HeavyHwyAg99

Last Monday my wife went to start her 2019 cayenne with 56k miles and all the lights went haywire on the dash. Every warning light you could think of came on. Car would not turn over or make any sort of sound associated with a dead battery. I put a charger on it and it became evident that charging the battery wasn’t going to help any.

I live about 2 hours from the nearest Porsche dealership (Porsche West Houston) so I towed it to a local mechanic that works on German vehicles. He verified, with the help of Porsche West Houston, that a lithium ion battery is defective and needs to be replaced. According to Porsche this battery is designed to last 5 years. This one has lasted less than 30 months. The cost of the battery alone (no labor) is $1800+. Also the battery is in Germany and it could be weeks before they get it.

Relevant information is that there have been several things replaced in this car under warranty. This includes the infrared sensor, the gps, the instrument cluster, and various other electronic components.

I spoke to the dealer last week and their stance was that the car is out of warranty and this is our responsibility. They did mention that I should call Porsche North America and complain and if they would agree that the battery should be replaced that they would replace it.

Fast forward to today, and my wife has been out of a car for 8 days. It currently sits on our local mechanics lot. Porsche North America says they are still investigating it but as of now they will not help us. The dealership, Porsche of West Houston, has stated they have no programs to help us save money on the battery but they would try to help anyway they could. I asked them today, “how much can you help? I’m willing to split the cost of this battery”. And so far that haven’t budged one inch or even come up with ANY help whatsoever.

So, I’m asking if anyone else has this problem. What do I do? I’m lost. I’m about ready to pay $2200 to replace this battery and then I’m selling this car so I can go buy a reliable Ford/Toyota/GMC that I can take to a dealer and get reasonable service from. I thought buying a Porsche meant you get a quality car and exceptional service. Clearly this isn’t the case. And to think that I owned 3 Porsches less than a year ago.

sorry for venting but I’m severely disappointed in Porsche.

Thanks,
Kyle

macanakey

Sorry to see that you're having issues. Just checking - is there no non-OEM battery that would work (& be less expensive)? No interchangeable Audi battery either? I had a 2016 Macan that needed a new transfer case before my first year was up. We waited for about 7 weeks to get a replacement transfer case, but since the car was under warranty, the dealership gave me a loaner to use while my Macan was offline.

Schnave

Sorry for your troubles, Kyle. Since you are no longer under warranty, like macanakey suggested, you might consider an aftermarket battery for half the cost of a Porsche branded battery. Plus, your dealer is more likely to negotiate labor costs rather than parts. You may even negotiate free installation. Also, ask if you can get some cash back for the factory battery’s core charge, if there is such a thing.

Antigravity sells a direct replacement, 60Ah lithium battery for $950:

https://antigravitybatteries.com/pro...tive/ag-h7-rs/

Best of luck to you.

PorscheACC

Have yiu look at this Cayenne thread?

https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-...charge+problem

Antigravity

Hi Kyle, thanks for reaching out to Antigravity via email. I'm writing here on the forum so that anything we find or state can potentially assist yourself and other in the future. I think this exact issue will be popping up more and more with many new Porsche models having this Lithium Battery in them. so we may as well start getting some information on Rennlist forum and hopefully find some solutions for you guys who come across this.

You are correct a Lithium Battery should last much longer than a Lead/Acid Battery, that is what the company A123 Batteries (who makes this battery for Porsche) states in all their product sheets and why people should use lithium, so this is bad news if you got only 30 months. The reason a lithium Battery should last much longer is because it offers more actual "cycles" than a Lead/Acid Battery meaning is can be discharged and recharged many more times giving it a longer life. Additionally a good Lithium Battery has a Battery Management System inside the battery itself ( a circuit board) that should prevent damage to battery itself and protect the user from over-discharging, overcharging and other issues that can damage a Lead/Acid battery. So these are big selling points of Lithium and the dealer saying it Cost $1800 dollar for the Battery is going to hurt a lot of people who don't want to deal with a battery that is that expensive and last such a short time, it should in fact be better in most everyway than a lead acid or why even use a lithium battery.

