JCCccc

In normal highway driving does something keep the e-hybrid charged? What I am wondering about specifically is that, despite the added weight, the hybrid is pretty quick as a result of the electric motor, which should make it good for passing, on ramps, and such. But what happens when the battery is depleted? Are you basically left with a sluggish overweight base Cayenne or is there something that makes sure the battery is consistently recharged so that doesn't happen?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

Also how do the regenerative breaks on the hybrid feel in comparison to the base Cayenne?

TXSchnee

There is an eCharge mode available to recharge the E Hybrid while driving. I have never used it, as driving in Sport will also throw some extra charge back in. I have found no weird feeling with the regenerative brakes, once the friction take over you may find you are stopping a but abruptly, but it doesn't take more than a day or two to learn how to modulate the brakes to stop smoothly.

sidehill

E-charge mode keeps the ICE running constantly, so is most efficient at consistent highway speeds. You’ll always want to have Boost available for passing, so keep adequate charge in the battery.

On long downhills, the regenerative braking will charge the battery more economically than E-charge mode, so I’ll turn off e-charge and let the ICE shut down in those situations.

cometguy

E-Hybrids always keep minimal charge in the battery pack so that you have electric power for passing in short bursts of full power. You don't have to keep charging them with the ICE to have that. I only use E-Charge if I want to have some all-electric driving when I'm getting someplace (pulling into my garage at home, for example) and the gauge reads zero charge left. E-Hold is useful if you have some charge left and want to keep that for specific reasons (again, like pulling into my garage at home); E-Hold works like Hybrid Auto on long roadtrips, the difference being that Hybrid Auto will gradually let the battery charge go to zero.

Miggytosh

+1 for @cometguy comments. That is how I’ve been driving my e-hybrid and always super impressed with the extra power when needed with ice + electric.

JCCccc

Thanks for the input, y'all. One more question; since a lot of people seem to think the biggest benefit to the hybrid is the ability to drive in golf cart mode on short trips even so more than warp speed mode for passing, what is it like to drive in all electric mode? I mean the electric motor by itself is only 100 hp and it is a heavy car after all.

cometguy

The maximum that I have gotten in my 4 E-Hybrid is about 24-25 miles of all-electric range. However, the new MY2021 Panameras are supposed to get a good bump with the larger battery pack, to 30 miles of all-electric range should be easy, which makes it much better. My roundtrip commute to my office is about 25 miles, so I can't quite get a full roundtrip without the ICE coming on at some point. I'm planning seriously to upgrade to a car with the larger battery pack in the next year or two, if I don't go all-electric.

Yes, it's hard in a car like this to drive in all-electric on highways at highway speeds, but it's easy in city and suburban traffic on non-highway streets -- and that is where it excels. It sounds like you haven't driven a PHEV or BEV yet, and you really should go test-drive one. Once you experience all-electric, it's hard going back to ICE driving -- even with the Panamera 4 E-Hybrid. Electric driving is just so superior to ICE driving. Go test-drive a Taycan if you haven't done so, or a Tesla or an I-Pace or a Mach-E or a Polestar 2 or an XC40 Recharge P8; you'll see what I mean. To me, I enjoy driving my Panamera in E-Hybrid mode better than I do with the ICE on, seriously; that does not mean that I don't enjoy all that horsepower and torque with everything going at once in fabulous acceleration (because I do!), but the electric driving is just more fun, more soothing, more relaxing, more enjoyable. And the ability to drive into and out of my neighborhood and my garage in silence and without emissions is priceless.

So my general philosophy with our two PHEVs has been to drive in all-electric mode when driving < 45 mph or so, and in Hybrid mode (or Sport mode :-) at higher speeds. All-electric driving is really superior at lower speeds, anyway, not at higher speeds (but if you have a large enough battery pack, as in BEVs like the Taycan, driving all-electric at highway speeds is fine, too). My wife got a RAV4 Prime PHEV a few months ago, and it's a delight to drive in all-electric mode, as well (not so much with the ICE on), and we have been getting 55 miles of all-electric range in that in non-highway driving around town; best vehicle that Toyota has ever made by a long shot. I have routinely gone 800-1200 miles of driving before getting gas in both of our PHEVs, which is also priceless -- so nice to power up every night at home (and only on 120 volts!) to have a full electric tank the next day and drive mostly in all-electric mode.

TXSchnee

I never drive in electric only mode, always in Hybrid or Sport. This is a PHEV, not a BEV, and hybrid mode is really the best, most efficient, way to use a PHEV. I am averaging 43% of all driving in electric, around 30mpg and only fill up with gas once every month or two. I think if you want to drive in full electric, it is best to look at a BEV as the 5300lbs of the Cayenne is not motivated all that well on electric alone.

