Got Porsche Car Connect activated today. In my case, it did send a text message to my phone with the activation code. This is a one-time code, I tried to use it with my iPad and it declared it invalid. Turns out, however, that it's easy enough to create new activation codes via the web site, and that's squared away.

According to the manual, which I found on Porsche's site, there's supposed to be a top-level icon for climate control, just like the "e-mobility" and "find my car" icons. It doesn't show on either my iPod or iPad. I find that mildly annoying, since I had envisioned using it to turn on the AC remotely when the car has been sitting in a hot parking lot. Since the PCC specifically mentions that it uses the lithium-ion high voltage battery for remote climate control, and that it doesn't work if the battery doesn't have sufficient charge, it's clearly a feature specific to the e-Hybrid, and should be available.

Everything else works, though.

 

I figured out the issue with PCC and climate control...

Noticed it when perusing the Cayenne e-Hybrid info... in order to have that functionality, the car must have the OPTIONAL "Auxiliary Cabin Conditioning"

Yours for the bargain price of $1570.

Good grief.

 

Ace - where did you see that info? I have a Cayenne SEH on order and have a few days left before it locks down for changes. I see the aux cooling option, but it does have any detail (no pop up window). Assumed that was rear climate.

I wonder if that is for both heating and cooling via PCC. Heating is probably more important here in the NW. Although both would be nice.

 

Just found the info also. Yep, you need the aux climate control for both remote heating and cooling via PCC. At least on the Cayenne SEH.

 

On the Porsche website (which we know is full of inaccuracies) it shows this in the CSeH info:

"Using a compatible smartphone, you can control the charging process along with other functions such as the optional auxiliary climate control, which allows you to heat or cool the interior in advance of any journey."

On the E-Mobility pdf found in the PSeH area, it reads as follows:

"Parking pre-climatisation remote control. This function is available as an option. You can use it to activate preclimatisation inside your car from the outside – straight away or timecontrolled. Whether it’s hot or cold outside, bring the temperature inside the car to within a range that feels comfortable."

And in the PSeH build tool:

"Auxiliary Cabin Conditioning
The auxiliary air conditioning can be used to heat and cool the passenger compartment without having the combustion engine running. An electric A/C compressor and an electric heater provide pleasant temperatures in the passenger compartment."


So I stitched those three data points together, along with not seeing the functionality on my PCC app (which is connected to my non Aux Cabin Conditioned vehicle) , and determined that it is an optional feature.

 

Thanks ACE. Not sure it is worth 1500 to get a two min head start on warming my butt. Was hoping that was a standard feature. But as you pointed out, it is not.

 

That's rather confusing, because I've had the A/C running while driving in electric mode, where of course the combustion engine is off. If you needed the ICE for A/C or heat, that would be reason enough to have the auxilary climate control. I'm guessing it's slightly misleading, and that either the electric or the ICE can run climate control, but you need to be in motion.

I really don't care about pre-heating, since if it's cold enough to need heat, I'm wearing winter clothes anyway. A/C is a much bigger deal if it's hot enough to be uncomfortable. That's generally not a problem in the garage, but in direct sunlight a car can get to the level where you fry your hands on the steering wheel. Which is why I liked the idea of being able to run the A/C in a parking lot.

I really, really wish I'd gotten more information about options before ordering. It's so easy to overlook something if you're just going by the web site. Of course, my particular dealer doesn't really understand the car well enough to advise on e-Hybrid specific options.

 

I've been messing around with pushing the car a bit without resorting to Sport+. There's a definite lag if you're driving in pure electric mode and the engine isn't engaged. The transition to engine-on is very smooth, but it takes long enough that it makes the car feel slow. If the engine is already on, it's noticeably faster. It's possible that this is also due to the transmission being more ready to use lower gears if the engine is on.

I've also noticed that sometimes the car displays the "e power not available" icon (slashed-out E) for a while after I accelerate hard in e-Power mode. I'm not sure if this is the car temporarily shifting into a Sports-like mode despite e-Power being enabled if I accelerate hard. The manual says this is only supposed to come on if the battery is low, the car is "refreshing fuel tank ventilation," or "testing the combustion engine." It doesn't always come on, sometimes it's happy to switch the engine back off once I start cruising.