I have a theory though, my theory is that you do not need the Porsche Lithium Battery and that your Cayenne should be able to operate fine with a standard AGM Lead/Acid Battery. My thoughts are that Porsche must have made a "work around" for just this scenario. For example just as you are experiencing now, a massive delay just to get one part for your Cayenne and arguably one of the most important parts for your car, the darn Battery! So Porsche MUST have made a setting in the Cayennes (and other Porsches with Lithium) system to be able to run on a Lead/Acid Battery if the Lithium Battery is not available. Just think if you are on vacation and stuck out in the middle of small town USA, they must have a work around that would allow you to put a regular Lead/Acid Battery in the Car and get back home, or even drive it regularly like this. I would be willing to bet that perhaps just adjusting the PIWIS settings for a Lead/Acid Battery in the Cayenne's could work. The issue is I'm not positive this will work because when we called to talk to our Porsche Dealer they say they don't know and to bring our Car in. Anyway its is really important that you contact Porsche and ask them if you can use a standard Lead/Acid Battery in your Cayenne, because the fact is all the modern 911s and other manufacturers have setting in the Cars system that allow you to select the battery type you are using in the car. The only odd issue I see in the Cayennes, and newer 911s that use the PorscheLithium Batteries is that there is a PLUG that plugs directly into the battery itself. So when you put a Lead Acid Battery into the Car you will not be able to plug that plug in, but by changing the setting in the car it may not matter. The unfortunate thing is that the Dealer might try to not be up-front with you and claim you MUST use their Lithium Battery just to get the sale. Just depends on the dealers, some are just not helpful and other really try to assist.

As far as our Antigravity Lithium Battery working in your Cayenne.... as I mentioned the newer Porsche lithium Battery has a Plug in the side of it to plug directly into the Lithium Battery itself. Our Battery does not have this same plug, and that plug is a plug to get information from their proprietary lithium battery. But if you have a setting you can change in PIWIS to accept a Lead/Acid battery in your Cayenne, the our battery would work with that setting absolutely. Sorry we can help at this point, we just don't have enough information yet on this Porsche systems that come with a Lithium Battery.

So in the end it would be best to see if you could get a simple Lead/Acid Battery in there as a replacement, so that would require you asking your dealer about this and changing the PIWIS setting, then talking to Porsche North America if the Dealer won't help. This will allow you to learn if you can indeed use Lead/Acid Batteries or other brands of Lithium Batteries if you choose. We would love to test with you and offer you a massive discount or a free battery for testing, but Porsche will always blame the aftermarket product for any problems so I suggest you first learn what Porsche says and if you can use a lead/acid battery first, then we know our will work also.

Schnave

Thanks for the informative post, Scott. Antigravity’s previous posts in the Battery sticky thread were also very valuable. Who knew you need a special battery charger or that it would completely disconnect when discharged?

This is the first I’ve heard that the factory battery has a data port and that your batteries are not compatible. You may wish to include the relevant information from your post on your website. It currently states that the Antigravity battery recommended for 2019-2020 Cayenne’s will “directly replace stock battery”.

Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate you sharing this new information. We’re all learning about this new technology; with the help of contributors to this forum, we should soon be able to figure it out. 👍🏼

kayjh

This is an interesting topic. I'm one of those nerds who spent some time looking at the Owner's manual, or more particularly the warranty booklet for MY2021. There are several references to battery discharge and stating that running the battery dead resulting in battery failure is not covered by the manufacturer's warranty. I think it also states that you should drive a minimum of 9,600km a year (24 km/day) to keep the battery charged, lock the doors when the car is not in use and if you are going to be away, connect a charger to the battery to keep it charged. It is hard to imagine the OP wasn't driving the car enough from 2019 - 2021 with 56,000 miles (90,000kms) and the vehicle only 3 years old so I can't understand why the battery failed.

