Panamera 4e Hybrid limited to 3.9kw charging
Discussion
I have a 2020 Panamera 4e Hybrid and have just had an Andersen EV charger installed. The car has the 7.2kw charging unit onboard and the charger can charge at up to 22kw as I have three phase power at home and went for the full three phase install. Looking at the Andersen app, the charger never charges at more than 3.9kw. Has anyone else encountered this and found a remedy? I can't see any settings in the Andersen app that limit the charging rate and nor can I see anything in the car's settings to control this. It's very annoying.
Is the cable tethered or not?
I ended up with a 20A single phase type 2 cable supplied with my car which would yield similar results. I reckon the dealership "borrowed" the original and substituted for one belonging to a hybrid, they all look the same after all.
Also with my pod point charger, there were some dip switches inside the unit which governed maximum charge rate. The installer didn't set them correctly and I had to flick the power off and alter them.
Could be either of the above.
I ended up with a 20A single phase type 2 cable supplied with my car which would yield similar results. I reckon the dealership "borrowed" the original and substituted for one belonging to a hybrid, they all look the same after all.
Also with my pod point charger, there were some dip switches inside the unit which governed maximum charge rate. The installer didn't set them correctly and I had to flick the power off and alter them.
Could be either of the above.
Very common for PHEVs to have 16A (3.7ish kw) charging as they've got small batteries so still only a few hours to charge at that.
Unless something has changed since 2016 it's a 16A on-board charger on those - charging time is no quicker on 7 or 22kw chargers. https://pod-point.com/guides/vehicles/porsche/2016...
Unless something has changed since 2016 it's a 16A on-board charger on those - charging time is no quicker on 7 or 22kw chargers. https://pod-point.com/guides/vehicles/porsche/2016...
It’s a tethered system so there’s no issue with the cabling. The car is fitted with the upgraded 7.2kw charging unit so ought to be able to charge at 7.2kw, ie around half the time of the normal 3.6kw unit. All of the published material from Porsche shows the 7.2kw upgrade halving the charging time and I confirmed the position with Andersen before I committed to the installation. It has to be some sort of setting in the car or the Andersen unit itself - or an issue with one or other of those. It would be very odd if the Andersen unit was throttling back the charging pace due to load in the system. I’ve not had any big power draining items running while the car has been charging.
My Cayenne Hybrid '19 charges at 7.2kw no problem with a Podpoint - no settings to manipulate the charge rate in the PCM, and I have combed through the menus. Its plug and play. Sounds like something is amiss - not sure how you would check in the 7.2 kw option has actually been installed..
A couple of possibilities
- Car isn't capable. Because of the smaller battery size in a PHEV, the rate is limited because the battery can't take it. I know someone else said they had a PHEV that could charger faster but not all PHEVs have the same size battery.
- The charge point has some switched inside that haven't been set correctly. They often come set to the minimum and the installer only increases it if they're signing the installation off to a higher level ie its a safety feature.
- The cable is a 16A 3 phase cable, the car is single phase - you always get the lowest permutation which is 16A single phase. The cable should say what its capable written on it. If its a tethered charge port its unlikely to be this (or a bugger to rectify if it is).
- Car isn't capable. Because of the smaller battery size in a PHEV, the rate is limited because the battery can't take it. I know someone else said they had a PHEV that could charger faster but not all PHEVs have the same size battery.
- The charge point has some switched inside that haven't been set correctly. They often come set to the minimum and the installer only increases it if they're signing the installation off to a higher level ie its a safety feature.
- The cable is a 16A 3 phase cable, the car is single phase - you always get the lowest permutation which is 16A single phase. The cable should say what its capable written on it. If its a tethered charge port its unlikely to be this (or a bugger to rectify if it is).
JFKW said:
I have a 2020 Panamera 4e Hybrid and have just had an Andersen EV charger installed. The car has the 7.2kw charging unit onboard and the charger can charge at up to 22kw as I have three phase power at home and went for the full three phase install.
I should do 7KW but the onboard charger isn't going to do 22KW. Have you checked on all the options in menus, I couldn't work out how to get 7KW on an i3 loaner as well than it turned out there was option in sub menu somewhere you have to check.
Nice looking car BTW, out of interest why didn't you go for the Taycan as the prices are pretty much the same?
I've emailed my contact at Porsche and asked about settings. There's nothing obvious that I can see and nothing comes up on google. It turns out that Andersen had registered the device as a single phase device at their end rather than a 3 phase device. That shouldn't make any difference as a single phase device should still be able to charge at 7.2kw. However, apparently it can make a difference nonetheless so I need to find an essential journey to do tomorrow so that I can charge it again and see what happens!
