Buried in a press release titled, “Even more colours and even greater convenience for the Cayenne Electric” was news that...

99 points•cisc•11 days ago•107 comments•

107 comments

cromka11 days ago
“and claims a charging rate of up to 11 kW and with an efficiency of about 90% for easy overnight charging.”

That’s a some 9kW lost on a 80kW battery. I get the convenience, but I think the best use for those would be when standardized and installed in public parking spots, for a brief charge bump, not to charge fully at home, e.g overnight, which is what Porsche aims for.

cisc11 days ago
> That’s a some 9kW lost on a 80kW battery

It's about the same as wired AC charging. There are always charging losses:

https://insideevs.com/features/711659/ev-charger-efficiency-...

onetwentythree11 days ago
The 90% efficiency of the wireless transmission would be on top of the efficiency of typical charging (which is mostly losses after the power reaches the vehicle).
Rygian10 days ago
Charging rate of 11 kW, with efficiency of about 90%, means that the charger sucks around 12.2 kW of power from the grid, of which 1.2 kW is continually lost*, and only 11 kW is effectively being stored in the battery at any point in time.

I don't understand the mention about battery capacity (80 kWh, which would translate to around 7½ hours of charging at 11 kW, if a battery could charge at a uniform rate) or where the "9 kW lost" figure comes from.

*Which is probably useful to melt snow above the device, when installed outdoors on cold climates.

onlyrealcuzzo8 days ago
The average person is spending about $1.50 to $2.00 in electricity per day to drive a car.

This would cost $0.15 to $0.20 per average trip to NOT plug in.

Average person spending $100k on a car would likely pay that without a second thought.

idiotsecant8 days ago
unit confusion
beAbU11 days ago
> That’s a some 9kW lost on a 80kW battery.

*kWh

Using the right units is important.

cheschire11 days ago
"This may sound like one of those overly pedantic fixations... but it's not. Power and energy are very different concepts." -Technology Connections

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOK5xkFijPc

pyaamb8 days ago
I keep wondering why a robot-vacuum-charging-dock style solution hasn't materialized. We've seen to robotic arm demos but those aren't around because they are overkill for the task. But something that the car autonomously and accurately docks into and attaches from either the front fascia or underneath. Same charging standard but with a more forgiving connector design that guides and locks in.
sodastar8 days ago
Probably because it requires working connectors and humans driving into the exact centimeter correct parking position each and every day, no matter if in a hurry or at night or in snow with impaired vision.
hinkley7 days ago
There were rumors flying that WiTricity had a deal to provide wireless charging for Kia and Hyundai’s joint EV power train project.

They were claiming that they’d gotten the losses down to 2x the wall to battery losses of wired chargers, by removing the transformer in the charger and handling the voltage conversion in the coils.

Also you’re prematurely optimizing. By comparing wireless charging to wired instead wireless to internal combustion. If we did things your way it would reduce the rate of electrification of the market. So calm down.

The way my house is set up I can only get power from the passenger side of my car and almost twenty feet away. There’s no EV I’m interested in that can b charged from that side. They tend to put them on the driver’s side to keep you from driving off while still plugged in. Wireless has no plugin. Which would also simplify public charging stations.

pornel11 days ago
Charging at home is already more convenient and quicker (in human time) than driving to a gas station, and now they're optimizing the 30 seconds it takes to plug the car in.
MBCook10 days ago
Home charging us a reasonably thick cable. It’s not bad by any stretch but it’s more than an appliance cord.

Plus you just got home. You probably want to go inside and may be carrying packages or such, which you might have to juggle or put down to get the cable and plug in.

When it’s time to leave you have to unplug and then store the cable, leave it on the floor (trip hazard for others), or have installed an overhead cable system.

With wireless it’s all gone. Pull into you’re garage? You’re done. You were doing that anyway, so it’s no different. Ready to leave? Just back out. Again, same thing. Nothing extra.

Yeah it’s convenience. But it’s not a small win, it’s big. And it’s every time you use your car. Twice.

Your car can always charge. It can always precondition. You used to have to go to gas stations, now you don’t even have to plug in. It’s fully automatic and taken care of for you.

