RANGE ANXIETY! My First Long EV Journey - Porsche Taycan

Everybody has heard about range anxiety that comes with an EV, but having bought my Porsche Taycan Turbo S, a compulsory test is to see what it's actually like on a longer journey. Let's see how the charging goes on the road...

The primary purpose for the day is to deliver my AMG GT R Roadster to Pandora Car Alarms for the installation of their Smart Pro system, which will be demonstrated when I collect it, but in the meantime that means a 250 mile outing from London to Birmingham and back.

With the lack of charging point at home as explained, the car starts from 79% with a range of 153 miles, clearly not enough to get there and back, while also having enough charge for the next journey too. While it might sound obvious, this is where a bit of planning is required to think ahead with regards to which stops to use and make the most of a number of great apps that help in the process.

Stop one in some form demonstrates part of the UK's infrastructure problem, in that there are 2 machines at the Cherwell Valley Services on the M40, one of which was out of order and the other had a previous occupier after whom there was then a bit of time before it would reset. With hindsight I've learned that the charger on the right of the car (and mine in particular because it doesn't have the faster secondary port) is a much slower Type 2 and it would have been better to use the full CCS port on the other side, but in any case a number of the problems remain true.

However, after dropping off the AMG, the more positive experiences begin with a rapid charge near Banbury at the same charger used recently by Harry's Garage, where it gains about 50% in only 20 minutes or so. The general payment process and swiftness to get up and running is not all that complicated as soon as you get the principal of having the various accounts and apps akin to different parking locations. Likewise, using some planning ahead helps to ensure you don't end up at a charger that's out of action for some reason and it becomes fully doable.

The biggest surprise for me is the price of charging on the move. While in many circumstances EV owners could charge up at home using much cheaper overnight tariff rates, in my position I'm depending upon service stations and destination chargers. With many charging a £1.50-2 connection fee, plus £0.30 to £0.69 per kW, the bill typically comes out to around £40 to gain 150 miles or so of range. In my Ferrari GTC4Lusso V12, on a gentle motorway run I'd expect £100 of fuel to carry me 400 miles and some simple maths tells you there isn't a saving to be seen there.

I promised to bring you along for the experience of living with an EV, so please consider that this a learning process for me too while I endeavor to bring you along for the journey, something very different to my normal petrolhead experiences.

Thanks for watching, Tim

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:59 Plans Ahead
04:09 On the Road
05:07 First Charge
10:18 Back on the Move
12:30 Pandora Car Alarms
15:59 Second Charge
20:35 My Early EV Thoughts
26:15 Third Charge
27:51 Conclusions

#Porsche #Taycan #EV

Subscribe: http://bit.ly/Shmee150YT
Website: http://www.shmee150.com
Shop: http://shop.shmee150.com
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/shmee150
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/shmee150