[Trip Report] - I'm peddling as fast as I can to generate electrons… PEC ATL to Santa Cruz in a Macan EV Turbo?

[daveo4EV]

I would expect it to beat virtually any gas SUV. The question is more how many EV SUV does it beat?

so far I like it better than the BMW iX I test drove for an afternoon…

Model Y has it charms (namely price and functionality) but it's not a car you want

Mercedes are too luxo-barge for me

Model X is too funky and for the Price I'll take the Macan EV - but Model X is more "functional" than Macan…

it's top of it's game and competitors will find it hard to beat - but there is not a wide field yet - so we'll see…

 

[daveo4EV]

no "transmission tunnel" between the 2 rear seats - Taycan has a "hump"…small detail - but nice.

 

[daveo4EV]

screen shot - current navigation - you can see "two" charging stops - one on the left - and one of the right

the one on the left is our "set destination" - the one on the "right" is a "suggestion/hint" from the PCM nav - I really really like this feature and think it's a great feature for people…

taping on the tile - gives you all sorts of data about the stop and then an easy button for adding/replacing that lcoation in your current route - features like this will keep me using PCM for road trip's - and AppleMaps/Google/Waze for around town trip computers and traffic management…

 

[daveo4EV]

current segment is playing out as follows:

gonna be 200 miles driven - we're going to land with 15% battery - average speed is 74 mph - 15% left for 200 miles driven means effective 0% range of 230 miles - me thanks that's no too bad for 74 mph average speed - we're currently doing much more than 74 mph - and consumption is showing 40.1 kWh/100 miles…

I'm happy with 230 miles effective range for > 70 mph cruising speed - I'm hopeful slower speeds will impress me with range due to the lower aero-loads…

the only problme here - was there is no charger in the 220-230 mile range - it's empty space - the ONLY CCS1 fast charges after the one's we're stopping at are 100 miles further on - so while we could drive 230-240 miles - there is nothing to stop at a charge…

 

[daveo4EV]

plug-share has been an essential tool for this trip - it has notified us that at least 3 of our planned charging stops were "high risk" and therefore a bad idea - we made alternate plans when we investigated their reliability ratings and recent check-ins…

plugshare.com/apps - don't EV with out them - this has been a non-paid annoucement - but it probably should be compensated

https://www.plugshare.com/

they have a website - but I've been using the app!

 

[daveo4EV]

hmmm more funkyness with an EA 350 kW station

• attempt #1 - plug&charge passed and authorized payment - then the station started to try and charge - it spun up - waited a while - red on the car - and no charging started
• atempt #2 - plug&charge NEVER initiated - station sat there doing nothing - I started session w/EA app - tried again to start the charging session - and never got electrons flowing
• attempt #3 - moved to another stall - plug&charge never 'triggered' - start the session with app - electrons start to flow - but capped at 175 kW - even though I'm at 16% SOC
• charging working fine - but I"m in the wrong stall - so unplug move the car - I plug in - plug&charge works this time - electrons flow - but again only 175 kW charge rate - but I'm at 40% SOC by this time!

hmmmm - starting to have a complex about the EA 350 kW stations…

so another near-miss w/EA - but yeah we're charging.

 

[PanameraFrank]

I've had so many problems with EA 350 chargers, I almost prefer 150s.

Sounds like you're enjoying the car, charging & range aside. Feeling pretty bummed over your range results so far, was really hoping it could get a bit further.

 

[Fleming23]

40.1kwh/100 miles is truly pretty bad, no? Even at 70+, my Rivian is in that territory of poor efficiency.

 

[CandianPorsche83]

40.1kwh/100 miles is truly pretty bad, no? Even at 70+, my Rivian is in that territory of poor efficiency.

