On the 800 vs. 400 thing... I do not think there is
anything that Tesla's engineers did not consider when adopting 400V operation. They already had just got done with 2,500 Roadsters and were now developing a new platform that would have high-wattage DC chargers all over the world in addition to 19.2kW AC charging capability. Add to that the Performance invertor, battery heating/cooling, operating limits after charging and after starting up in super-cold weather, etc., etc., and you get the idea that Tesla have a comprehensive package. Tesla took into consideration all the parts they would need for this entire system, all the voltages and currents, what would be running where, what fuses would be needed where and so on. 400V is the number that is the best number for this complex system.
By comparison, Porsche has NOTHING right now. Well, of course I am ignoring the nine hundred and eighteen Porsche 918s that have been sold... not many of which are being used as daily drivers and none of which are being used to get around the country on electric power alpong. All Porsche has right now are the words "800 Volts" which is one of the specs of a concept car... not a production car. We know they have not put together a complete system. Who knows if the 2019 production car will continue with 800V. Why would there be chargers at dealerships? (who came up with this idea, Porsche or someone on TMC ?) That stinks. Most people hate dealers and wouldn't want to have to go to them to charge up. Porsche is a low-volume, upscale marque and hardly has any dealers, compared to, say, Ford. Only putting chargers at Porsche dealerships would limit the number of chargers! And dealerships are only in large population centers - not between cities. Good luck finding a dealership in between Dallas Forth Worth and Albuquerque.
800 volts versus 400 volts is a winning marketing strategy. Consumers won't engage the underlying physics, but they know that 800 is bigger than 400.
Don't worry about this. Tesla has 10 years of experience behind them and at least 4 more years before this Porsche comes out. The public has 4 more years of learning about BEVs, and what matters about BEVs, before Porsche can sell Car #1. Do you really think they're going to be convinced that 800V is better? By the time the Model X has been out 4 years, and the Model 3 cars have been out 2 years, a lot more people will know that wattages are important, and also, that the peak wattage of a charging session only occurs at the start, and only if you have an empty battery. All brands of cars charge up at the same wattage at the end of their charging session. And so on.
Even if 800V
were a winning strategy, which it isn't, how many Tesla sales do you think Porsche will take away with that thing? I can tell you, the Tesla owners who love taking their Model S to IKEA will not buy the Porsche Mission E. People who love taking 3 kids in the back won't buy it. People doing road trips with a lot of luggage won't buy it. Porsche like being a statement-of-wealth brand, and clearly signalled this with the Mission E, which is so deficient in so many areas of practicality. They don't mind if they are not ultimately practical because wealthy people have multiple vehicles for different tasks. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THIS CAR OR 800V.
And then ultimately, even if Porsche
do take a few sales away from Tesla, Porsche are still selling BEVs, and moving us towards an era where no cars spurt out carbon into the atmosphere.
p.s. this was TMC post #1000 for me