Rd, Salinas, CA 93907, USA
https://www.plugshare.com/location/163319

the station location has changed owern ship and no longer as the stations that would cause this "problem" - but I routinely visited the site multiple times between july 2020 and 2022 - and it was a crap shoot as to if I'd get a 400V session or 800V session - no root cause was ever identified - the stie now is run by EVGo and has different equipment…

often times my Taycan would negotiate a 400V charging session - sometimes it would negotiate an 800V charging session…but it would NOT always do 800V…and yes I had the $460 400V/150kW optional booster - which is why I would get 140kw instead of 50kW…

how do I know this - because at the time this was one of the few stations that would actually show the voltage being delivered on it's big screen … so you could see with you own eyes you did not get an 800V charging session. Also when getting a 400V charging session I never see more than 140kW at this station - even though it could do 200 kW…

why?

we don't know - and no one followed up enough to diagnose the "failure" - both the charging network operator and Porsche service dealers had insufficient logging/data to determine _WHY_ the Taycan negotiated a 400V charging session when 800V was "on the table"…

this stuff is complicated.

130 kW _IS_ the Macan's/Taycan's charging limit when presented with a 400V charging session…

as you why you have gotten a 400V charging sesssion - well you'd need the logs from both the car and the station to determine why the CCS charging session ended up selecting 400V's

 

[Zcd1]

just because the macan is an 800V vehicle
just because any given DCFast charger can do 800V charging

130 kW _IS_ the Macan's/Taycan's charging limit when presented with a 400V charging session…

And this is exactly why I was asking the question and the point I was trying to make. ??

 

[SteveInKirkland]

As an example, the local area has four 350 kW rated EA stations. When I pull in at 10-20% with the battery in the optimum range, I usually see 250 kW at the most distant station, but only 225 or 200 at the nearby ones. Pull in to top off a 50%+ charge, I may not see 100 kW, sometimes not even 60.

I just got back from the nearby station and charged from ~12% to 80% in 23 minutes (68kWh), well within the 30 minute free electric time, thats about 250 miles for me. Next door was a Honda that was barely pulling 60kw at 10%... so it could be worse.

I know it can be worse, but, I bought this car for its 800v charge curve. If I knew going in that the charging networks can't provide it, I might have bought something else.

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