Any e-golf owners in Arizona?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Spektre

***
Joined
Jun 13, 2016
Messages
137
Just bought a used 2015 SEL Premium from California and had it transported here to Scottsdale.

Wondering if there were any other owners here in the Phoenix area, or elsewhere in AZ?
 
You may be the first here. It will be interesting to hear how your battery does with degradation in the heat of PHX this summer. Maybe post up some pictures of your new to you e-Golf.

How many miles on your new baby, and if you like PM me what you paid for it. Congratulations, welcome and Enjoy!
 
Not in AZ, but half hour west of Yuma in Imperial County.

My wife and I are curious about the battery degradation, as well. Looks like you and I are the guinee pigs :)
 
bizzle said:
Not in AZ, but half hour west of Yuma in Imperial County.

My wife and I are curious about the battery degradation, as well. Looks like you and I are the guinee pigs :)

How many miles on your e-Golf now, and has the guess-o-meter dropped any in range? I used to get 129 miles of range, in May it dropped to 125 miles of range with 5300 miles on the car, and now in June with 5850 miles on the car, I show 124 miles as maximum range.
 
I have 3400 miles and the guesstimated range hasn't noticeably dropped yet.

It's usually around 106 if I charge it to 100% but the two main battery draws are that we have to use a/c pretty much year round and the freeways are 70mph, which has our average at around 3.5m/kw. I only charge it to 80% on the weekdays (my wife works about a mile away so it'd be sitting at full all week otherwise) and the range is usually 86 without a/c turned on. Constant A/C sucks around 5 miles off the range. I tried looking in the manual but couldn't find or figure out why when I turn the fan "down" to "low" the fan speed sounds the fastest yet when I turn the fan "up" to "high" the fan speed sounds the slowest.

This is the first summer we've had it and it's a big one...temps have been over 100 and hitting near 120 lately. We just got home and haven't been driving it much so I'll see later tonight how it's doing.
 
The GOM is not a good indicator of degradation. If you really care about degradation, you should regularly calculate the car's usable battery capacity. The best way to do this is to start from 100% charge and drive it to less than half full. Then use the Since Charge stats to calculate the usable capacity. Here's an example with made-up figures:

Since Charge:
50 miles / 4.5 mi/kWh = 11.11 kWh used
11.11 kWh / 50% SOC used = 22.22 kWh total usable capacity

There is some uncertainty (noise) in this calculation due to the whole number of miles displayed on the screen and your guess at the battery % from the small gauge, but over time you should see a trend in this capacity figure.
 
miimura said:
The GOM is not a good indicator of degradation. If you really care about degradation, you should regularly calculate the car's usable battery capacity. The best way to do this is to start from 100% charge and drive it to less than half full. Then use the Since Charge stats to calculate the usable capacity. Here's an example with made-up figures:

Since Charge:
50 miles / 4.5 mi/kWh = 11.11 kWh used
11.11 kWh / 50% SOC used = 22.22 kWh total usable capacity

There is some uncertainty (noise) in this calculation due to the whole number of miles displayed on the screen and your guess at the battery % from the small gauge, but over time you should see a trend in this capacity figure.

Noted, thanks.
 
This month's highs, exceeding 120 degrees for a couple weeks, illustrate that it's not the battery life that's at issue but rather the A/C.
During mild temperatures, it only draws about 4-5 miles off the estimator (using about 3.5 kw/m). During this past month it's been using 2 kw/m and the A/C is sucking about 15+ miles from the range estimator.

The guestimator isn't useless, just that it has limitations as an accurate gauge. It's not really any less accurate than my TDI's guestimator...and I'm referring to the fuel gauge not the MFI. That said, I use it as a relative scale. Those numbers are telling me that it's the A/C hammering my range and not battery degradation (at least not yet). I don't think we will be able to keep the eGolf because battery degradation is a given, just a question of how much more occurs in extreme weather, and the A/C usage along with the degradation will completely kill the range.
 
Know that at or above 113F, VW has it programmed to go into limp mode to protect the battery from overheating while dishcharging/driving. That means your car may slow down unexpectedly to 40 mph on what ever road or freeway you are on. It is due to the battery chemistry that they used in the Lithium Ion Battery, and a passive cooling system not being enough, if you drive too fast.

