News
Porsche Taycan gets three years free charging, 320 kW “Turbo Chargers” coming to dealer network
As Porsche prepares for the launch of its first all-electric car — the highly-anticipated Taycan — the carmaker has begun setting the stage for the vehicle’s rollout in the United States. On Monday, Porsche Cars North America, Inc. (PCNA) announced an agreement with Electrify America to provide the Taycan with three years of unlimited fast charging at public stations across the country. With this system in place, as well as Electrify America’s ongoing expansion, the Taycan would be capable of long-distance, coast-to-coast travel.
In a press release about the update, Porsche noted that the charging perk would be included in the Taycan’s selling price. Under the system, Taycan buyers would receive three years of unlimited 30-minute fast charging at Electrify America locations, which is comprised of over 300 highway stations in 42 states, on top of more than 180 sites in 17 select metro areas. The established carmaker stated that each Electrify America location would have an average of five charging stalls, while some sites would have enough support for up to 10 vehicles at once.
Apart from its deal with Electrify America, Porsche has also announced that its dealers would be installing their own fast-charge Turbo Charger kiosks for the company’s upcoming all-electric vehicle. Porsche would also be releasing products for home charging solutions. In a statement, Klaus Zellmer, President and CEO of PCNA, pointed out that this trifecta of charging systems — Electrify America’s infrastructure, Turbo Chargers in dealers, and home chargers — would ultimately free future Taycan owners from range anxiety.
“Every Porsche is a sports car with soul, and the Taycan is soul electrified. Together, Electrify America and our Porsche dealer network will provide a national infrastructure for DC fast charging that frees future Taycan owners from range anxiety. And Porsche home charging technology will turn the customer’s garage into the equivalent of a personal gas station,” the CEO said.
One thing that separates the Taycan from the conventional electric car is its capability to charge at an extremely rapid rate. Using 350 kW chargers, 800-volt technology, and the combined charging system (CCS) standard, the Taycan would be able to add more than 60 miles of range in just four minutes. That’s the fastest charging capabilities in the market today, roughly three times faster than Tesla’s expansive Supercharger Network.
To take advantage of the Taycan’s ultra-fast-charging capabilities, Electrify America’s highway stations would have a minimum of two 350 kW chargers per site, with additional stalls delivering up to 150 kW. Metro stations, on the other hand, would be capable of charging at speeds of up to 150 kW as well. Electrify America is expected to have 484 locations with 2,000 charging stalls completed or under construction by July 1, ahead of the Taycan’s release in late 2019.
While free 3-year unlimited access to Electrify America’s chargers would undoubtedly be a notable selling point for the Taycan, Porsche’s dealers across the country would also be offering their own charging perk. The automaker has noted that all 191 of its US dealers would be installing DC fast-charging stations for the upcoming vehicle, 120 of which would feature Porsche Turbo Charging — the company’s proprietary DC/CCS charging system that delivers up to 320 kW. Porsche dealers without Turbo Chargers would feature 50 kW fast chargers on site.
The Porsche Experience Center (PEC) in Atlanta, GA already hosts the company’s first Turbo Chargers. More of Porsche’s own charging stations are expected to be installed at the PEC in Los Angeles, CA in the near future.
The Porsche Taycan is the first all-electric vehicle from the automaker. In true Porsche spirit, the Taycan boasts impressive specs, from a 0-60 mph time of 3.5 seconds, a top speed of 155 mph, and a range of 310 miles per charge. The company has also noted that just like its iconic vehicles like the legendary Porsche 911, the Taycan would be at home at the racetrack being driven to its limits. As noted by a Porsche brand ambassador in an email to an auto journalist last month, the Taycan would be offered in three models — an entry-level variant, the mid-range Taycan 4S, and the range-topping Taycan Turbo, which would likely cost over $130,000 before options.
Note from Editor:
Last Friday, Electrify America partially shut down its charging infrastructure due to safety concerns from HUBER+SUHNER, the supplier for the network’s charging cables. A spokesperson from Porsche Cars North America tells Teslarati some details on Electrify America’s partial network shutdown:
“Electrify America notified us immediately about the partial shutdown of their charging network due to a concern with one of their liquid-cooling cable suppliers. We are confident that Electrify America and their supplier will move quickly to complete an investigation and resolve this issue well in advance of our public launch of the Porsche Taycan late this year.”
Elon Musk
The Starship moon landing number NASA and Elon Musk can’t agree on
Musk disputes NASA estimate of 22 Starship launches for Moon landing, predicting 6 to 8.
Elon Musk is disputing a new NASA safety panel estimate of how many Starship launches it will take to put astronauts on the Moon, saying the real number will be less than half the panel’s figure.
On Thursday, NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel held its quarterly public meeting. Panel member Charlie Precourt, a former NASA astronaut, flagged the fueling process for SpaceX’s lunar lander as a major risk for Artemis IV, the mission planned to land a crew on the Moon in 2028. “We need to keep our eyes on numerous required fuelings for the lander,” Precourt said, according to Ars Technica. “I think the last estimate is around 22 flights.”
Ars Technica’s Eric Berger posted the comment on X, and Musk replied. “That’s way too high,” Musk wrote. “Actual number will be more like 6 to 8.”
The disagreement comes down to a basic problem with sending a ship as large as Starship to the Moon. Starship burns nearly all of its propellant just reaching Earth orbit, so it cannot continue on to the Moon without stopping for a refill. SpaceX’s answer is a gas station in space. First, a Starship that works as a storage tank, called a depot, is launched into orbit. Then a series of tanker Starships launch one at a time, dock with the depot and pump their leftover propellant into it. Once the depot is full, the lunar lander version of Starship launches, docks, fills up and heads for the Moon.