Miggytosh

I drive mine in all electric mode a lot and it’s great. Not going to win stoplight battles if it was in electric mode alone but that is the magic of this car for me, I can drive it full electric around town with no issues, gets up to 70+ in all electric on the freeway, pops over to hybrid to get me 600-700 miles of normal freeway driving, and goes like hell in sport+ when I want to have some fun.

For me all electric mode is very zen when you are driving in a non-spirited way. It is silent and smooth, the regenerative breaking a not that different from traditional breaking. It doesn’t feel heavy pulling away from a stop sign and the transition to Hybrid/full ICE feels seamless to me. I drove a non hybrid cayenne loaner and I found the start/stop feature to be so much more jarring compared to the way the hybrid system works.

cometguy

Nonsense. The Porsche E-Hybrids are great to drive in all-electric in stop-and-go traffic and slow around-town traffic -- much better than with the ICE on. And the new MY2021 battery pack gives even more all-electric range. I'm also guessing that your engine will last longer driving a lot in electric (E-Power) mode, because then it's not coming on and going off so frequently all the time. Why do people get PHEVs instead of BEVs? Think about it...

Russian Mafia

I divide my trips in my 2020 E-Hybrid into three categories: 1. Short trips where the total miles driven will be less than electric range; 2. Longer trips where the engine will have the opportunity to become fully warm but not for long; 3. Long trips where the engine will be fully warm for an extended period.

Most of my trips fall into the first category while most of my driven miles are in category 2 and 3. I like electric mode for the first category. I can't really engage in spirited driving for local trips and most errands are inside this range. The reasons I stay in electric for these trips are environmental footprint and engine wear. The ICE will experience heightened wear starting cold so in this situation I sidestep cold starts completely. Power in electric mode is adequate and these trips don't offer much opportunity for spirited driving.

For trips in the second category, the engine will have the opportunity to become fully warm so I start in Sport Mode and limit revs until the engine is fully warm. Once fully warm I can drive hard if I like and take advantage of fun stretches of road. Sport Mode avoids having the engine stop and start while cold which is my prime objective. The battery never draws down much even if I'm on a fairly long trip as it's there more to enhance performance than to shift load from the ICE.

Third category trips are long freeway trips. I take off in Sport Mode to get the engine warmed up fully and then shift to Hybrid mode. Sometimes I'll go to E mode depending upon miles left in the trip and E range. If the ICE temp has become materially lower than fully warm, I'll go back into Sport Mode to warm it back up before going back into Hybrid mode.

I come from the 911 side of the aisle where we try not to tax the engine until fully warm and so that generates my approach with the E-Hybrid. If there's opportunity, I'll go into Sport + for performance driving when on trips in the second and third categories.

David Mackintosh

True, and I believe in Sport and Sport+ mode the car will attempt to keep the SOC a little higher than in Hybrid mode. Also, although in normal driving when the indicated electric range is down to zero you'll still have some boost available for a pass, on-ramp, or exiting a couple of corners, there's not enough for much more than that. I've been able to deplete the battery rapidly on mountain roads and experienced a noticeable drop in peak power and torque until the SOC comes back up a bit. It would be nice if the display gave a little more information about what was available.

Most daily use of our car is within the range and speeds that allow us to not start the engine, it works well enough. I actually use (and prefer) my e-Golf for my commute (70 miles round-trip in the winter) and any trips up to around 100 miles when I don't want to cruise at more than 75mph or need to tow a trailer. My partner is more comfortable with the height and perceived safety of the Cayenne, it's perfect for her short daily drives and errands. She'd also prefer a BEV version, though. We're looking forward to the Macan EV. My choice would probably be the Taycan Cross Tourismo.

daveo4porsche

I would also prefer a BEV but there are no good SUV/BEV at the moment - so I’m dipping back into ICE world and hope to swap for an excellent BEV in the future - we enjoy’d our 2017 Model X P100D but not enough to “stay” in Elon-world for another round of let’s guess what Tesla is going to do today - so I’m back to Gas but only temporarily.

a BEV Macan might be too small for our needs, but a BEV Cayenne would be excellent.

David Mackintosh

I loved our Model S Long Range (100D), amazing car on the highway. I'd have kept that but it was too nice to drive for either of my jobs, and my partner didn't like it for driving around town, she's smaller and had difficulty seeing around the wide A-pillars, just not comfortable for her. She also didn't like the Audi e-Tron (and it is very boring). The Model Y would be about perfect for my use, actually. There will be a lot more options in the next few years, although it might be quite a few before other options match the Supercharger network.

yacom1118

Stupid question: how do you know when the engine is "fully warm"?