Swimming Pools and Electric Vehicles
There’s nothing quite like jumping into the deep end of the pool to learn how to swim. I performed the EV equivalent of this when I picked up my 2022 Porsche Taycan CT4 this past Saturday in Louisville, KY and then proceeded to immediately embark on an 1100 mile journey home through the uncharted waters (for me anyway) of DC fast charging and overnight AC charging.
The Showroom
The easiest part of this journey started in the showroom at Blue Grass Motors where my friendly sales associate, Cesar, guided me and my wife through the many, many, many features of the Taycan. Nearly 2 hours later we were ready to set out so we could hopefully slip south of the impeding severe thunderstorms and avoid getting blasted by hail in the new ride.
Leg 1: Louisville to Nashville (well, Dickson TN really)
For the inaugural leg of this trip we wanted to go easy and have some fun in Nashville. We decided to make our first charging stop at the Electrify America station located at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. We rolled in with about 50% battery remaining, easily found the charging stations and plugged in to see what would happen. Drumroll please… nothing happened because plug and charge was not turned on in the PCM (Porsche Communication Management) system. I quickly turned the option on, plugged back in, and this time the charging session initiated automatically after about 30–60 seconds of communications between the car and the charging station. The car started to charge at ~129kW so we locked up and went inside to use the restrooms — and buy stuff from the gift shop :-)
After 31 minutes, 47kWh, and a $0.36 charge for going over our free 30 minute allotment we were unplugged and ready to head to Nashville. One thing to mention here is that I didn’t really know how to unplug the charging connector from the car. As it turns out, you need to make sure the car is unlocked, then you press the big button next to the charging port and wait a few seconds. At that point you can unplug and put the handle back on the charging station.
It was smooth sailing from Bowling Green on down to Nashville. We found a parking garage off broadway and wandered downtown for a bit. It was hot, humid, and really crowded. It was basically a massive party spanning 6 city blocks. Fun!
After leaving downtown we stopped off at Centennial Park to see the life size reproduction of the Parthenon. The inside was closed for an event so we didn’t get to see the massive statue of Athena but it was still amazing to walk around and admire the architecture.
After leaving Centennial Park we headed to our hotel in Dickson, TN. We stayed at the Comfort Inn which had an excellent selection of AC chargers. It was dumping rain when we arrived but I managed to find enough of a gap in the rain to get the cord plugged in and not get too wet.
One interesting thing to note — when it was dumping rain (seriously dumping, thunderstorm style) I tried to back up in the car and it kept slamming on the brakes thinking I was going to hit something. I think I could have turned off Maneuvering Assist to prevent this from happening but I’m not 100% sure. I’ll try this if it ever happens again.
Leg 2: Dickson TN to Arkadelphia AR
Left the hotel with 100% charge and let the Porsche charging planner handle our charging stops on the way to our destination (mostly). Our first stop ended up being at Electrify America at the Market at Wolfcreek in Memphis, TN. This was a nice stop which had an IHOP, Dave and Busters, Best Buy, Target, and much more. This is also where I bumped into my first charging issue. I plugged into a 350kW charger, everything connected and started to charge, and I locked up and walked over to a store to use the facilities. While in the store I checked the My Porsche app and it showed a charging error :-(
I went back to the car, unplugged and replugged the same charger. The charging process started again but this time at a super slow 10kW rate. So I unplugged again, moved the car to a different charger and plugged in again. This time, everything worked as expected. Whew!
For lunch and a quick charging session we decided to stop at an Electrify America in Forrest City AR. This time we tested using my wife’s profile in the car while we initiated charging. As luck would have it the EA charger crashed (this one was running Microsoft Windows) during the initialization process. We moved the car to the next stall over and tried again, this time the charging process worked fine.
Back on the road and we were headed for our next Electrify America in Little Rock AR at a Walmart Supercenter. By this point I’m feeling really comfortable with the charging process and we’re seeing some really great charging rates.
We picked up 30kWh in 9 minutes and were headed to our hotel, the Fairfield Inn, in Arkadelphia AR. This place is only about a year old, so it’s clean and has 2 Clipper Creek chargers and one Tesla destination charger.