“You don’t need a remote. You can just get up to change the volume”. How well did that argument go over? Every TV has remotes. Buttons are hidden and effectively dead.

ok_dad8 days ago
Let’s waste precious energy to save 30 seconds twice a day. A remote control is apples to oranges here.
MisterKent7 days ago
The convenience factor is nice because most people (like me) don't bother to actually charge the EV every night.

Just laziness / not necessary for my commute. However, my understanding is that keeping the battery around 80% is better for lifespan. So, the convenience will actually result in longer lasting batteries?

Ancalagon8 days ago
thanks Claude

AI;DR

solarkraft11 days ago
We’re talking about a particularly inconvenient 30 seconds coming out of an expensive machine built entirely for convenience. Some people will want it and pay for it. If I was in the market, I probably would.
jeroenhd8 days ago
It does seem a little silly, especially given the inherent losses.

Yet, the five seconds you save by not plugging in a USB cable have led to charging coils being added to nearly every phone to the market these days.

It's a flashy convenience feature, but this is Porsche we're talking about. People interested in buying these cars are all about flashy features without any practical use, because if they wanted a practical car, they wouldn't be buying a Porsche.

jacobgorm7 days ago
I prefer to wirelessly charge my phone because the charging port is the part that typically wears out before the rest of the phone. My first EV's charging cable also wore about after around seven years of use, so I had to replace the entire charger. Charging port doors on some EVs also also known to develop faults in the locking motor, and the ports and/or its cover tends to fall of, which is is costly to repair as you need to repaint the new part. And then come the issues with having to choose EV models to suit the layout of your garage, as well as issues with the cable getting in the way when trying to pass the charging car with your bike, etc.

I cannot afford the Cayenne, but once this gets to cheaper models this will be an option I would be willing to pay for.

GuestFAUniverse11 days ago
I agree in so far that plug-in charging shouldn't be an issue for most people.

Yet I can see the advantages for someone with a disability.

And what a lot don't seem to understand: at 11kW we aren't talking about high charging efficiency anyway. Meaning, you cannot assume close to 100% for cable based charging and talk about how much 90% loose on a full battery (like others here do).

kova1211 days ago
It's not just that; there's a new capability unlocked. You can now have self driving cars charge at remote places and come back without human interaction. Imagine you live in a place with no grid power
dpark11 days ago
I have a robot vacuum that manages to do automated direct contact charging just fine. I don’t understand why wireless would be any easier. It seems more complex and less safe than a direct wired connection.

I also have a lot of trouble believing in the scenario of a neighborhood that has an automated charging station for EVs but no grid. That seems like very misplaced priorities.

toasty2288 days ago
> Imagine you live in a place with no grid power

This thread is full of people trying to invent problem to a solution.

beAbU11 days ago
How does wireless charging unlock this usecase? Robot arms exist?
xiphias28 days ago
This sounds like a great improvement actually, but Porsche should maybe first work on their own Porsche chargers at the Porsche dealerships to be working, make sure that their card / mobile app work with all chargers from all charger companies (I don't care if some contracts they have are more expensive, but I want to charge when I'm there), plugging in Porsche car should start charging automatically with any EV charger (Ionity always works better than Porsche chargers, so I go there).

Also adding in sentry mode and dashcam support to all Porsches would be some basic security need when it already contains great cameras.

Charging at home is already supere easy, that's never the part when I advise other people against owning an EV when they are asking me about it.

ChiperSoft10 days ago
I want to know what mechanisms the car provides to ensure you're lined up to the mat correctly. Seems like a small target to hit.
rwz8 days ago
As you approach, the dashboard starts showing the mat position on the ground relative to your car and helps you align perfectly. There's a longer youtube video explaining a lot of the tech in there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeMQfA45LN8
IshKebab10 days ago
Plenty of modern cars have all-round cameras that track what you've driven over. Probably pretty easy if it has that.
m4637 days ago
I think the big market for this is self-parking.

Telsa's are capable of both self-park and summon, but neither of these can charge the car without manual intervention.

This is why you can't just let the car go in or come out of your garage at home, no charging.

I could see it for restaurants or malls.

(they have a solution for this for the cybercab, but it has a port in a different place and is not wireless)

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