I had a battery charger for my 2017 - 911 and asked the dealer about using it. They told me it wasn't compatible with the Li Ion battery in the Cayenne so I bought a new charger as I was quoted some ridiculous cost of $3000+ (CAD) if the battery should fail due to being overly discharged.

So, based on what I'm reading on the forums, I'm plugging the Porsche Li Ion (CTEK) charger into the 12V port in the passenger footwell and leaving it connected over night once a week. It is always indicates it needs a charge when I connect it and it moves to the "maintenance" status by the next morning. One note - for those who have purchased the Porsche charger, the instructions say to turn the key to the "ON" position, plug the charger into the port, plug the charger into the wall and then turn the key off and lock the doors. This is all to make sure the 12V port doesn't go to sleep with the rest of teh 12V accessory ports. But, I found that if you lock the doors, after about 10 - 15 minutes the charger shuts off. If you leave the doors unlocked it will continue to charge.

Personally, I think the BMW system is simpler. They install a charger somewhere under the hood and a female receptacle is placed in the front fascia with a flap on it and you are supplied with an extension cord. You can lock the doors, leave then unlocked, don't need to turn the key on and off, etc. And you don't have to run a wire into the car and close the door on it. Anyway, it is what it is.

Pointbye

Sounds like your out of warranty.

you should sell and buy domestic. They have shorter warranties. Good idea.

BIG8

Kayjh, can you clarify….do you mean the Porsche branded charger versus the CTEK brand charger or are you referring to the Porsche battery chargers in general? Because it seems the same technique would apply to both chargers in order to “wake up” the car’s 12V ports, and then leaving the doors unlocked to prevent the ports from shutting off after 10-15 minutes.

I’m curious because I’ve considered purchasing one for when I’m away from the car for extended periods. Thanks for any feedback.

kayjh

I was referring to the Porsche branded charger that is made by CTEK.

CTEK provided the following information to me for for Cayenne:

"Please be advised that the 12 volt port in most modern vehicles is disconnected when the key is shut or times out after the key is turned off

This means that the charger will not be able to charge through the 12 volt port.

I believe some Porsches have a separate 12 volt port for charging. In this case the charger would continue to charge normally"

I confirmed with the dealer that the 12V port in the footwell stays live for a period of time after the car is turned off, but you need to connect the charger before the port goes to sleep. And, as I wrote above, I followed the instructions and locked the doors after the charger was running but came back some time later to find it not charging. The next time I used it I left the doors unlocked and it worked as advertised. Leaving the car unlocked isn't a problem for me as I garage my cars. I plug it in once a week overnight.

Antigravity

Thanks for pointing out that Schnave, we didn't realize that our Battery Finder has listed the 2019 Cayenne's as a direct replacement.... Our Data input person for the Website goes by Group Sizes found in the Battery Council International (BCI) Catalog so he just put in the raw data since we make the H5 , H6, H7 , H8 sizes. So I will relay that you found this problem on our Website so we can correct it. Thanks for Catching that!

Schnave

No worries, Scott. If you guys can figure out that data port and market a direct replacement, I’ll be among your first customers. I’d much rather buy a battery from Antigravity rather than Porsche since you guys have been so helpful on this forum.

KOTB

My 2019 Cayenne turbo suffered low battery illness that could only be cured with a new battery - only after 16K miles the new battery had to be purchased and installed on my dime even when the car was within original manufacturers warranty

its sad but it is what it is....I wish the battery was cheaper ... well at least it was not $6000 like my GT3RS lightweight battery!

kayjh

That is disappointing. Did you use a battery maintainer periodically? Short trips or long trips? How many months did it last?

chassis

@HeavyHwyAg99 Kyle, sorry to hear about the battery situation. Which model Cayenne do you have? Base, S or something else? e-hybrid?

Is the Li-ion battery the "normal" 12V starting battery for gasoline engines?