High Drama at Public Chargers [Aus]

[Heavywun]

TLDR:

• Charging Apps are of the Devil
• RFID cards are made by the baby Jesus
• Avoid social shaming, embarrassment or stoning by doing your first public charges at quiet/empty charge stations
• Different portions of Herr Musk's Tesla app don't talk to each other.

This is an Australian experience, but quite likely translatable to the ROW.

When I collected my Macan, I had to sign a Strongly Worded Letter from Porsche saying I needed to condition the battery by doing 4 cycles of discharge to 20% and recharge to 80% - nothing else - no variation - on pain of death or maiming. I completed this recently, so am able (finally) to do some proper driving.

Australia suffers from the Tyranny of Distance, with vast open spaces where mobile reception can be sketchy or non-existent (usually anywhere more than 5km from the CBD ), so I decided to get an RFID card for all of the popular public charge networks just in case I couldn't get reception or internet and needed to charge. They're about $5 each, and now live in an overpriced little Ridge wallet in the car (Members, click the link and I'll earn $0.00001 affiliate fees to feed my 35 starving children.)

Evie - one of the big Aussie charging networks - stuck a $10 voucher in my account so I thought I would try them for my first public charging session. My nearest charge site (capable of 125kw charge rates,) was empty so I managed to avoid social embarrassment as I fumbled around with cables and charge doors and settings.

I could not for the life of me get the damn Evie app and the charger to work together to start charging. After about 15 minutes of faffing and cursing the local deity (who failed to smite me), I eventually got the RFID card out, tapped the screen and boom the charger shoved 125 kilowatts/hr of battery juice into the Macan. Interestingly once it had started charging the app woke up and gave me all the charge details, so I was able to wander off and commit consumerism. So score one for RFID zero for dodgy apps.

My next Public Humiliation aka charging experience was with a Tesla Stupidcharger.

I do a 375km/h round trip twice a month. From what I've read and understand - please correct me if I'm wrong - maintaining battery charge between 80% and 20% is best for longevity, as is avoiding fast charging where possible. I believe that the occasional fast charging session is less detrimental to the battery than 100% charges, so although the Macan will do the whole trip if I charge to 100% and allow the battery to drop to below 20 I think I'll opt to fast charge around half way.

Fortunately, there's a Tesla stupidcharger with the magic dock whatsit at each end of my trip. Not visible on the Porsche Nav app though WTF Porsche pull yourselves towards yourselves please.

I like the stupidchargers because there are always seem to be at least 6-12charge stations. Chargers seem to be good quality and they're very high power. Tesla's militant idle fees mean that people move on very quickly once topped up. High speed DC chargers still aren't that common in some parts of Aus.

Here in Australia if you're not a Tesla driver, Tesla will charge you around 70 to 75 cents per kilowatt. But if you subscribe at around $10 a month they charge you about 50 cents per kilowatt. For my business/private split and my particular tax bracket my break-even between pay as you go versus the subscription is somewhere around 35 to 40 kilowatts a month which I'll easily use with these two trips. So I decided to give Herr Elon a regular monthly stipend that he could bankroll the next orange president.

I downloaded the app, entered my payment details for the subscription and thought I was good to go. Turned up at the charger in the dark (a good thing again because there weren't many children around to hear my swearing). There was one suspicious-looking Swastikar owner charging but when he approached I just did a "Roman" salute and shouted "Heil" and he seemed pacified. If this doesn't work in the future I will try a jittery little dance and scream "KETAMINE!! Just say "Neighhhhh!".

Sadly, once again I just could not get the app and the charging station to work. The app says to plug the car in and then select the number on the charger. But whenever I did this it told me that the charging station was occupied and to try again. No sh!t Herr Musk - I know it's occupied because it's occupied by me!! Why the F won't this damn thing work?
I tried several plugs and unplugs and then I moved to three different superchargers - all with the same result.

Eventually in desperation I started clicking around on every button on the app screen, and eventually clicked the 'update payment details' button. Then I found that I had to enter all of my payment details on this separate charging screen - none of the payment info I'd put into the subscription screen carried over. Once I'd done this, suddenly everything worked. So it seems that the two different parts of Herr Musk's Tesla charging app don't talk to each other. Even though I'd entered payment details for the subscription, this hadn't filtered through to the actual charge details. And once I did that off we went.

Interestingly it's a 250 kilowatt stupidcharger but my charge rate never went much over around 100 kilowatts. So score 1 for Evie, 0 for tesla.

