Just came after getting the software updated on the charging station. Ace I think you had the same tech that I did at Tysons Porsche. He knew about your issue plus the story with the wooden stick. He had me wait while he updated the software. Took all of 5 minutes. Only time will tell if that fixes the reboot. If not, the dealership says they will order me a new charger.

 

I picked my car up middle of last week. They had it for six days. My EVSE software was updated. The version at boot up now reads 2015.

None of the parts that were supposed to get replaced on the car (second shipment after first were received damaged) were installed. This is the case because the factory pulled back the authorization.

I am now scheduled to speak with the Porsche Field Technical Manager to discuss the situation later this week. The factory is shipping a new set of parts to be installed on my car. Delivery date is TBD. My hope is that these are reworked/redesigned parts and that is why they deauthorized the work last week.

I am storing the vehicle inside the garage now. I will not leave it plugged in overnight, due to my fear of fire. This has prevented the pin from bricking my car.

So far, the software revision on the EVSE has resulted in zero charge interrupt messages over the past week.

I have also had zero instances of the EVSE display flickering.


Bottom line: I burned six days doing what took you five minutes.

 

I have two ideas which I am going to very strenuously suggest to the Field rep, and I'd like to share them here:

Since we know there's a serious design flaw with the pin on the charger port, and it is design-related, I've developed the following "soft" changes which could be written into the code of the car:

One: Disable the charge port pin when the car is reading ambient temps at or approaching 32F.

Two: Change the default on the charge port pin to RETRACTED state. AND create functionality on the PCC whereby the user could Activate the pin's functionality as security measure, much as you would with the car alarm. I see zero value in having the charge handle locked into the vehicle which it's sitting in my driveway. Allow me to secure the EVSE when appropriate. IE in a public space.

What do you folks think about those ideas?

Do you have anything else you'd like for me to pass along directly related to charging?

 

I definitely like the idea of the charge pin not locking by default. Or at least give us a way to turn that off with settings if we don't want it.

As you indicated, at home, most people are charging in the garage. When on the road, most people would use a public charging station, not the Porsche charger. This would allow other EV users to unplug and use the charging handle when your car is no longer charging (sharing with others that are waiting for a chance to charge).

For the few times anyone would use their own charger on the road...then and only then does it make sense to lock it (via optional setting).

 

Yeah, agreed with the above. The case where you're concerned about the cable walking off is an unusual one. Garage charging is most common, and you don't need to lock on to a public charger. It's only when you're using your own EVSE plugged into a normal outlet, away from home that it matters, and that's very, very unusual.

If they have settings for the charge port, they really should be accessible via the multi-function display inside the car. There are already other settings you can change there. PCC is a fallback. Any change Porsche makes is going to require a software update to the car regardless.

I'm kind of surprised by the statement "I am storing the car inside the garage." This implies you weren't before.

 

I have no interest in regularly parking a plug in or plug in hybrid in an attached garage. When we eventually build another (detached) garage, a car such as the PSeH would live out there.

My garage currently has no fire detection or automatic fire suppression equipment.

 

I don't really think you need to be concerned about a charging fire. There are safeguards, after all. There's a Wikipedia article on the subject, and of the known EV / PHEV fires, none were related to normal charging. Almost all the fires were due to damage, and did not take place during charging. Of the charging-related fires, one took place at a factory testing station, and the others were cars that were underwater at the time.

Of course, it's your decision.

 

Is it possible that moisture got into the charging port while it was docked, froze and hence the solenoid got totally frozen since Ace's Panny was parked outside and it is cold and wet here in NOVA.

 

That would be my guess. I've charged my car a few times in my in-law's driveway in Virginia, but it didn't rain on it and then freeze while I was there. Otherwise, I've exclusively charged in my garage.

Also, I've run my car through a car wash once so far, and I found sudsy water in the charging port afterward. That was not something I wanted to see.

 

They've positioned the charge port where it is angled upward to collect every bit of precipitation possible. Hence my continually referring to this as a bad design. The solenoid has no protection from the elements, either. It doesn't even look like there a wiper on it. So of course moisture is going to get in there and mess up the works. Terrible design. You cannot expect owners to only charge the car under cover or on days with no precip or low humidity.

 

That seems to be the common design. It may be that it's difficult to find a surface on most cars that is not angled upward about as much as the Panamera's.

 

Any word on whether this fixes the display cycling? My EVSE was blinking this morning, which I fixed by unplugging it from the 220v outlet and restarting. This is the 3rd or 4th time I've seen this.

 

Gus,

The blinking/reboot is now fixed. Have not had it since. I did get the "charging interrupted" message once or twice but not too concerned about it. The tech had told me he sees drop in input voltage and hence the message. I think another s/w update is due to increase the threshold in the brown-out voltage.

 

This is Porsche of Tysons Corner, right? I'm sure my local Porsche dealership will have zero clue as to updating the EVSE, since they didn't enable Porsche Car Connect before delivering the car, so telling them who to ask might be a good idea.

 

Yes this is Porsche of Tysons. The tech is A.J. He knew about the constant reboot/blinking issue.