If that occurs, turn off the AC, slow down, and do what you need to do to conserve electricity and the discharge rate of the battery to a tolerable level such that it doesn't generate excessive heat while discharging or using the battery, and go into limp mode again.

It's not a defect, it's a design limitation. Live with it, or buy something else more suitable for the heat.
 
Luckily I haven't experienced that even with ambient temps above 120. It's interesting that the batteries are staying below the ambient temp even while driving on the freeway at 70mph.
 
bizzle said:
Luckily I haven't experienced that even with ambient temps above 120. It's interesting that the batteries are staying below the ambient temp even while driving on the freeway at 70mph.

At least in the summer time, I'd make the effort to park in the shade or on concrete instead of black top, every chance I got. One day, you might not be so lucky. Or perhaps you drive at reasonable speeds in such heat, instead of pushing the car hard at 70 80+ mph.
 
I have a feeling it's the regenerative features that shut down and not the acceleration. I didn't notice until recently that when I am in B mode or trying to brake the car does not slow down as much as when the weather is more mild. It feels like the battery is full even when the gauge is showing half full.

What about the guy from Arizona? Wondering what he's experiencing this summer. Not sure if their past couple weeks have been as harsh as ours have out here in the SoCal desert.
 
bizzle said:
I have a feeling it's the regenerative features that shut down and not the acceleration. I didn't notice until recently that when I am in B mode or trying to brake the car does not slow down as much as when the weather is more mild. It feels like the battery is full even when the gauge is showing half full.

What about the guy from Arizona? Wondering what he's experiencing this summer. Not sure if their past couple weeks have been as harsh as ours have out here in the SoCal desert.

Here in Phoenix, our average daily high temp has been in the 105-112F range for the past month or so.

I haven't had a single problem driving the car, even though where I work we don't have any sort of shade or covered parking.

My problem has been charging the car at home in the evening. Most days I get home between 4 and 5 pm - it's still over 100F in my garage, and my TOU energy plan rates are still in the high range, so I wait to plug in the car until 7pm. It seems like the e-Golf takes a long time to cool off, and really doesn't like to charge when it's hot.

I've been using the included EVSE (Clipper Creek 15A) and I'm not able to achieve a full charge in those 11 hours until I leave the next morning. I'm in the process of acquiring a level 2 EVSE (thinking the GE from Home Depot), and hopefully that will help with the situation.
 
Spektre said:
My problem has been charging the car at home in the evening. Most days I get home between 4 and 5 pm - it's still over 100F in my garage, and my TOU energy plan rates are still in the high range, so I wait to plug in the car until 7pm. It seems like the e-Golf takes a long time to cool off, and really doesn't like to charge when it's hot.

I've been using the included EVSE (Clipper Creek 15A) and I'm not able to achieve a full charge in those 11 hours until I leave the next morning. I'm in the process of acquiring a level 2 EVSE (thinking the GE from Home Depot), and hopefully that will help with the situation.

An L2 will also allow you to delay charging until much later that evening, allowing the car to cool down further, and if there is an additional off-peak tier in your electric plan, will save you some money as well.
 
Looks like it's been a while since this thread had any activity. Any of you AZ owners have any updates to give? I'm interested to know if you needed any special service and if there is a shop that was able to do the work.
 
gvblake22 said:
Looks like it's been a while since this thread had any activity. Any of you AZ owners have any updates to give? I'm interested to know if you needed any special service and if there is a shop that was able to do the work.

Any VW dealership should be able to do the work.
 
JoulesThief said:
gvblake22 said:
Looks like it's been a while since this thread had any activity. Any of you AZ owners have any updates to give? I'm interested to know if you needed any special service and if there is a shop that was able to do the work.

Any VW dealership should be able to do the work.
I've contacted two dealerships in the Phoenix area and both said they do not have any technicians certified for the e-Golf and did not indicate that they would be willing to do work on it.
 
gvblake22 said:
JoulesThief said:
gvblake22 said:
Looks like it's been a while since this thread had any activity. Any of you AZ owners have any updates to give? I'm interested to know if you needed any special service and if there is a shop that was able to do the work.

