Porsche Taycan onboard charger upgrade cuts charging times nearly in half
As more people experience electric vehicles, the uncertainty around issues like the range and driving feel is starting to evaporate. Even affordable EVs offer 250-plus miles of range. But there’s one area where all EVs have room for improvement: charging times.
Today’s fastest-charging EVs include the GMC Hummer, Lucid Air, and Porsche Taycan, which can add 10 or more miles per minute charging. Plugging in at home yields sluggish charging times, even for those vehicles, so Porsche has come up with a solution to double the amount of power the Taycan can receive.
Porsche’s upgrade brings a 19.2 kW onboard charger. Installation includes replacing the charger and associated wiring, which are located behind the frunk. Owners of 2020 Taycan gain Plug and Charge capability, which was previously only available for 2021 cars and newer. Owners can access the feature with their My Porsche account.
The catch here is that buyers must also purchase Porsche’s 19.2 kW Wall Charger Connect to “take full advantage of the increased performance.” The $1,586 wall box has to be hard-wired directly to a 100-amp circuit, but it can be adjusted for lower-capacity circuits.
For comparison purposes, Level 1 charging at home uses a standard household plug on a 110-volt circuit, and some EVs with large batteries, such as the Ford F-150 Lightning, can take days — 67 hours in this case — to fully recharge at such a trickle. Level 2 charging on a 240-volt circuit is significantly faster, usually by five to six times, but the 9.6 kW onboard charger that comes standard with the Taycan still takes several hours to reach a full charge.
Cars equipped with the Taycan’s new Performance Battery option can charge from zero to 100 percent in 4.8 hours, vs. 9.5 hours via the previous standard onboard charger. Cars with the Performance Battery Plus can fully charge from flat in 5.3 hours, down from 10.5 before.
Taycan owners can view the charging status on the five-inch touchscreen, and the unit comes with Wi-Fi to receive over-the-air updates.
Those stats are impressive, especially considering that many higher-end home chargers top out at well under 100 amps, and many cost much more than Porsche’s charger. The $1,850 hardware upgrade is available for all Taycan models. Porsche says the installation takes 12 hours of labor. Customers can select the feature as an option for new-car builds.
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