While the electric Porsche Taycan was initially supposed to be able to receive major software updates, Tesla-style, the German automaker finally seems to be backpedaling. To do this, customers will be forced to go to an approved center.
The electric Porsche Taycan
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Porsche has entered the 100% electric deep dive in September 2019, after presenting with great pomp his famous Taycan, available in two versions for the occasion – a mid-range version was then introduced a month later. At the time, and as noted by the specialized site Coach, the firm from across the Rhine mentioned the presence of remote software updates, like Tesla.
In doing so, the engineers would have been able to improve the electric car without any physical intervention: this is called an OTA update, for « Over-the-Air ». Boosting range and boosting charging power have thus been cited by the aforementioned British media as technical characteristics capable of being refined.
Small fixes, that’s it
But it seems that the Volkswagen subsidiary has revised its ambitions downwards, as Teslarati reports. A certain Nicolas Boehmer has indeed posted on LinkedIn a letter signed Porsche, in which the manufacturer visibly tempers his desires, failing to be able to satisfy them. The OTA improvements would in fact no longer concern important software updates, but only small fixes.
Porsche Taycan electric
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To take advantage of the major changes made to the car, customers will be required to come to a center Porsche, where engineers will implement the update manually. To justify itself, the German company points to the weight of the update, which only the physical establishments of the group can support thanks to their high-speed Internet line.
Too complex an architecture?
An argument swept aside by Mario Hedger in the columns of The Last Driver License Holder (always relayed by Teslarati), for whom the electronic architecture of the Taycan, much more complex than that of the Tesla, remains the real problem. On a regular basis, Elon Musk’s company cars receive substantial updates, without causing any overall difficulties.
This inability of Porsche to deliver a user experience as complete as some competitors shows that high-end automakers still have a long way to go in the electric field. And more particularly with regard to the software and electronic part, where Tesla still seems to have a good head start.
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