Any VW dealership should be able to do the work.
I've contacted two dealerships in the Phoenix area and both said they do not have any technicians certified for the e-Golf and did not indicate that they would be willing to do work on it.
The 2018 e-Golf is going to be sold in 50 states. There will be technicians trained to service it. Just don't break down between now and when the technicians get training. There's a lot more than 2 VW dealerships in the Phoenix area, keep searching.

In theory, there shouldn't be anything on your e-Golf that should break in the power train. Don't abuse it, treat it nice, drive it kindly, and it will reward you with many maintenance free miles traveled.

Concept number 1 is that it's an urban vehicle, really designed to be at it's best when driven at reasonable speeds ( 45 mph or under) on city surface streets. What it is NOT is an autobahn cruiser, freeway speed demon, or interstate cruiser. Understand it has a lot of limitations... a lot, compared to a hydrocarbon powered form of transportation. Very low energy density in batteries, for amount of weight you are hauling around. So you just need to do all you can to conserve energy, by being a very efficient driver, not wasting kinetic energy slowing down or braking, conserving all your momentum.
 
gvblake22 said:
JoulesThief said:
gvblake22 said:
Looks like it's been a while since this thread had any activity. Any of you AZ owners have any updates to give? I'm interested to know if you needed any special service and if there is a shop that was able to do the work.

Any VW dealership should be able to do the work.
I've contacted two dealerships in the Phoenix area and both said they do not have any technicians certified for the e-Golf and did not indicate that they would be willing to do work on it.

I got the same pushback when I first brought the car to AZ last June. I used the fact that I was bringing the car in to have Federal Recall fixed and that VW had an obligation to fix it. After contacting VW Customer Care, the service department miraculously changed its tune and scheduled me an appointment immediately. They actually had to bring in a tech from California to do the service.

I was told that it would not be a problem in the future, and that they would be training their techs to service EVs. This was at VW North Scottsdale.

BTW, aside from the range thing, this is my favorite car I've ever owned, and I've owned way more than I should have over the years. I'm going to drive this one into the ground and replace it with another electric VW (so I can keep my AZ Alternate Fuel plate too: "VLTSWGN") :D
 
JoulesThief said:
The 2018 e-Golf is going to be sold in 50 states.
That would be great news! Thanks. Maybe I'll just hold off until the 2018 model year so everything is officially official. Plus that will give the new Leaf time to hit.

JoulesThief said:
Concept number 1 is that it's an urban vehicle, really designed to be at it's best when driven at reasonable speeds ( 45 mph or under) on city surface streets. What it is NOT is an autobahn cruiser, freeway speed demon, or interstate cruiser. Understand it has a lot of limitations... a lot, compared to a hydrocarbon powered form of transportation. Very low energy density in batteries, for amount of weight you are hauling around. So you just need to do all you can to conserve energy, by being a very efficient driver, not wasting kinetic energy slowing down or braking, conserving all your momentum.
I appreciate your advice, it's helpful to keep my expectations grounded (no pun intended).

Spektre said:
I got the same pushback when I first brought the car to AZ last June. I used the fact that I was bringing the car in to have Federal Recall fixed and that VW had an obligation to fix it. After contacting VW Customer Care, the service department miraculously changed its tune and scheduled me an appointment immediately. They actually had to bring in a tech from California to do the service.

I was told that it would not be a problem in the future, and that they would be training their techs to service EVs. This was at VW North Scottsdale.

BTW, aside from the range thing, this is my favorite car I've ever owned, and I've owned way more than I should have over the years. I'm going to drive this one into the ground and replace it with another electric VW (so I can keep my AZ Alternate Fuel plate too: "VLTSWGN") :D
Thanks for the info, Spektre. I'm interested in the new 35.8-kWh battery model as I think the range will suit my lifestyle much better than the 24.2-kWh. I live in south Scottsdale and drive to work in downtown Chandler; 40 miles round trip Mon-Fri with about 75% on the freeway. I'll contact VW North Scottsdale about service.
 
Back
Top