There is definitely no issue with cables and the battery and car can definitely take 7.2kw by design. It's not a battery size issue or a low amp rated cable issue.
@gangzoom That's a good question. I did consider the Taycan. I think it's a great car. However, at the moment you can only get the saloon and a few times a year I need to sling a bike in the car or take a load of stuff to the tip. It would really annoy me if my super expensive car couldn't do what I want it to do! I also think that there will be a few occasions a year when I'll need to do a long journey in a day and I'm still not sure that there is enough coverage to guarantee a lack of stress and strain. As with the saloon issue, I will find it too upsetting if, after spending a huge amount of money, it causes me angst. The Panamera ST, which is what I've got, will take a bike and a load of rubbish and will do as many miles as I want it to do - so long as I can find a petrol station. Yes I'll run out of battery power but if I do, who cares? At least I'll still be able to get home. I've found that in the few weeks I've had the car, I've been able to do the vast majority of my journeys on all electric or hybrid. And then occasionally I've put it in sport or sport+ mode and it has sounded fantastic and moved like the proverbial off a shovel. I know the 4S, Turbo and Turbo S are faster but frankly, I'm not sure I need more than 465HP in that sort of car. I have some other toys to play with if I want to go even faster than that!!
There is definitely no issue with cables and the battery and car can definitely take 7.2kw by design. It's not a battery size issue or a low amp rated cable issue.
@gangzoom That's a good question. I did consider the Taycan. I think it's a great car. However, at the moment you can only get the saloon and a few times a year I need to sling a bike in the car or take a load of stuff to the tip. It would really annoy me if my super expensive car couldn't do what I want it to do! I also think that there will be a few occasions a year when I'll need to do a long journey in a day and I'm still not sure that there is enough coverage to guarantee a lack of stress and strain. As with the saloon issue, I will find it too upsetting if, after spending a huge amount of money, it causes me angst. The Panamera ST, which is what I've got, will take a bike and a load of rubbish and will do as many miles as I want it to do - so long as I can find a petrol station. Yes I'll run out of battery power but if I do, who cares? At least I'll still be able to get home. I've found that in the few weeks I've had the car, I've been able to do the vast majority of my journeys on all electric or hybrid. And then occasionally I've put it in sport or sport+ mode and it has sounded fantastic and moved like the proverbial off a shovel. I know the 4S, Turbo and Turbo S are faster but frankly, I'm not sure I need more than 465HP in that sort of car. I have some other toys to play with if I want to go even faster than that!!
JFKW said:
a few times a year I need to sling a bike in the car or take a load of stuff to the tip.
JFKW said:
there will be a few occasions a year when I'll need to do a long journey in a day and I'm still not sure that there is enough coverage to guarantee a lack of stress and strain.
JFKW said:
I'm not sure I need more than 465HP in that sort of car.
JFKW said:
I have some other toys to play with if I want to go even faster than that!!
Edited by Michael_B on Monday 22 February 21:48
JFKW said:
I have some other toys to play with if I want to go even faster than that!!
Not fast, but if I want to 'enjoy' the road this what I used. First time out on it in about 3 months, 20mph crosswinds, pot holes to dodge, 23mm tyres at 100psi for proper road feel. I love our EV to doing what it does, but 0-60 times have interest for me these days, certainly doesn't make the road more enjoyable. 
If you want to carry bikes though a tow bar is the way forwards, avoids needing the mess of having outside stuff inside the car, and doesn't turn the car into an aerofoil like a roof carrier.
Hope you get the 7KW charger sorted, and then maybe the next purchase........
JFKW said:
Brilliant! The bike carrier really is something I should get. No excuse there!
I regularly transport bicycles from my main Swiss residence to a old farmhouse we are renovating in rural France. That one is a Thule XT2 with a 3rd bike adaptor. The Model 3 has a full glass roof, so I wanted to avoid the overhead route for bike transport.JFKW said:
Not sure I want to get into a trailer though!
We don't do many short local trips, generally 150km each way most weekends[1] and then perhaps the odd 100-150km day trip from there, so the advantages of a hybrid are not great compared to going full electric with decent range.But the narrow boot opening of the Model 3 made a trailer pretty much obligatory for those trips to the tip and collecting bulky bargains (paving, tiles, soil, furniture, etc) found on the local small ads. Even if the Y were available, I'd probably still use a trailer for reasons of weight and ease of cleaning
[1] Though not so often now as the French require a PCR test each time, which are £125 each in Geneva
Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff