The Porsche Taycan already ranks as one of the best-performing EVs you can buy. With an upgrade, it can also be one of the fastest-charging EVs at home.
Porsche earlier this week announced that U.S. Taycan models going back to the 2020 model year will be eligible for an extra-cost upgrade that isn’t usually offered retroactively for EVs: a new onboard charger with double the power—19.2 kw—versus what most U.S. Taycans originally received.
2023 Porsche Taycan
With the Taycan’s 93.4-kwh Performance Battery Plus that means a full charge from 0-100% in just 5.3 hours; and with the smaller 79.2-kw Performance Battery, a full charge takes just 4.8 hours.
But it’s not for everyone. In order to take advantage of the full capability enabled by the onboard charger, you’ll need to dedicate a 100-amp circuit to the mission, plus you’ll need high-power home hardware capable of delivering that power level—Porsche’s 19.2-kw Wall Charger Connect, for instance.
Porsche Wall Charger Connect
That’s an upgrade that those with ubiquitous American 200-amp residential service might not be able to make the space for—and it’s certainly not for those with old houses with lower-amp service, or those with condos or apartments.
As Porsche points out, those ordering a new Taycan can already add the more powerful onboard charger to their build by adding the KB4 option—a $1,680 premium. It’s been offered as a factory option on the Taycan since early 2022, for model-year 2022 vehicles.
The upgrade has one other extra benefit for those with 2020 Taycan models, according to Porsche: with its replacement of associated wiring, it also enables Plug and Charge, a feature that allows owners to pay for public charging by simply plugging the vehicle in. Taycans from 2021 and later are already compatible with this.
Increasingly, there may be urban 240-volt chargers capable of delivering the higher power to take advantage of outside the home. GM, for instance, is having its dealerships install 19.2-kw Level 2 chargers in their communities.
Porsche Taycan onboard charger retrofit
The onboard charger costs quite a bit more to add to existing vehicles. The kit costs $1,850, but that’s the smaller piece of the expense. This pretty significant surgery on the car takes an expected 12 labor hours. Figure on about $250 per hour of labor, plus other incidentals, and that means a total of around $5,000.
That doesn’t take into account the current $1,269 price of the Porsche Wall Charger Connect home unit, or its installation, which Porsche says must be done by a professional electrician. The total cost to have this combo for the fastest-charging Taycan could end up around $7,000 or more—but then you’ll also have a home unit that can charge other models with this rating, like the Cadillac Lyriq, GMC Hummer EV, or Lucid Air, at the fastest rate possible.
Is that worth it? As we know from various polls and studies, most EV owners charge at home 80% of the time or more. For busy executive types, the convenience of leaving in the morning with a full charge, no matter how late you’re out at night, may well bring a lot more peace of mind.
