Volkswagen E-Golf

[spottyq]

Ouch… That's quite sad ! Because otherwise, the e-golf seems to be a very nice, relatively low priced ev.

FWIW, the BMW app (for the i3 and i8) seems correct from what I read on facebook's i3 owner group. Apparently it is rather slow and disconnect often, but it gets the job done.
(Oh and they seems to be quite some fragmentation at BMW : they are at least half a dozen official BMW developper account and apps on the Apple Store. )

 

[miimura]

FWIW, I expect most of my issues to be resolved shortly. Others have reported that once the car is communicating correctly most of the issues are resolved. One guy even said that he disconnected the 12V and it cleared most of his problems. We will see after my service appointment on Monday. VW needs to see these problems and train their people on how to deal with them. So far, the people I've talked to on the phone are not well versed on the car and did not offer to escalate to someone who was.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

I don't use the scheduled charging option at all nor the preconditioning that often but, other than that, Car-Net has been okay. Have to use tricks like checking on the doors & lights to get a connection established before going over to the e-manager section to check on SoC and such.

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As I posted sometime ago, I live close to the VW/Audi of North America research labs in Belmont, CA and when using their SAE-Combo station once, chatted up a VW employee who's apparently working on a new version of the Car-Net app. He said that it was due to be released later this summer and would be significantly better, particularly in the context of scheduled charging.

 

[spottyq]

I don't use the scheduled charging option at all nor the preconditioning that often but, other than that, Car-Net has been okay. Have to use tricks like checking on the doors & lights to get a connection established before going over to the e-manager section to check on SoC and such.

View attachment 80634

View attachment 80635

As I posted sometime ago, I live close to the VW/Audi of North America research labs in Belmont, CA and when using their SAE-Combo station once, chatted up a VW employee who's apparently working on a new version of the Car-Net app. He said that it was due to be released later this summer and would be significantly better, particularly in the context of scheduled charging.

That's a great thing to hear ! I believe the ability to (easily and reliably) pre-condition the car and battery is an important factor for an EV. A companion app is of course a nice bonus, but less important IMHO.

(Ps: I can't see your attachments; I get an "Invalid Attachment specified".)

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Hmm... some issue with posting the pics from Tapatalk, I guess. Trying again via the TMC website:

 

[spottyq]

Hmm... some issue with posting the pics from Tapatalk, I guess. Trying again via the TMC website:

(snip)

It works now, thanks !

 

[VolkerP]

gg, you're charging with blue electricity! WTH?? :tongue:

 

[miimura]

gg, you're charging with blue electricity! WTH?? :tongue:

It's German. Blue is the new Green.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

gg, you're charging with blue electricity! WTH?? :tongue:

It's our special, drought-resistant blend

 

[miimura]

Yes, it has preconditioning, but I've never actually tried it. The VW Car-Net app in the Apple App Store has 1.5 stars. It is THAT bad. I can't even get all functions to work properly. I'm taking mine in for service because Car-Net support says the dealer techs need to call them to get something in the car fixed.

To me, the biggest problem with the e-Golf today is that you cannot set the delayed charging schedule in the car. You have to use the web site or app, both of which are completely broken for me. So, no delayed charging. I have been charging on 120V starting at 10pm then moving over to my 40A EVSE if it's not done at 6am. My RAV4 EV is done charging by that time.

So, my car just spent 3 days at the dealer. They applied TSB 2040470 which is basically a firmware update to the car. That miraculously fixed the problem of setting the departure time in the app and on the web site. I thought it was a poor server side implementation, but evidently it was failing when trying to contact the car upon saving the schedule. They also managed to fix all the other problems I was having in the app after consulting at length with Car-Net (a service provided by Verizon Wireless in USA) and VW Technical Services. As far as I can tell, the car and app are now working completely as expected. At the present SOC, the car says it will take 6:40 to charge from the 120V charge cord. The departure time is set for 7:00am. I just have to verify in the morning that it actually charged when it was supposed to.