I also noticed that the screens on the superchargers all had an option to tap and charge for the standard 70-odd cents rate with a credit card or your phone. So I think if you're not a Tesla subscriber in Australia I wouldn't even bother with the app - I would just turn up at the charger, tap with a credit card or phone and charge. But you have to use the app for the subscription rates.

Hope that helps someone. RFID cards are the way to go if available, and be prepared to do plenty of fumbling your first few attempts! Time for nap.

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[AndrewH]

Nice write up Heavywun

It’s possible the Tesla charger was slow because they’re only 400v so the Macan will need to split the pack to match this with a lower kW rate the consequence. My googling and chatGPT’ing skills aren’t up to working out which chargers in Australia are 800v sadly.

I’m on my second electric car. First was a 2020 Model S. The DC EV charger situation is getting better but we still have a long way to go. What’s frustrating is locations with a different mix of fast and slow chargers so you’re never quite sure what you’re going to get when you arrive. But even more frustrating is seeing all the wasted investment in bloody CHAdeMO chargers Surely it would be cheaper just to convert the handful of Nissan and Mitsubishi EVs with these plugs than have thousands of DC chargers for them?!?

 

[tmrqs]

That was worth a read, thanks for the post!

I do a 375km/h round trip twice a month.

You get to push the car over 230mph twice a month? Got yourself a Macan Turbo “Nevera edition”!

 

[iPadOnWheels]

The sarcasm is strong with this one...

 

[ferrocinque]

Perhaps the reason you’re not able to charge quickly with the Tesla charger is that, since it’s not included in the Porsche app and therefore can’t be set as a destination charger, the battery isn’t being preconditioned. Have you checked if the battery temperature was within the optimal range?

 

[Heavywun]

I'm not sure what the battery temp was, but as it's only a couple of km from work it's likely it wasn't optimal. There is an Evie charger nearby, so I might trying setting that as a charge destination in the app next time, and see if it makes a difference to the Tesla charge rate.

@AndrewH is probably on the money - likely only a 400V charger. It's out in the sticks so possibly not worth too much Te$la investment.

 

[AndrewH]

When I collected my Macan, I had to sign a Strongly Worded Letter from Porsche saying I needed to condition the battery by doing 4 cycles of discharge to 20% and recharge to 80% - nothing else - no variation - on pain of death or maiming. I completed this recently, so am able (finally) to do some proper driving.

On this one, did this look like it was an official Porsche thing or a dealer thing? I’m pretty sure I didn’t have to sign something like this. In fact I was a little miffed my Macan was charged to 100% when I took delivery. A nice gesture but probably not the best way to start.

 

[Trevasann]

TLDR:

• Charging Apps are of the Devil
• RFID cards are made by the baby Jesus
• Avoid social shaming, embarrassment or stoning by doing your first public charges at quiet/empty charge stations
• Different portions of Herr Musk's Tesla app don't talk to each other.

This is an Australian experience, but quite likely translatable to the ROW.

When I collected my Macan, I had to sign a Strongly Worded Letter from Porsche saying I needed to condition the battery by doing 4 cycles of discharge to 20% and recharge to 80% - nothing else - no variation - on pain of death or maiming. I completed this recently, so am able (finally) to do some proper driving.

Australia suffers from the Tyranny of Distance, with vast open spaces where mobile reception can be sketchy or non-existent (usually anywhere more than 5km from the CBD ), so I decided to get an RFID card for all of the popular public charge networks just in case I couldn't get reception or internet and needed to charge. They're about $5 each, and now live in an overpriced little Ridge wallet in the car (Members, click the link and I'll earn $0.00001 affiliate fees to feed my 35 starving children.)

Evie - one of the big Aussie charging networks - stuck a $10 voucher in my account so I thought I would try them for my first public charging session. My nearest charge site (capable of 125kw charge rates,) was empty so I managed to avoid social embarrassment as I fumbled around with cables and charge doors and settings.

I could not for the life of me get the damn Evie app and the charger to work together to start charging. After about 15 minutes of faffing and cursing the local deity (who failed to smite me), I eventually got the RFID card out, tapped the screen and boom the charger shoved 125 kilowatts/hr of battery juice into the Macan. Interestingly once it had started charging the app woke up and gave me all the charge details, so I was able to wander off and commit consumerism. So score one for RFID zero for dodgy apps.

My next Public Humiliation aka charging experience was with a Tesla Stupidcharger.

