How Does Porsche Service Electric Cars?

It is estimated that within the next few years, almost 50 percent of all Porsche cars will either be plug-in hybrids or fully electric vehicles. By the end of this decade, Porsche expects to have nearly 90 percent of all its vehicles totally electric. How does Porsche service electric cars? Servicing an electric car can have its own challenges.

HANDLING AND SERVICING

The handling and servicing of an 800-volt system requires specific training for the technicians and the need to adopt a culture of safety.  To overcome any potential safety issues, Porsche has developed a universal multistage service concept called the “Road to X initiative,” which will cover all important things, such as manufacturing, sourcing, servicing, logistics, and recycling of EV batteries.

BATTERIES

Because no lithium battery lasts forever, Porsche is looking to develop its own batteries and determine whether it will be practical in the long run. The battery packs have to be compact, simple, and easily repaired at any Porsche center later in its lifecycle.

SERVICE CONCEPT

How does Porsche service electric cars? Porsche wants to foster the development of a novel concept to service all-electric Porsche vehicles because they require a different type of service compared to cars with a combustion engine. The service concept is based on several stages and chiefly geared toward the handling of high voltage battery repairs. The same standards will be established at other Porsche hubs to ensure that the same quality of repair and replacement of the battery are maintained.

SKILL SETS NEEDED FOR SERVICE PERSONNEL

Porsche has identified three skillsets for its service personnel: mainstream electricians who will do the general servicing, technicians skilled in high voltage current, and experts in high voltage products. The special knowledge and skills required to work with high-voltage systems will be taught in training classes developed especially for this process. 

For example, the EV Porsche Taycan has between 28 and 32 individual battery cells installed, depending on the model. The battery housing has been designed so that any battery issues can be easily diagnosed and repaired, if possible. This format allows the service technician to replace the individual battery components. Porsche believes that repair may be a preferable option for customers as it is cheaper than having to replace the entire battery pack. The key is to identify the most damaged cell as it affects the performance of other cells.

RECYCLING – KEEPING INNOVATION GREEN

What if the battery needs to be replaced? Porsche has also established a recycling strategy. The discarded battery will be dismantled down to the individual modules and installed in other stationary energy-requiring storage devices.

Porsche is working with its parent company, Volkswagen, to make improvements in the innovative recycling process so that most components of the battery can be reused. Porsche is also planning to create an app that will permit customers to check and monitor the health of their batteries using their smartphones.

TRAINING CENTERS

Servicing an electric car requires specialized knowledge. Porsche currently only trains its high-voltage experts at the on-site training center. Going forward into the future, however, the automaker plans to establish eight new training locations worldwide. Further, to enhance and improve the service of all Porsche vehicles, the company also revealed another plan called the “digital chassis twin,” which will be utilized to assess the status of the car’s components and predict the driving function.

How does Porsche service electric cars? The whole idea behind this new concept is to ensure that customers get their cars serviced promptly and without any hassles. To learn more about the innovations behind Porsche cars and servicing an electric car, call Braman Porsche, at 1-561-926-9141.  Visit them online or stop by to see their showroom.