How long before this becomes the norm?

[donkmeister]

Is this a case of all Taycans are built with 150kW hardware but the software limits it unless you pay? Or is there actual different hardware?

[Mr E]

kuro68k said:

The original Leaf had 3.3kW AC charging and 6.6kW as an option. It's been this way forever.

And a 50kw fast charge socket next to the ‘standard’ home charger.

Edited by Mr E on Monday 30th September 11:36

[Durzel]

REALIST123 said:

kambites said:

Personally I have no problem with it - it's just the automotive industry catching up with the way the IT industry has worked for decades. Hardware is, broadly speaking, a commodity; it's software features and service contracts which generate the revenue.

I certainly don't see it as any different than the long-standing tendency for car manufacturers to sell the same engine in two or more states of tune, differentiated only by the ECU programming (or going back a bit further by some sort of artificial air-flow restriction).

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 25th September 18:42

That about sums it up, though I wouldn’t really say they were catching up. The automotive industry have been charging to allow embedded functions to be used for many years.

+1

Software unlocks is not a new thing in the car industry in the slightest.

[Durzel]

donkmeister said:

Is this a case of all Taycans are built with 150kW hardware but the software limits it unless you pay? Or is there actual different hardware?

It will almost certainly be the case that the charging hardware will be the same on all of the cars. Makes no sense to develop a different platform, particularly as it's the sort of thing a customer might not think they want now but as rapid chargers get more widespread and faster it's something they can be sold a retrofit on (at an inflated price for no reason whatsoever over the cost at point of ordering).

As said above cruise control is a classic example of this sort of thing. The last Cayman I had I paid for a "Sport Mode" retrofit which adjusted engine parameters and added a button to the console (woo), which was just unlocked by Porsche when I paid for it.

[SCEtoAUX]

Dave Hedgehog said:

I suspect many people won’t use rapid charging

Home charger is all I will ever need and only twice a week

Same here. 50k miles on my Leaf now. It's been 30 miles from my home no more than three times in the five years I've owned it.

[RobDickinson]

SWoll said:

Charging £300 so a £150k car can charge at the best speeds? That's a massive piss take but not unusual for Porsche.

Surely a big plus point for Tesla and their supercharging network no, especially with the Model 3 LR and Performance able to do 250kw as standard (where available of course)?

This. On such an expensive (ev)car its a joke. its also not very clear and quite possible to miss on the nightmare configuration system.

You will totes have people turn up to 200kw chargers get 50kw and be like wtf??

Then you have the used market which will be crazy confused. Its bad enough here with the leafs, Japanese ones are 3kw ac uk ones are 7kw etc but this just ends up a mess.

[oop north]

SCEtoAUX said:

Same here. 50k miles on my Leaf now. It's been 30 miles from my home no more than three times in the five years I've owned it.

My i3 went more than the range of the car (and considerably more than the return range) on dozens of occasions. So far I have only been once beyond the range of the iPace but will be doing so probably at least a dozen times a year

On the Porsche point - I am astonished anybody is surprised that porsche charge £££ for extras... but BMW also charged extra on early i3s for dc (50kW) charging capability

[RobDickinson]

I think the 400v charger is less than the fake engine noise lol

[Gandahar]

RobDickinson said:

I think the 400v charger is less than the fake engine noise lol

Probably less than the key for the car being painted the same as your car as well. They really really do take it to the extremes.

With Tesla having such a fanatical following Musk is missing out here doing all that sort of stuff, they would be quite inclined to buy a few add ons I would have thought. Tesla branded box of tissues and panama hat for the back shelf for the senior drivers etc etc, £135.

[ncbbmw]

Options make lots of money in the car industry.

The latest scam seems to be only offer one flat colour as standard, every other colour including council white is now £500+ extra, naturally the 1970's metallic paint scam is even more.
20 years ago you couldn't give white cars away..

BMW's favourite money maker used to be alloy wheels..

Yes, the car comes with alloys,

Yes, they don't look the best, (they make them look sh*t on purpose so you buy the nicer looking upgrade which cost them 50 pence extra each to make)

Good News, the better looking alternative option is only £500.00 extra :-)


To make the super fast charging an option on a car at that price however is taking the water.

[sjg]

It's not about super fast charging with the Taycan though.

All of them, with or without the option, can pull up to a 350kW (800V) Ionity charger and charge at the fastest rate. These are the ones that are already on lots of major routes across Europe and will be in 40+ locations by the end of next year.

Likewise, away from those super fast chargers they can all use a 400V charger at the very common 50kW rate.

What the option gets you is the ability to charge faster on 400V chargers if they go beyond 50kW. Without the option, it'll still do 50kW.

The UK map of such chargers where you'd benefit from that option looks like this:



Chargers that you'll get 50kW at, regardless of whether you have the optional charger:



I'm not sure I'd bother with it really.

[anonymous-user]

Zcd1 said:

Or be like Tesla and build-in compatibility with upcoming charging standards, as they did with the Model 3.

Even though the 250KW Superchargers are just now being rolled out, the Dual Motor and Performance versions have included compatibility with the higher charging rate since the cars first hit the market in mid-2018.

In reality, even at the current (SWIDT?) 150KW rate (upgraded from the original 100KW), Supercharging during a road trip now basically takes less time than it does to answer nature's call and grab a quick bite.

Apparently Model 3 owners have to pay to use the Tesla Supercharger network, it is free for Model S and X owners, this is from a Model 3 owner.

[RobDickinson]

And?

[Zcd1]

gottans said:

Apparently Model 3 owners have to pay to use the Tesla Supercharger network...

True. It still costs much less than gasoline or diesel fuel, though, and I only Supercharge on long trips, so it's NBD, really.