Big update suspended?

[tauCete]

Odd, it doesn't seem to have been suspended for long. I booked my appointment for mid-January on 12/23/25. The SM said she needed to check if the software update was suspended or not and confirmed that the update was not suspended before she booked me.

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[Flying4Fun]

I think it has to do with the 3phase grid we have in Europe. With 240V per phase that gives 16 Amps for each fase. When you have a 2phase grid you will have 20 Amps per phase. Because the safety limit (heat produced in the cabling) determines the upper limit, I expect this 20 Amps will be the maximum which is allowed (so 2 x 240 x 20 = 9600W).

I honestly don't know what the true deal with this ( I also suspect the 2phase vs 3phase plays a biggest role). I'm not using the Porsche charger, I went and got a Autel charger that has a 60amp circuit hardwired, it uses 6 gage wire, and at 80% down rating, the charger is rated at 48amps. 48amps, can delivery 11kw to the car. Autel confirmed this charger is delivering 11kva to other models, they listed a bunch off (I don't recall them all). They were very clear with me that the charger is capable of the 11kw, it's just the car is not advertising it will do 11kw, and they will only provide the lowest of the charger ability and cars power request - thus we get to 9.6.

Porsche Canada is confirmed the car will only go to 9.6, and then promptly removed all mentions of the 11kw support from public facing locations.

I believe (and it is a guess) that they have derated the charger to 11kw in North America, perhaps because of what you stated as the reason. However, it's unclear to me how a charger will support an input required and be capable of putting out the 11kw to some cars, but not this one.

At this point, one can only make an educated guess as to why it changed - I'd love to hear the reason why the Macan advertised in both Canada and the USA at one point claimed support for 11kw, to have them back track and remove that support and if at some point they could support it. I seem to be doing fine with the 9.6kw rate at this point, I was concerned, but so far it's been workable to only be at 9.6kw.

With that said, if I knew I wasn't going to get the 11kw, I would have never purchased the Autel, and I would have stayed with the included charger! I feel I wasted my money on the Autel, If Porsche confirmed it fast enough I could have returned the charger, but I had to wait 6 weeks (30 day return window), and even then the cost to bring an electrician back to rewire a plug for the Porsche charger would have been most of the cost of just sucking it up to keep the Autel.

if someone ever gets to the ground truth of what happed with this charge rate issue I would love to know as I think it would be fascinating to know what happened/why - this charge rate actually surprised me and was not expected.,

 

[ColdCase]

There was quite a long thread over in the charging section a year ago that provided much detail on the 9.6 kw limit in NA. It seems to be a hardware limit of the Macan's charger, but software can ask the EVSE for whatever..

The EVSEs are basically smart AC relays (or contactors) with overload protection. The car tells the EVSE what kw/current it wants, the EVSE checks if it is supported and either closes the multi pole contactor or tells the car nope and to ask for something else. The car then requests the lower amount and the EVSE closes the contactor and monitors the current for overload.

In the US, 3 phase is rare and I don't think there is a consumer type EVSE that supports it (the EVSE would need a three pole switch).

If I recall correctly, the amps per wire rating of the Porsche car battery charger is the limiting factor. On two legs it advertises 9.6, and depending on the utility voltage you get 9.6 or less. There was/is a clerical error in the documentation.

I should note that when I first picked up my Macan a year ago it drew 11 kW. Within a week it drew 9.2, and we suspected that the software was not initially configured properly.

 

[USMA81]

In the US the EVSE supply wire is eight gauge (copper) if using a 40 amp breaker, and six gauge (thicker) in higher amperage circuits. Maybe Porsche looked at the 40 amp circuit as “standard” in NA and limited to this. Installing six gauge wire is a pain (I can attest to how stiff it is). Some high-end induction stoves specify 50 amp circuits, but outside of this I think it’s somewhat rare to see 50 amp circuits in residences. I’m not an electrical engineer nor electrician, but this was my assumption when I saw Porsche’s 9.6 limitation.

40 amps x 240 volts = 9.6 kW.

 

[Flying4Fun]

There was quite a long thread over in the charging section a year ago that provided much detail on the 9.6 kw limit in NA. It seems to be a hardware limit of the Macan's charger, but software can ask the EVSE for whatever..

The EVSEs are basically smart AC relays (or contactors) with overload protection. The car tells the EVSE what kw/current it wants, the EVSE checks if it is supported and either closes the multi pole contactor or tells the car nope and to ask for something else. The car then requests the lower amount and the EVSE closes the contactor and monitors the current for overload.

In the US, 3 phase is rare and I don't think there is a consumer type EVSE that supports it (the EVSE would need a three pole switch).

If I recall correctly, the amps per wire rating of the Porsche car battery charger is the limiting factor. On two legs it advertises 9.6, and depending on the utility voltage you get 9.6 or less. There was/is a clerical error in the documentation.

I should note that when I first picked up my Macan a year ago it drew 11 kW. Within a week it drew 9.2, and we suspected that the software was not initially configured properly.

It is very interesting that you were able to get 11kw at one point... that might prove it a software limitation (for maybe valid reasons) and could potentially be restored at some point.

I don't know if we will ever get a real answer as to what happened to derate to 9.6, it would have been nice to get the 11kw, and even better if I had not purchased the higher charger only to find it would not do the higher speed.

 

[Flying4Fun]

In the US the EVSE supply wire is eight gauge (copper) if using a 40 amp breaker, and six gauge (thicker) in higher amperage circuits. Maybe Porsche looked at the 40 amp circuit as “standard” in NA and limited to this. Installing six gauge wire is a pain (I can attest to how stiff it is). Some high-end induction stoves specify 50 amp circuits, but outside of this I think it’s somewhat rare to see 50 amp circuits in residences. I’m not an electrical engineer nor electrician, but this was my assumption when I saw Porsche’s 9.6 limitation.

40 amps x 240 volts = 9.6 kW.

If you think the 6gage was difficult, you should have seen the 4gage. I was trying to get my install completed with the 4gage, had it onsite, and then saw the charger would only allow for 6gage to proper clamp down in the connectors... Another place I wasted a few bucks...

I don't know how uncommon anything above 40amps is, but for a company like Porsche with all its resources to make an error like this is surprising. I feel like the first discussion with the engineers (after the battery technology) is how do we charge it and does the battery we selected make sense for the available charger considerations.

At the end of the day, it's a puzzle, I'd love to solve it, but it's not going to change anything for me today as I have already sunk the costs into expecting to have the 11kw - short of someone taking legal action, I think this is where this issue dies.

 

[ColdCase]

Keep in mind that the Porsche wall charger, and all other J-1772 compliant EVSEs that I know about, will only use two AC legs regardless. If you connect the EVSE to true three phase power, you end up with nominal 208 V to the car instead of the 240V when connected to the split phase nearly all NA residences have. That means less max current. There is no way to get three phases to the car, it is not wired for it. Now max current is different than the car software limit that is advertise to the EVSE. I seem to remember that the EU may have a different standard, and the Macan software is different. And remember the EVSE does not do anything with the advertised limit other than to check that its within the EVSE/wiring limit. Its a go/no go thing, not an adjustment.

https://www.macanevowners.com/forum...-common-misconceptions-what-is-an-evse.22275/


Oh, perhaps a nit pick on wire gauge. There is a wire length consideration ( and wire insulation type). A smaller wire can be used in short runs than long runs.

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