Quick Report - summer road trip on I-15

[sor]

My family took a road trip from Utah to California and back over the last week. Nothing too remarkable to report, not going to analyze efficiency or anything but just wanted to share a few things.

Even though we have a larger vehicle that we have road tripped before (Volvo EX90), I opted for the Macan for its faster charging. It probably didn’t matter too much in the end but a fun trip regardless.

It wasn’t roomy luggage wise but not bad for a family of four and we didn’t need to block the rear view. One large suitcase in the back for the adults, along with one 18 liter travel freezer (45 watt compressor), a large duffle bag for one kid and a small duffle bag for personal items. In the frunk, one large duffle bag for my teenager fit comfortably.

I got very familiar with the frunk and realized how simple it is to latch without any force once you understand how it works.

No issues with charging, used Ionna and EA. However once we got to California I had to wait in line at pretty much every fast charger we stopped at. There’s almost no point in having a fast charging car if you are waiting 30 minutes on some slow car just to get plugged in and start. There are plenty of locations to charge, but one challenge now is that there are many stations that just have a few stalls. You could pick from maybe three or four nearby locations but you’re just rolling the dice, you don’t know if there will be one open by the time you get there. Some places had eight or ten stalls and they were at capacity. More of an inconvenience than a problem as of now, not even close to making me consider going back to gas, but I hope it gets better and not worse!

Has anyone tried the NACS adapter on something like a 400kW Ionna unit? I know generally we see only 135kw on Tesla stations due to the 400v but I imagine you could get full speed charging on modern 800v NACS stations. I only thought about this after leaving the Ionna but wish I would have tested it.

Every hotel we stayed at had some form of level 2 charging that was easy to get a spot for, so this helped a bit as well.

in all a good time and no issues that left the family burned by EVs!

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[MMR]

In the UK, the native Porsche Navigation will show current stall availability is that not the same in the US?

 

[sor]

In the UK, the native Porsche Navigation will show current stall availability is that not the same in the US?

It does(and/or apps do). If you’re ten to fifteen minutes away from three different stations though it won’t tell you what the availability will be when you get there, or if there is a queue already.

I had an experience where I chose between station A with one available slot and station B which was full. I drove to station A, which ended up full with two people already in a queue when I got there, and station B ended up having two empty spots.

 

[RobA]

It's great to see an uneventful long journey like yours. I read about so many problems It makes me question my decision to order one.

 

[PrudentOcean]

My 3400 mile road trip (my first ever in an EV) last November was a breeze. It cured my anxiety about driving long distances in this car.

Charging was easy, and that was while restricting myself to Electrify America locations because they were free to me at the time. If I repeated the trip today I would probably be choosing different chargers that are more conveniently located, although I really like EA and continue to use them even though they are no longer free.

My trip was a route from California -> Nevada -> Arizona -> Utah -> Colorado -> Nebraska and back. I only had to wait for a charger twice, once at the EA at The Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (the shops were crowded with Christmas shoppers), and the other at a four-charger EA at Sam's Club in Grand Junction, Colorado. I also encountered one charger in Green River, Colorado that was charging at speeds much below the rated one, about 40 kW. I switched to the other cable on the same charger and got the rated speed.

 

[Greybeard72]

It's great to see an uneventful long journey like yours. I read about so many problems It makes me question my decision to order one.

If it's any consolation, I have had mine for 18 months (2025 Macan 4S). I have a Macan ICE loaner now for a day or so while mine is getting a software upgrade. It reminds me why I chose the EV. The Macan ICE is at best, bland in comparison. This is my 3rd Porsche (911 4S, Macan S) and the first EV. I will not go back to an ICE car. Maybe if I was doing track runs, I'd consider a higher end 911 again. My Porsche dealer doesn't stock any more EV loaners because of all the moronic Porsche ICE owners who refuse to even try one. I haven't regretted anything. No question it was more expensive but it was worth it compared to the ICE loaner I just got. The only real nuisance is the lack of OTA upgrades (that's why mine is in the shop today). Like any other car, there are a few lemons out there with extensive issues as you will see on this forum. Fortunately, there are lemon laws here.

