Porsche to recall over 27,000 EVs in US over battery short circuit risk

Porsche is recalling thousands of its Taycan electric vehicles over a possible short circuit risk that could cause a fire. The recall affects 27,527 Taycans built between October 21st, 2019, and February 1st, 2024, according to the NHTSA safety recall report.

The problem has been narrowed down to a cell block module in the LG Chem-produced batteries used in the Taycan. However, Porsche doesn't actually know which cars have the problem and says it can't get the analytics to check:

This recall (ARB6/ARB7) applies to a vehicle population for which Porsche currently has no positive knowledge that data anomalies exist in the high-voltage battery modules... Even if Porsche currently has no positive knowledge that data anomalies exist, Porsche cannot exclude that these high-voltage battery modules might show data anomalies in the future.

To determine whether the issue is present, Porsche is advising owners to go to a dealership to install diagnostic software so they can monitor the battery. The update will be a "final remedy" for this recall, but it won't happen until the first quarter of 2025. Porsche is also telling customers to only charge up to 80 percent capacity until the battery is replaced (if needed).

Meanwhile, Audi is recalling 6,499 E-tron GT and RS vehicles for the same reason, as those EVs share the same platform as the Taycan. One of the more prominent LG Chem-based EV recalls for potential fires was with the Chevy Bolt, which GM remedied by nerfing the batteries.