I do a 375km/h round trip twice a month. From what I've read and understand - please correct me if I'm wrong - maintaining battery charge between 80% and 20% is best for longevity, as is avoiding fast charging where possible. I believe that the occasional fast charging session is less detrimental to the battery than 100% charges, so although the Macan will do the whole trip if I charge to 100% and allow the battery to drop to below 20 I think I'll opt to fast charge around half way.

Fortunately, there's a Tesla stupidcharger with the magic dock whatsit at each end of my trip. Not visible on the Porsche Nav app though WTF Porsche pull yourselves towards yourselves please.

I like the stupidchargers because there are always seem to be at least 6-12charge stations. Chargers seem to be good quality and they're very high power. Tesla's militant idle fees mean that people move on very quickly once topped up. High speed DC chargers still aren't that common in some parts of Aus.

Here in Australia if you're not a Tesla driver, Tesla will charge you around 70 to 75 cents per kilowatt. But if you subscribe at around $10 a month they charge you about 50 cents per kilowatt. For my business/private split and my particular tax bracket my break-even between pay as you go versus the subscription is somewhere around 35 to 40 kilowatts a month which I'll easily use with these two trips. So I decided to give Herr Elon a regular monthly stipend that he could bankroll the next orange president.

I downloaded the app, entered my payment details for the subscription and thought I was good to go. Turned up at the charger in the dark (a good thing again because there weren't many children around to hear my swearing). There was one suspicious-looking Swastikar owner charging but when he approached I just did a "Roman" salute and shouted "Heil" and he seemed pacified. If this doesn't work in the future I will try a jittery little dance and scream "KETAMINE!! Just say "Neighhhhh!".

Sadly, once again I just could not get the app and the charging station to work. The app says to plug the car in and then select the number on the charger. But whenever I did this it told me that the charging station was occupied and to try again. No sh!t Herr Musk - I know it's occupied because it's occupied by me!! Why the F won't this damn thing work?
I tried several plugs and unplugs and then I moved to three different superchargers - all with the same result.

Eventually in desperation I started clicking around on every button on the app screen, and eventually clicked the 'update payment details' button. Then I found that I had to enter all of my payment details on this separate charging screen - none of the payment info I'd put into the subscription screen carried over. Once I'd done this, suddenly everything worked. So it seems that the two different parts of Herr Musk's Tesla charging app don't talk to each other. Even though I'd entered payment details for the subscription, this hadn't filtered through to the actual charge details. And once I did that off we went.

Interestingly it's a 250 kilowatt stupidcharger but my charge rate never went much over around 100 kilowatts. So score 1 for Evie, 0 for tesla.

I also noticed that the screens on the superchargers all had an option to tap and charge for the standard 70-odd cents rate with a credit card or your phone. So I think if you're not a Tesla subscriber in Australia I wouldn't even bother with the app - I would just turn up at the charger, tap with a credit card or phone and charge. But you have to use the app for the subscription rates.

Hope that helps someone. RFID cards are the way to go if available, and be prepared to do plenty of fumbling your first few attempts! Time for nap.

Oh my God, I have been there, since I live in (Las Cruces) southern NM, with wide open spaces and few charging options outside the small cities. I'd like to see more conversations around charging, this can't possible be as good as it gets. He handles and cables are cumbersome, heavy and stiff, especially if you're petite like me, it's tough and I've often hoped for a manly man passerby to plead for help! This was hysterical to read, thank you for sharing. Loved the orange leader comment, LMAO.

 

[Heavywun]

On this one, did this look like it was an official Porsche thing or a dealer thing? I’m pretty sure I didn’t have to sign something like this. In fact I was a little miffed my Macan was charged to 100% when I took delivery. A nice gesture but probably not the best way to start.

It looked like it was from the Vaderland but I guess that's easily faked. My delivery was end of May. Can't imagine the dealership benefiting - they'd be only too happy if I need to replace the car as often as the damn iPhone.
It's been back to the stealership several times to sort out the usual Porsche customer beta-tester stuff, and they've never charged it back up above 80%, which is nice.

 

[de0xyrib0se]

Perhaps the reason you’re not able to charge quickly with the Tesla charger is that, since it’s not included in the Porsche app and therefore can’t be set as a destination charger, the battery isn’t being preconditioned. Have you checked if the battery temperature was within the optimal range?

I never charge at Tesla chargers; it's just not worth the hassle. Plenty of other networks throughout Europe. Pre-conditioning, maybe if, maybe not...

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