hfm

Obligatory pre-PPF / tint bad photo.

whiz944

For kicks, I typed the Calgary to Vancouver run into ABRP. Interesting case as it is almost exactly 600 miles/1000 km. My ancient '96 Suburban, with its 42 gallon gas tank, could do the run with no stops - about 10 hours at legal speed. My 944 with its 21 gallon gas tank could also probably do it with no stops. ABRP calculates that a Taycan GTS with the larger battery pack should do it in ~11 hours 24 minutes. That includes, 10:06 driving, 1:02 charging, and since it uses three stops, 5 minutes * 3 stops as "overhead".

Those three stops are with Electrify Canada. Not sure how they rate vs their sister Electrify America. But there are other charging providers along the way as well. I've done a number 450 mile/day trips. I always stop for a "bio break" 2-3 times regardless of gas vs EV. For a 600 mile trip would definitely need 3 stops or even 4. So the trick with an EV is to overlap the bio break with some charging - and then the times start to compare with a gas car. (Assuming the EV is relatively efficient, and has a decent sized battery pack that can sustain a decent charging curve.)

It is always interesting to compare with various other EVs via ABRP. Lucid Dream, Tesla Model 3 LR and Model S LR were under 11 hours. Taycan RWD w/big battery just over 11 hours. Aptera, if/when it comes out, beats all of them on paper with its 600 and 1000 mile battery packs due to its tremendous claimed efficiency. (They claim 2x better than a Model 3. Will be fun to see how it pans out.)

I didn't tell ABRP to use mid-winter Canadian temps. Exercise left to the reader.

kayjh

My concern at this point is whether a charging station will deliver a charge when I get there or how long the lineup will be to plug in. I'm prepared to add time to my trip to lower by environmental footprint, I just want to know that I can go where I need to go without feeling insecure about charging (which is different than being insecure about range). On a related point, I'm not sure how ABRP calculates, but if it is driving from 100% to zero % (like Tesla), I think even with the Porsche battery reserve, it can be hard on the battery. What does the Taycan manual say about battery charge/discharge for maximum life. Also, winter temps affect range (and charge rate). Tesla model 3 LR claims 534km (332 miles), but recommends recharging at 20% and back up to 80%. So that reduces total "usable" range to 199 miles. Then, take off 30% for very cold winter temps and you have 139 miles of usable range (using the 20% to 80% battery saving SOC). I don't know how Taycan performs in cold weather, but I have a 30A dryer plug in my garage and I plan to take a charger and a Taycan ST GTS home for a weekend as soon as the weather gets cold to find out.

whiz944

ABRP is very tuneable. You can set things like speed (e.g., 110% of speed limit), arrival State of Charge (SoC) at both intermediate charging stations and destination, starting SoC, ambient temperature (factors in heating/AC usage), and many other things. By doing so, you can tweak it to give you more realistic estimates and routing based on your use case, driving style, and comfort factor.

As far as winter degradation goes, various EVs vary a lot. EVs designed years ago generally always use PTC heaters for cabin heating - sometimes in the airflow, sometimes in coolant loops. Cars with heat pump based heating systems are much more efficient than cars without. (*) Keeping the battery pack warm is desirable for various reasons. In some sense it isn't much different than using an engine block heater in a ICE car. There are a number of other details that matter. Manufacturers differ, models within their lines differ, and even given models differ from year to year and by option. It is an evolving art.

I share your concerns about non-Tesla charging networks.

(*) At moderately cold temps, a heat pump system can be 3x more efficient than a PTC heater. Interestingly, the 1990s-era GM EV1 used a heat pump-based heating system. However all of the GM EVs and PHEVs since then have used PTC heaters in coolant loops. Ultium has supposedly finally changed to heat pumps. Nissan Leaf switched to heat pumps in their upper trim lines in 2013 model year. Tesla switched to heat pumps with the Model Y, then across the board. Various VAG cars, including the Taycan, can come either way, and so on.

Zcd1

Exactly. My experience is that ABRP is remarkably accurate when the variables are set correctly.

By the same token, if those variables are left at their defaults, it can be quite inaccurate.

Garbage in/Garbage out, after all

kayjh

I'm excited about Taycan. I test drove a 4S CT a year ago and really liked it. Truth is, for me my Cayenne GTS is almost perfect, save for the high fuel consumption. I'm just tired of the high fuel bills. But I think we are several years out from having a fully electric Cayenne with a realistic 700 km (420 mile) range. So maybe, I'll try a Taycan 4S and just go light on the options this time because values are sure to drop quickly as longer range and better packaged Porsche electric models show up in the next several years.

d00d

US market Taycan gets the heat pump standard, my small battery (79/71kWh usable) Taycan with 21" Mission Es gets 197 miles at 10F and 51MPH average.

flygdchman

I didn't know that the US Taycans came with heat pumps. Has that been true from the beginning?

d00d

Yes, one of the reasons I bought it over the ID.4.

MingusDew

lol you seriously cross shopped that thing with a Taycan? What exactly are you looking for in a car? That’s just wild to me you’d seriously be considering an ID.4 while also considering a Taycan.

ipse dixit

Well, they're both from the VW family.

usctrojanGT3

That's about the only thing they have in common.

d00d

I just wanted an EV for twice a week commute between homes, and why pay more if you don't have to?
Yes, except for a Corvette over a 944 S2, I only buy German.
I liked the design and hatchback functionality of the VW, but lacking heat pipe and aerodynamically less efficient, it's cold range wasn't enough to not have to stop and charge.
Also, all my cars are solid white, but at the time white was metallic, and couldn't be optioned with multiple adjustment seats.

ipse dixit

I test drove alot of EV's before buying one, and one of them was the ID4. It might have been the most disappointing of the bunch.

d00d

I heard it wallows around corners and has non haptic buttons, my brother likes his though.