This article discusses my experiences living with my 2020 Taycan 4S high-voltage battery. My car has been in service since August 2020 with 33K miles. My car is equipped with the larger battery (93 KWH) which was the only battery choice when ordering the car in March 2020. Continuing a practice I have done with my gas-powered cars I keep a log book of my charging sessions and the range that each session produces. There are many current recalls related to battery cells that may fail. There are no remedies at this time, only a recommendation to charge no more than 80%.
My opinion is that home charging puts less stress on the high-voltage battery than high-speed direct charging. Not everyone can charge at home, however. The battery is constructed of multiple pouch cells. When one of these cells fails it can cause a short circuit that could lead to a fire. A fire in a lithium-ion battery can be catastrophic.
The battery in the Taycan is manufactured by LG. The 2025 Taycan has a revised battery design. Porsche is developing battery monitoring software for 2025 that will allow Porsche to tell you to bring the car in for repair. In my experience, the car currently will not tell you too much if there is a battery cell that is failing. Some owners have seen the Electrical Fault message that may be from the car detecting a breakdown of the pouch cell insulating properties. I got no fault messages either time my car experienced a loss of range, which was a precursor to cell failure. That is why I urge you to keep a log of your range after a charging session.
This past June I noticed a marked loss of range after charging to 80%. I brought it to the dealer for troubleshooting, and while there the high-voltage battery failed. The dealer ordered and installed a re-manufactured high voltage battery under the 8-year high voltage battery warranty. In my case it was part number 9J1-915-100-EX. That took about a month. The re-manufactured battery was giving me over 300 miles of range after an 80% charge. I was very pleased. Fast forward to November of this year where I again experienced range loss after charging to 80%. The dealer recommended the battery be sent to the third-party repair facility.
My car is currently at the dealer awaiting the necessary high-voltage battery crate that will be used to ship the battery to a third-party repair facility rumored to be in the Midwest. The dealers only are able to remove the entire high-voltage battery from the car at this time. They do not perform internal battery cell replacements. I am about two weeks into a process expected to take at least four weeks. The weather and the holidays won’t speed things up.
In summary, I recommend you charge your car on an AC charger to 80% and keep a log of your range after each charging session. If you note a decrease in range you ought to bring the car to the dealer for a high-voltage battery checkup.
– Rob Van Name
Below is a picture of Rob’s Taycan logbook, showing the drop off of miles per charge, and the 80% charging rate.