I've read a few reviews claiming the car "doesn't corner well" because it's heavy. I'm wondering whether they actually tried to push the car at all. The Sports Chrono package comes with a g-meter, and according to that I've done a 0.8 g turn without the car protesting even a little. I've seen reviews of other Panameras claiming ~1.0g skidpad numbers, but I'm not comfortable pushing the car that hard. 0.8 was a definite hard turn.

 

Gus, are you receiving messages on your PCC saying that "Charging interrupted externally?"

This happens to me at least once per charge cycle. No one is tampering with the connection and we're not experiencing any noticeable power drops or surges.

 

No, I'm not. I am getting regular messages when the car is finished charging.

I've decided to go ahead and get a 220 volt line. I'm retired so I don't drive every day, but I had a situation with visiting in-laws where I drove in the evening and it wasn't finished charging when I needed to drive again in the morning. Charging takes a long time on 110. There's always gas, of course, but I like getting full use out of the battery.

I've managed to deplete the battery to zero a couple of times now. While the car stops offering e-Power at 20%, it will still turn the engine off often enough to continue draining the battery from there.

I had some adventures driving around in Boston parking garages. One had ridiculously narrow up/down ramps, to the point where the parking sensors are going off all the time (in Yellow) because the walls are that close.

The rearview camera is a really big help for backing into a parking space. That and the overhead view took all the pressure out of maneuvering in tight spaces. I generally have a pretty good sense of where the sides of the car are, but the cameras take out all the guesswork.

 

Interesting. I'm gonna see if there's a pattern to this PCC charging message. I'd like to know if there's a crop in current, or if there is a softwar/hardware issue.

Next question:

Have you tried to engage Sport mode with the battery discharged to the point where E-Power is not available?

I'm curious to know if the car will dig into its reserves for the extra boost?

 

Yes, I have. Sport mode seems to function normally when the battery is below 20%, presumably because I'm using it to accelerate, not cruise. Obviously there's some point where there's nothing left to contribute, but getting the battery that low is kind of difficult.

 

Got the 220v line put in today. $1800. Originally he quoted me $3500, because he'd have to dig to put in additional conduit, but when I balked he suggested replacing the phone line which I never used. I had two conduits to the garage, one for power and one for the phone.

Still not nearly close to $600, and they only had to run about 50' of cord from the main breaker panel to the outlet.

 

Congrats. 2.5 hours vs 14 hours. Whole different deal.


Many electricians (and the rest of contractors) seem to all want to hit a homerun with every swing.

How many man hours were involved with pulled the strands, installing a recept and connecting to the service panel?

 

Took them about 5 hours, two guys. They also put in two light fixtures in the basement, and wired a carbon monoxide sensor to house power that was previously running only on batteries. Paid $2500 for the whole thing. Even at 10 man-hours, that seems a bit excessive, since there wasn't that much in terms of hardware costs.

In hindsight, I probably should have said "I think I'll get another quote" before giving them the go ahead. $1800 is in the ballpark for what I was expecting for the 220 volt line, but $700 for two lights and a CO detector seems really excessive. I think I paid the "this guy owns two Porsches" surcharge.

It's not like the need was urgent, and the last time someone quoted me something outrageous, I went from a $3600 initial quote for installing two 40 gallon water heaters to $2000 with the final contractor.

I have a nagging feeling they didn't do it right. They pulled two circuit breakers to make room for a dual-gang 220 volt 20 amp breaker, and moved circuits around rather than add a sub-panel. It seems like they spent more time identifying circuits so they could tell which ones could be safely combined than it would have taken to put in a subpanel.

4400 watts should be enough, considering the on-board charger is limited to 3600 watts, but there's part of me that think's it's wrong to wire a NEMA 6-50 socket with a circuit that's only designed to handle 20 watts. Even though it's likely it will never be used for anything else.

The car was already charged, so I don't know how well the new circuit works. I'm tempted to just drive around tomorrow to deplete the battery and test out the new line.