Every tanker trip is its own full rocket launch, which is why the count matters. More launches mean more time, more cost and more chances for something to go wrong before astronauts ever leave Earth. Berger estimated that even if SpaceX reaches twice weekly Starship launches by the end of 2027, filling a depot at the panel’s number would still take roughly three months.
How many tankers are needed depends mostly on how much propellant each one can carry to orbit and how much is lost along the way. Starship’s fuel and oxygen are stored at extremely cold temperatures, and some of it slowly boils off while waiting in orbit. More is lost in each transfer. NASA appears to be working from what Starship can lift today, while Musk’s range assumes a more capable rocket.
Musk has pushed back on higher counts before. In 2021, after a government document suggested 16 launches, he called that “extremely unlikely” and said eight tankers would be the most required.
Much of the answer depends on hardware SpaceX has not finished flying. As Teslarati noted earlier this year, the company plans to carry out the refueling process with its upgraded V3 Starship, and Precourt described Artemis IV as carrying “a large number of firsts.” He also praised NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman’s team for working to clear obstacles for both SpaceX and Blue Origin, whose Blue Moon lander does not rely on orbital refueling for its first mission.
Elon Musk
Tesla’s secretive “Project Crystal Sun” gets a big green light in Texas
Fort Bend County approved four incentive agreements Thursday for Tesla’s proposed $10.1 billion solar factory.
Fort Bend County commissioners on Thursday approved a package of tax incentives for Tesla’s proposed $10.1 billion solar cell factory near Needville, Texas, giving the company one of the last local approvals it needs before it decides where to build. All four Tesla agreements passed 4 to 0.
The votes covered a property tax abatement inside Reinvestment Zone No. 34, a Chapter 381 economic development agreement, a foreign trade zone non-objection paired with payments in lieu of certain taxes, and a separate payment in lieu of taxes “true up” agreement, according to agenda notes from the Fort Bend Commissioners Court meeting.
The project, known internally as “Project Crystal Sun,” would make solar cells and finished modules on roughly 3,000 acres near FM 762 and FM 1994, south of the Brazos River. As Teslarati reported when the filing first surfaced in August, Tesla’s application under the state’s JETI Act splits the investment into $1.5 billion in real property and $8.6 billion in equipment, with 9,712 permanent jobs projected by 2033 and commercial operations targeted for the first quarter of 2029. The plant would handle the full chain from ingot and wafer production through cell testing.
Inside Tesla’s secretive $10 Billion “Project Crystal Sun” filing
Thursday’s approval does not lock in the site. Tesla has told the Texas Comptroller it is still weighing other locations, and site selection adviser David Dennison told Lamar Consolidated ISD trustees in September that the race had narrowed to Fort Bend and one out of state rival with a “very compelling package,” according to the Houston Chronicle. Tesla hopes to decide before the end of 2026, and the incentives still need sign off from the Comptroller and the Governor’s office.
Local officials have now done nearly everything within their control. Commissioners created the reinvestment zone in an August 24 special meeting, with Interim County Judge Daniel Wong formally withdrawing himself over his engineering firm’s past work with Tesla. Lamar CISD trustees voted 7 to 0 on September 15 to advance a JETI agreement that would tax Tesla’s qualifying property at 50 percent of its value for maintenance and operations from 2029 through 2038.
The plant lines up with a target Elon Musk set on Tesla’s Q4 2025 earnings call in January, when he said the company would “work toward getting 100 GW a year of solar cell production, integrating across the entire supply chain from raw materials all the way to finished solar panels.” In March, Tesla was reported to be negotiating a $2.9 billion purchase of Chinese solar manufacturing equipment bound for Texas. The Houston area already hosts Tesla’s Megafactory in Brookshire, where Megapack 3 production has started. Tesla said on its Q3 call that Megapack supply for 2027 is nearly sold out, and Musk wrote on X Thursday that the company is “increasing production of Megapacks as much as possible,” as demand from data centers climbs.
Tesla revealed plans to develop its own maps internally to fix Navigation issues and give owners more control over their routing.
On the company’s Q3 2026 Earnings Call, a question was asked about FSD Navigation issues, particularly speed limit recognition, parking, and routing. These are issues that surface from version to version and seem to be seriously challenging for Tesla’s AI team to resolve.
Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, said in response to the question:
“You’re totally right that we shouldn’t be depending on external people’s maps. So we are building our own maps, but not like the same way as OneMoreMap. We are building an entirely new architecture with essentially AI-based mapping and navigation.”
He continued:
“It’s going to be super awesome. It’s going to be integrated with voice. You can talk to it, ask for different routes. It’s going to learn your personalized preferences, plus the fleet preferences. The collective intelligence of all the cars is going to flow into making the maps and navigation super cool.”
Elluswamy said this issue should be confronted, and the mapping should be available for people by the time the v15 release starts deploying to customers.
“And over the next several months,” he added, “it’s just going to take over all of the navigation functions, parking, destination handling. And it will know you better than you know yourself in some regard for the driving task, and then handle it fully.”
Tesla Summon got insanely good in FSD v14.3.2 — Navigation? Not so much
Navigation is perhaps the most notable complaint with FSD, and although it has gotten better, it is still flawed. Much of the time, FSD will take people on routes that are not preferred by the driver, but Tesla tried to combat this with a routing feature in the Summer 2026 Update.
Tesla currently relies on Google for map data, but it is sort of counterintuitive to believe the company would rely on a third party for this. These improvements will be welcome, as routing and navigation have been such a pain point for so many owners for so long.
Quotes via Motley Fool
The Starship moon landing number NASA and Elon Musk can’t agree on
Tesla’s secretive “Project Crystal Sun” gets a big green light in Texas