Leg 3: Arkadelphia AR to Austin TX
Leg 3 was a full day of “it just worked”. We made our first stop at EA in Mt. Pleasant TX. We took on 48 kWh in 22 minutes. Next, we stopped at the EA in Ennis TX where we took on 67 kWh in 30 minutes. This was an interesting stop because I pulled in right next to a Waymo Jaguar iPace. I’m not sure how long they had been sitting there but they were about 40% charged when we got there and about 65% charged when we left. I felt thankful for the fast charging capabilities of the Taycan.
The final charging stop of the trip happened at an EA in Bellmead TX. This was at yet another Walmart and was uneventful. An electric Mini Cooper pulled into a 350kW charger next to me and I started a conversation with the driver. I asked what the max charge rate of the Mini was (I didn’t think it could come close to using anything above 150kW) and the driver had absolutely no idea. He just pulled into any stall he saw open and started charging :-( I just looked it up and it appears the Mini will top out at 50kW.
Notes about Electrify America
On this 1100 mile trip we stopped at 7 different EA charging stations. Every single one of them had at least 1 unit that was out of service. Thankfully, there were almost never any people at these stations so I had my pick of the functional chargers.
Plug and charge is fantastic! I love just plugging in, charging, then hitting a button to stop the charging session.
My wife struggled with the short-ish, thick, awkward charing cables. She really had a difficult time getting them plugged into the car. I was the one who usually plugged in but I needed her to know how the charging process worked and have the full experience at least a couple of times.
Why don’t they put any sort of protection from rain or sunshine over these charging stations? It didn’t happen at any fast charging stations on this trip but what if it was dumping rain? I sure don’t want to get out of my car and plug in while getting soaking wet.
There are no trash bins at these charging stations so you need to walk over to whatever store is close by to get rid of your trash. It’s no big deal but it’s something I noticed.
There is nothing to use to clean the windshield. If you hit a bunch of bugs on your trip you will need to deal with it. I’m considering bringing window cleaner and rags on my next road trip, just in case.
When these EA chargers work, they work great! We never spent more than 30 minutes at a charging station unless we wanted to and most stops took between 10–20 minutes. That’s how long I would normally spend at a gas station.
200 miles of range is long enough for me to want to stop, get out, and stretch my legs (or use the facilities). Stopping every 3–4 hours is perfect for me on a road trip. EA has more than enough charging stations to accommodate this usage pattern but having more stations would help alleviate any range anxiety one might feel.
Notes on the Porsche Taycan for road trips
What an amazing vehicle for a road trip. My wife and I both absolutely loved the passenger display. Whomever was sitting in the passenger seat became the trip DJ and navigator.
I have the base model of the Taycan Cross Turismo. This thing has amazing, instant power on the highway. I had 100% confidence that the car would immediately go where I wanted it to and that is new to me.
The charging planner in the navigation system works fairly well. I love that it constantly adjusts the plan based upon the real usage of the vehicle.
This is not so much a Taycan thing as a general road trip thing, but definitely run Waze (just turn it on without any routing) on Apple Car Play in addition to the built in navigation. The built in navigation will handle the routing and charging needs while Waze will alert you to anything on the road ahead (like police or objects on the road).
The seats are comfortable but supportive. I don’t have the seat massage option but I do have the 14-way adjustable seats. That helped me find the right position that was most comfortable for me.
I lost track of the number of people who asked me about the car or commented about how much they liked it. One person who was driving by actually stopped and got out of their vehicle to take a closer look and ask me questions. This would probably freak out my wife if she was alone.
The PCM did some weird things occasionally. Once when I plugged in my phone right after a charging session, all of the screens went blank except for the drivers display. I turned the car off/on and all of the screens came back (they looked like they were rebooting or something).
Lift mode is great for making sure you don’t hit any curbs at charging stations even if it does detract from the overall looks of the vehicle. It also makes it easier to get out of a vehicle that feels like it’s wrapped around you.
Conclusion
This road trip was a matter of “sink or swim”. Having absolutely zero experience with an EV before embarking on an 1100 mile journey in a new (unfamiliar) car is probably not the smartest thing to do but maybe I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed. This time, I learned how to swim pretty quickly and I’m confident for the next time I want to take a road trip. I feel fortunate to be in a position to own a Taycan. It’s an amazing vehicle overall even if there are still some software issues to be worked out.