 

[PrudentOcean]

I think if dealers exposed their customers with ICE Macans or Cayennes to the EV counterparts when providing short-term loaners, they might find some more converts.

I've had a Macan S with 800 miles on the odometer as a loaner and was taken aback by how unrefined and out-of-date it felt. If that was my daily driver and I was allowed to drive a Macan EV for a day or two, I wouldn't want to go back.

 

[superv]

I think if dealers exposed their customers with ICE Macans or Cayennes to the EV counterparts when providing short-term loaners, they might find some more converts.

I've had a Macan S as a loaner and was taken aback by how unrefined and out-of-date it felt. I that was my daily driver and I was allowed to drive a Macan EV for a day or two, I wouldn't want to go back.

Problem with giving ICE owners BEV loaners is the learning curve esp with charging. The local Audi dealerships did this few years back with loaner Etrons and they went back to ICE after customers didn't know how to charge/where to charge and having dead vehicles needing towing back to dealership. Just a few days ago while at an EA station, some guy in a Taycan was trying to charge and he had the driver side AC slot opened, looking confused for 5+ mins. I went out and mentioned the fast charge port was on passenger side and he was shocked there were two ports and this was an EV driver.

 

[Greybeard72]

Problem with giving ICE owners BEV loaners is the learning curve esp with charging. The local Audi dealerships did this few years back with loaner Etrons and they went back to ICE after customers didn't know how to charge/where to charge and having dead vehicles needing towing back to dealership. Just a few days ago while at an EA station, some guy in a Taycan was trying to charge and he had the driver side AC slot opened, looking confused for 5+ mins. I went out and mentioned the fast charge port was on passenger side and he was shocked there were two ports and this was an EV driver.

Yeah... I'm not surprised. I actually watched a lot of content (mostly YouTube) on EV's and the Macan before getting one. So I had a good idea of what to expect. It is definitely different. I'm not surprised by some of the stories you mentioned. Maybe in a few years after 6 to 7 dollar gas prices are the norm (since they are unlikely to come back down by much) and people have been forced into at least looking at EV's in the US, the 'education' part of it will become more pervasive. I did have to spend some time with my son before he took a 1700 mile round trip recently making sure he understood all aspects of charging and planning with his EV6.

 

[craz8]

I saw a quote by Rory Southerland of Ogilvy and Mathersthat the worst thing you can do is loan someone an EV for a weekend

The thinking goes that a day or 2 allows someone to like the car, but 3 days gets to the first charging experience. A loan of week or more gets into familiarity with the ‘quirks’ of charging networks

I too am unimpressed by current non-EV Macans as loaners

 

[PrudentOcean]

Problem with giving ICE owners BEV loaners is the learning curve esp with charging.

I get your point and that's why I qualified my suggestion with short term loaner. Give the customer a fully-charged vehicle and they should be good for a couple of days in most cases. And provide a one-page sheet with simple instructions on how to charge if that becomes necessary.

 

[superv]

I get your point and that's why I qualified my suggestion with short term loaner. Give the customer a fully-charged vehicle and they should be good for a couple of days in most cases. And provide a one-page sheet with simple instructions on how to charge if that becomes necessary.

It does sound simple enough but from a business standpoint, there's very little incentive or ROI for the dealership. Instead of one fleet of loaners, now service dept. has to have two fleets, depending on service length (which isn't always easy to determine just from a "customer says issue").
Then you have the additional training (even if it's just a piece of paper on charging, adapters etc, which no customer will read) when everything from documentation to paying is all paperless now.

On the dealership side, besides having two fleets, you also have the problem of turning over loaners. A ICE loaner returning can be put back in service in 15-20 mins after a quick wash/pump. An BEV comes back and most likely that vehicle isn't available until the next morning. So dealerships have to add multiple L2 chargers or capital intensive L3 units.

Last, EVs cost more new, steep depreciates as those miles add up.

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