It might be the worse of anybody whose posted results or done reviews so far …

 

[daveo4EV]

another EA site - another site with 2 150kW stations - 2 350 kW stations

• station 01 - 150 kW - this station functioned for me with plug&charge right away - 175 kW charge rate
• station 02 - 350 kW - is so incredibly broken (screen corrupted and credit card reader busted) - I didn't even try
• station 03 - 350 kW - one CCS1 cable has a broken handle, but I plugged it in anyways - station had no response and did not acknowledge it being plugged into - tried the 2nd cable same result - no forward progress on starting the session
• station 04 - 150 kW - didn't try it - since station 01 functioned for me.

I"m getting a complex about these EA stations and my Macan - so far I don't believe I've ever gotten a 350 kW station to work with my Macan - hmmmmm - station type is ABB - I have a picture.

 

[daveo4EV]

I love the power charging ports - same as with my Taycan - no because they "open" - but because they close - it's very enjoyable to me to simply unplug the CCS1 cable and then while I'm putting back in the holster the car just closes the charge port - one of life's little pleasures…

don't get it because it's easy to open - get it because it just closes when you're done and it's one less thing to do.

 

[Yves]

It might be the worse of anybody whose posted results or done reviews so far …

I have the same consumption ... same config as OP, I really hoped it would be more, our iX easily beats this and with bigger battery it has around 65miles more range, this will not be our roadtripping car ... would not have bought it if I had known upfront.

 

[daveo4EV]

stats so far for _ALL_ the 350 kW stations I've encountered/needed on this trip - so far we're mostly "bust" on 350 kW performance - the stations just do NOT provide a functional charge session! Only once have I achieve above 175 kW charge rate out of 5 stops and about 8 trial sessions…

• 1st charge - 350 kW station - EA - max charge rate 154 kW - starting SOC 51%
• 3rd charge - 350 kW station - EA - max charge rate 154 kW - starting SOC 34%
• 6th charge - 350 kW station - EVGo - max charge rate 197 kW - starting SOC 41%
• 8th charge - 350 kW stations - EA - both 350 kW stalls failed to communicate with the vehicle to stare the session
• 9th charge - 350 kW stations - EA - one 350 kW station failed to start session or communicate w/vehicle - but eventually worked with app based activation - 2nd 350 kW stall functioned w/plug-in charge (twice) - but only provided 175 kW charge rate - starting SOC 16%

EA has yet to strand me - but so far I'm no perceiving an increase in reliability - and if I wasn't the only car at these charging stops - it wouldv'e been really really awkward to have to hunt/peck/move around to find a working stall…

not impressed with EA

 

[daveo4EV]

the efffective range is so far my biggest surprise with the Macan - I have no idea how anyone gets this car to go nearly 300 miles on a single charge - but maybe I don't have hte right conditions - so far I've been driving and following the navigation's estimates - in the last segment nav was showing 11% at destination and we arrived with 17% - so conservative to avoid stranding you - but that also colors one's perception of range - in this case it makes no matter because the charging stop was the only one that worked for this segment - and the "extra" range would not have allowed us to drive further to "a next" station - so charging station lay out screwed us…

but we had extra battery -so the last segment was 160 mile segment completed in less than 2 hours and arriving with 17% battery left over and starting out at less than 85%

so yeah the range sucks - but we were passing _EVERYTHING_ and came in ahead of schedule and with plenty of juice left over…

as a daily driver the Macan is going to rock and has more than enough range - and even for road trips so far it's better than my 2020 Taycan Turbo - so forward progress…

I'm going to hold out hope that's it's early days and the car can deliver on some of the numbers we've seen put up - for me personally on this trip it's no where near a 290 mile EV @ 70 mph - and I have the data to prove it - but maybe I'm missing something.

NOTE: we've also been climing for the last several hours from an overage elevation of 500 ft to now over 6000 ft - we'll have to keep that in mind - I wonder if driving east on Hwy 40 would be better range…

 

[Yves]

Thanks for this roadtripping thread, love the info!
One question, though it has impact on the ride quality, did you try deep as setting on the air suspension? (I think it is called deep in English, or the lowest?) It could have an impact on consumption ...

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