 

[spottyq]

So, my car just spent 3 days at the dealer. They applied TSB 2040470 which is basically a firmware update to the car. That miraculously fixed the problem of setting the departure time in the app and on the web site. I thought it was a poor server side implementation, but evidently it was failing when trying to contact the car upon saving the schedule. They also managed to fix all the other problems I was having in the app after consulting at length with Car-Net (a service provided by Verizon Wireless in USA) and VW Technical Services. As far as I can tell, the car and app are now working completely as expected. At the present SOC, the car says it will take 6:40 to charge from the 120V charge cord. The departure time is set for 7:00am. I just have to verify in the morning that it actually charged when it was supposed to.
(Snip)

Thanks for the heads up !
Glad to hear it is working correctly now.

 

[miimura]

Update on our e-Golf's scheduled charging. The timer is controlled by Departure Time. The case listed above, where the car reported that it would take 6:40 to charge from the provided 120V charging cord, the car started charging about 40 minutes late and would have gone about an hour over the Departure Time setting. So, it also charged slower than expected in addition to starting late. Using my Leviton 240V 40A EVSE, the car completed about 7 minutes before the Departure Time setting. The US version of this car can take 30 amps while the EU version can only take 16 amps. CCS fast charging is standard.

 

[jgs]

Update on our e-Golf's scheduled charging. The timer is controlled by Departure Time.

Is "Departure Time" really just a deadline for when charging should be completed? It seems as though for anyone with discounted off-peak charging, they don't want charging to be based on their real departure time (if they even know when their next departure will be, I usually don't) they just want charging to complete while the rates are still low. Actually, to begin and complete then, but presumably if you set the target to complete at or near the end of the off-peak window, that's good enough, just as with the Model S setting charging to begin at or near the beginning of off-peak is good enough.

 

[jdbob]

The US version of this car can take 30 amps while the EU version can only take 16 amps. CCS fast charging is standard.

Is that 16 amps single-phase or three-phase?

 

[miimura]

Is "Departure Time" really just a deadline for when charging should be completed? It seems as though for anyone with discounted off-peak charging, they don't want charging to be based on their real departure time (if they even know when their next departure will be, I usually don't) they just want charging to complete while the rates are still low. Actually, to begin and complete then, but presumably if you set the target to complete at or near the end of the off-peak window, that's good enough, just as with the Model S setting charging to begin at or near the beginning of off-peak is good enough.

You are correct. I set my departure time for the end of the Off-Peak rate window. Since we usually use the 120V cord for the e-Golf and the 240V EVSE for the RAV4, I set the e-Golf departure a little earlier since it tends to run past the departure time.

- - - Updated - - -

Is that 16 amps single-phase or three-phase?

Single Phase. The EU car only has a 3.7kW on-board charger. Ridiculous.

 

[AustinPowers]

Single Phase. The EU car only has a 3.7kW on-board charger. Ridiculous.

Absolutely. That is actually one of the very few reasons or to better put it the main reason why I haven't bought one yet.

 

[miimura]

Absolutely. That is actually one of the very few reasons or to better put it the main reason why I haven't bought one yet.

One European owner on Facebook showed a charging "adapter box" that took 22kW public EVSE input and had a vehicle CCS connector for output. It is basically an external portable charger that allows fast(er) charging for cars like the e-Golf. Totally impractical with a cost of 17k Euro, but interesting. It also wasn't clear how long it could run since the heat dissipation method was not obvious in the one picture shown.

 

[VolkerP]

Probably the Designwerk portable Fast DC charger MDC22. Input is 22kW three phase AC via CEE or type 2 plug. CCS or CHAdeMO plugs on the DC side. There is an internal water coolant circuit in that box.

Designwerk GmbH - Schnellladegerät MDC22

A few desperate owners of BMW i3 and eGolf turned to this rather costly solution.

 

[tomas]

Model s owner since 2012. Just got house in CA for winters and decided to stock garage with eGolf. 3 days into it: awesome. Range is really close to 100. It's no MS but for $299 per month 3 year lease, is perfect holding pattern for III.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Model s owner since 2012. Just got house in CA for winters and decided to stock garage with eGolf. 3 days into it: awesome. Range is really close to 100. It's no MS but for $299 per month 3 year lease, is perfect holding pattern for III.

Welcome to the club

Scratching the itch for a second EV! - Page 8