Ownership Report on my 2015 e-Golf

[Brother257]

Purchased in Nov 2014, my e-Golf ("Gunther") has 79,000 miles, and I've had no trouble or repairs. The 24.2 kWh battery originally gave me about 85 miles range in the city, but now the range is only 60 miles. Recently, I took the car on a 100-mile trip that included a mountain pass (3000 feet). It took with two recharging stops, but there were no problems. Approximate cost of ownership for 9 years: $2500, including tires and inspections, but not charging cost. The brakes have never needed replacement because of regenerative braking. I still love this car.

 

[P63]

I loved my '15 eGolf. I think it was a 20kwh battery though. Did they also offer 24 kwh batteries?

My favorite two stories:
At a stoplight with two lanes, on the other side of the intersection the right lane veers off to another road while the left lane goes straight and a line of cars was behind me to go straight. The light was red, the right lane was empty, and a guy in a brand new Mustang GT pulled up next to me, obviously wanting to jump in front when the light turned green.
In fairness, he wasn't revving, so it's not like he was standing on the brake pedal while taching 4k.
Anyway the light turned green and I did a holeshot, and he just dropped in behind me. I know full well that if it was a contest to reach 65 feet he would win, but it wasn't and he didn't.
On a two lane freeway cloverleaf onramp a couple kids were in a civic or integra or something, and the driver thought he was a hotshot driver. He was in the outside lane and clearly was going to cut across the inside lane to apex the curve. It's good that he checked over his shoulder because he saw me on the inside lane about to do the same thing. LOL, He honked his horn because he was mad. LOL. I apexed and left him in the dust, fuming. He probably thought I was a GTI, so he didn't try to catch up, which he could easily have done.

 

[f1geek]

Purchased in Nov 2014, my e-Golf ("Gunther") has 79,000 miles, and I've had no trouble or repairs. The 24.2 kWh battery originally gave me about 85 miles range in the city, but now the range is only 60 miles. Recently, I took the car on a 100-mile trip that included a mountain pass (3000 feet). It took with two recharging stops, but there were no problems. Approximate cost of ownership for 9 years: $2500, including tires and inspections, but not charging cost. The brakes have never needed replacement because of regenerative braking. I still love this car.

Totally agree it is great car. I have a 2017 with 35.8 kWh (~31.5 kWh usable when new) and at 64,000 miles pack has lost about 9%, but I can still get ~120 miles out if it in town.

 

[kjhansen]

Totally agree it is great car. I have a 2017 with 35.8 kWh (~31.5 kWh usable when new) and at 64,000 miles pack has lost about 9%, but I can still get ~120 miles out if it in town.

We really like our 2019 e-Golf. It has 38K miles on it and still gets 125 miles+ of range and shows 4.5 miles/ kWh on the extended range touch screen display. Why do you say only 31.5kWh of usable battery? My understanding from the manual is you get the full 35.8kWh unless you set the charge controller to say 90%. (EPA range of 125 miles ÷ EPA 3.5 miles/ kWh = 35.71kWh)?

 

[f1geek]

Never get 35.8 kWh usable- that is gross capacity. All cars have upper and lower buffers to protect battery. VW e-Golf has about 12% buffer, probably with more at bottom than top of cell voltage. Net capacity when new is about 31.5 kWh due to ~12% buffer.

 

[kjhansen]

Never get 35.8 kWh usable- that is gross capacity. All cars have upper and lower buffers to protect battery. VW e-Golf has about 12% buffer, probably with more at bottom than top of cell voltage. Net capacity when new is about 31.5 kWh due to ~12% buffer.

Where are you finding this information on a 12% buffer specifically for the 35.8kWh battery? I don't see it anywhere in the manual? If the 12% is really true I can stop charging to "90%", since there is already a 12% buffer "built in".

 

[TommyBoy]

I think I read about the buffer when I was shopping for my used 2015 eGolf. And, the chatter on usable vs listed capacity was an estimated value (percentage or kWh) in the various sources.

 

[f1geek]

Where are you finding this information on a 12% buffer specifically for the 35.8kWh battery? I don't see it anywhere in the manual? If the 12% is really true I can stop charging to "90%", since there is already a 12% buffer "built in".

Similar buffer for 24.2 kWh pack.

Best practice is 80-20.

Where I found information?

Try EV-database.

https://ev-database.org/car/1087/Volkswagen-e-Golf

 

[f1geek]

While EV-database says 32.0 kWh usable, based on my car, I found it was closer to 31.5 kWh.

Every EV battery pack has a usable and gross capacity. If we were allowed to use all of the capacity, the cells would never be able to last the warranty period.

 

[f1geek]

Where are you finding this information on a 12% buffer specifically for the 35.8kWh battery? I don't see it anywhere in the manual? If the 12% is really true I can stop charging to "90%", since there is already a 12% buffer "built in".

Read the battery warranty for VW info. You'll see that VW always refers to "net" capacity for battery warranty. 35.8 kWh is gross, 31.5 kWh is net. Ask VW directly if want their official answer as to net capacity. I take it to be 31.5 kWh - I bet VW's number is within 0.5 kWh of this value.