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

[PaoloPix]

Nice trip, congratulations and thanks for sharing

 

[bbmertz]

Welcome home! Thanks so much for your frequent updates and comprehensive real-world info!

Looking forward to receiving my 4S in about two weeks.

 

[daveo4EV]

in a complete surprise outcome - my road warrior kit was 100% unused on this trip - this would not have been possible even two years ago - 2675 miles 100% using other people's EVSE's - this result surprises me greatly, but demonstrates how far we've come!

I knew my kit would be lightly used - but I never would've predicted completely 100% unused!

this great progress for EV ownership and road tripping.

I think in a year or so you'll only need a NACS/J-1772 and NACS/CCS1 adapter - and the rest can be left behind.

 

[daveo4EV]

I"m attaching the "raw" .csv table for all my charging data for each of the charging stops for the trip.

you're welcome to analyze this data however you like with attribution to this trip/thread.

enjoy!

 

[Fun TC Driving]

Thank you very much Dave for this entire thread. Glad the trip was really good for you. So nice that progress was made on part of the charging network you used. I have found similar progress in the Pacific Northwest. While still a work in progress here, our last trip (shorter than yours but over 1,000 miles went perfectly). So nice to see more and more 350’s being rolled out — and most working just as designed.

Thanks again!

 

[wmras]

charging networks required to make the trip via HWY 40 from Atlanta, GA to Santa Cruz, CA

this road trip brought to you by these "sponsers"

• Electrify America - required
• ChargePoint - required - not optional - required to bridge a segment
• Charge&Stay - optional - not required - opportunity charge overnight
• EVGo - required

no Tesla chargers have been used during this trip - this is MUCH to my personal surprise!! I would not have bet on this when planing this trip. There hasn't even been an option to use a Tesla destination charger. hmmmmm…

Our Turbo was the first Macan Electric delivered by PEC ATL and we expected to beat you to the west coast but we were delayed in NC by a death in the family. We left Kernersville, NC 16 NOV and arrived in Portland, Oregon Friday, 22 NOV via I-80 & I-84.

The PCM routing and charge recommendations were amazingly useful and accurate. We stopped at sunset and took 7 days. We have 4,000 miles on our Turbo already.

The most surprising PCM recommendation was a TESLA SUPERCHARGER with MAGIC DOCKS in Haubstadt, Indiana. A local showed me how to press the button on the Tesla plug for two seconds and release the plug with the CSS adapter attached. Never thought I would have a Tesla account but I do now and the charge was perfect and fast - peaked at 225 kW and stayed higher and longer than most Electrify America chargers. I plan to order the Tesla adapter.

The one downside of the Tesla charger was it deselected Plug & Charge in our Macan. The next EA charge failed, including starting the charge from the My Porsche iOS app - had to pay for the charge with my EA app. The next EA Plug & Charge worked well. Elon would not do this on purpose, would he?

 

[daveo4EV]

Our Turbo was the first Macan Electric delivered by PEC ATL and we expected to beat you to the west coast but we delayed in NC by a death in the family. We left left Kernersville 16 NOV and arrived in Portland,Oregon Friday, 22 NOV via I-80 & I-84.

The PCM routing and charge recommendations were amazingly useful and accurate. We stopped at sunset and took 7 days. We have 4,000 miles on our Turbo already.

The most surprising PCM recommendation was a TESLA SUPERCHARGER with MAGIC DOCKS in Haubstadt, Indiana. A local showed me how to press the button on the Tesla plug for two seconds and release the plug with the CSS adapter attached. Never thought I would have a Tesla account but I do now and the charge was perfect and fast - peaked at 225 kW and stayed higher and longer than most Electrify America chargers. I plan to order the Tesla adapter.

The one downside of the Tesla charger was it deselected Plug & Charge in our Macan. The next EA charge failed, including starting the charge from the My Porsche iOS app - had to pay for the charge with my EA app. The next EA Plug & Charge worked well. Elon would not do this on purpose, would he?

wow - you got 225 kW @ Tesla Supercharger - this is _big_ news…I wonder if hte supercharger was delivering 800V or if the Macan supports 250 kW @ 400V - wow wow wow!!!

 

[daveo4EV]

Our Turbo was the first Macan Electric delivered by PEC ATL and we expected to beat you to the west coast but we delayed in NC by a death in the family. We left left Kernersville 16 NOV and arrived in Portland,Oregon Friday, 22 NOV via I-80 & I-84.

The PCM routing and charge recommendations were amazingly useful and accurate. We stopped at sunset and took 7 days. We have 4,000 miles on our Turbo already.

The most surprising PCM recommendation was a TESLA SUPERCHARGER with MAGIC DOCKS in Haubstadt, Indiana. A local showed me how to press the button on the Tesla plug for two seconds and release the plug with the CSS adapter attached. Never thought I would have a Tesla account but I do now and the charge was perfect and fast - peaked at 225 kW and stayed higher and longer than most Electrify America chargers. I plan to order the Tesla adapter.

The one downside of the Tesla charger was it deselected Plug & Charge in our Macan. The next EA charge failed, including starting the charge from the My Porsche iOS app - had to pay for the charge with my EA app. The next EA Plug & Charge worked well. Elon would not do this on purpose, would he?

also you might've gotten lucky - I see supercharger's "listed" in PCM Navigation - but most of them are not Magicdock sites…I wonder if Porsche Nav actually "knows" the difference…

but 225 kW @ supercharger - that's new and breaking information!!!

 

[wmras]

also you might've gotten lucky - I see supercharger's "listed" in PCM Navigation - but most of them are not Magicdock sites…I wonder if Porsche Nav actually "knows" the difference…

but 225 kW @ supercharger - that's new and breaking information!!!

The Porsche PCM listed the number with and without the Magic Dock adapter, however, every charger (8?) had the Magic Dock.

 

[whitex]

The Porsche PCM listed the number with and without the Magic Dock adapter, however, every charger (8?) had the Magic Dock.

Could be all new V4 cabinets. V4 is supposed to have the Magic Dock as standard equipment.

 

[daveo4EV]

I'm going to give Porsche a "pass" if I encounter any plug&charge problems - I never had this feature with my 2020 Taycan (was not an option) and I Know how to start charging sessions with app's or via the stall and Point-of-sale credit card reader - I'll be happy if it works - and I'll try and make it work - but I"m not going to "harp" on it not working - I will report charging results and how the session was started…

I will however be ruthless with regards to charging sites and the "uptime/availability" of functional stalls vs. out of commission or unavailable…

plug&charge still seems to be something that needs to be ironed out for EV to achieve wider adoption and we already know there are sometimes issues…

I expect it not to work and I'll sort that after I'm home and not rushed to make up miles on a daily basis to get home.

following up on this - my $0.02 if you get past the "setup/configuration" of Plug/charge it works really really well - and I had few if any issues with it on this trip - this defied my dire expectations and I have to give Porsche/EA a hard fought "win" in this space - when Plug&Charge works as intended it's a great charging experience…

my only issues is that it works about 98.2% of the time, when something like this needs to be 99.9% - but they have closed the gap significantly vs. my experience(s) in 2020/2021 - kudos!!

if/when/once they fix the initial setup issues - this will be a great system!

setup experience however is really really hit/miss - but if you go in eye's open and know you're going to have invest some time and potentially try to configure it more than once - it's well worth getting it setup - just don't be in a hurry for that initial setup process…it's well worth the time investment for setup - but the setup experience is quite fraught with pitfalls and do-over's…but once it's setup - you're golden!

 

[wmras]

setup experience however is really really hit/miss - but if you go in eye's open and know you're going to have invest some time and potentially try to configure it more than once - it's well worth getting it setup - just don't be in a hurry for that initial setup process…it's well worth the time investment for setup - but the setup experience is quite fraught with pitfalls and do-over's…but once it's setup - you're golden!

On our 4,000-mile trip from PEC ATL to Oregon, we had only the first installation hiccup and it was promptly fixed by a phone call to Porsche Connect. However, our charge at a Tesla Supercharger turned off "Plug & Charge" in the PCM and the next Electrify America successful Plug & Charge required our Macan Turbo to be turned off and then on (it was off more than 15 minutes).

Plug & Charge works beautifully - it is a game changer that keeps me and my wife warm & dry in cold and wet storms (and cool in summer heat).

It is sad for me to see Porsche and others fixing a short-term problem by spending millions, if not billions, jumping on hybrids as a solution when the real long-term solution is painless Plug & Charge at any charger in a dense network of chargers (50 kW chargers away from interstate routes are fine). And, worst of all, hybrids have the poorest reliability.

 

[Dragon Tourniquet]

It is sad for me to see Porsche and others fixing a short-term problem by spending millions, if not billions, jumping on hybrids as a solution when the real long-term solution is painless Plug & Charge at any charger in a dense network of chargers (50 kW chargers away from interstate routes are fine). And, worst of all, hybrids have the poorest reliability.

I've only been driving EVs since 2019, but I'm definitely not going back. Part of that is because we still have an ICE vehicle available, specifically a PHEV. Until the charging network is ubiquitous and rock solid we'll likely keep it that way, though I would prefer if all the makers would switch over to EVs with range extenders instead of PHEVs. EV+REX could more easily be based on an EV platform, would simplify the drivetrain vs PHEV, and it could be done as a configuration option at build time.

Unfortunately I just don't think the charging network is going to build out fast enough for the general public, especially those living in apartments, condos, or older houses (the 1930s house I lived in in 2013 only had an 80a panel). Ideally there would be trickle chargers or minimal L2 charges at most public parking spaces, as well as shopping centers / grocery stores / club stores, as that could cover most of people's needs beyond long trips.

Sponsored