Newbie questions from LEAF driver

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cachehit

***
Joined
Mar 21, 2015
Messages
9
Location
SF Bay, CA
I switched my EV from LEAF to e-Golf (SE + DC) this week for my commute.

I have two quick questions:

- I'm charging at my company using ChargePoint DC Fast or L2. I found that the charger was stuck to my car when I tried to unplugged the charger. It was frustrating. There was no lock option like LEAF. I am forced to turn off from the charger station. But sometimes, it didn't work well. I am not sure how I can gracefully disconnect the charger from the car. Any tip?

- Is there no indication of remained battery in terms of %? There is 16-level analog-style fuel/battery gauge, but I expected I could see the remained battery in percentage. But apparently, it's not.

BTW, I'm enjoying the new e-Golf! Good car!
 
Welcome. You have found two very common questions that new owners have.

The charge port lock. First, make sure it's not charging. If the green light next to the charge port is slowly pulsing dim and bright, it is charging. Press the button with the plug icon next to the charge port. That will stop the charging. Then, press the unlock button on your key fob to unlock the charge port. Then you can remove the charging cord handle. There are no options to change the behavior of the charge port lock. It is what it is. Huge thread about this issue here.

The only way to get the actual battery level percentage is from the telematics. If you log into the CarNet web site you can get it. Instructions are here. Alternatively, you can do a little math based on interpolated 16ths reading from the gauge. For example, 12.5/16=78%.
 
It's always a good idea to read the owners manual on your new car, before operating it, to become accustomed to it's functions and features. Just because your last car was made in Japan, does not mean that your made in Germany VW e-Golf is going to have or not have the same features. You might also want to note that the VW has a CCS fast charger port, not a ChadeMo. You might also read your owners manual and find that Volkswagen recommends that you use the fast charger SPARINGLY, and that you should not recharge with the DCFS port a second time, a fast charge should be followed by a normal L2 level full recharge. In other words, no back to back DCFC recharges. They also recommend you recharge at home

See if you can find what page this is on in your 2016 owners manual and post up the pages you found it on here, maybe take a picture of the page, host it, and put a link to the picture of the page in the Owners Manual.

As a final note, if this is your first German car, expect it to have some features that seem quirky to you. You may find them irritating. The trick is for you to adapt to your new car, and accept it as is. It is not going to adapt to your previous cars behavior. German cars can take some getting used to, they are not for everybody.
 
miimura said:
Welcome. You have found two very common questions that new owners have.

The charge port lock. First, make sure it's not charging. If the green light next to the charge port is slowly pulsing dim and bright, it is charging. Press the button with the plug icon next to the charge port. That will stop the charging. Then, press the unlock button on your key fob to unlock the charge port. Then you can remove the charging cord handle. There are no options to change the behavior of the charge port lock. It is what it is. Huge thread about this issue here.

The only way to get the actual battery level percentage is from the telematics. If you log into the CarNet web site you can get it. Instructions are here. Alternatively, you can do a little math based on interpolated 16ths reading from the gauge. For example, 12.5/16=78%.
This has to be a DCFC feature because it's only a problem on the 2015s and apparently SEs with a fast charge option.
The regular SE charge port doesn't have a lock.
 
This is what the 2015 VW e-Golf manual says:

Frequently charging the vehicle with a high charging power, particularly with a direct current (DC charging) can lead to a permanent reduction of the charging capacity of the high-Voltage battery. If possible, charge the vehicle with low charging power, like with a home-charging station or with the supplementary charging cable.

It does not say "sparingly". It does not say no back to back DCFC sessions. It even says a L1 charge is ok (although JoulesThief is dictating you have to charge at L2 after DCFC).

The 2016 manual may say something different, but I have a 2015 so I can't comment, and neither can JoulesThief because he is asking for you to post a picture of the page.
 
f1geek said:
This is what the 2015 VW e-Golf manual says:

Frequently charging the vehicle with a high charging power, particularly with a direct current (DC charging) can lead to a permanent reduction of the charging capacity of the high-Voltage battery. If possible, charge the vehicle with low charging power, like with a home-charging station or with the supplementary charging cable.

It does not say "sparingly". It does not say no back to back DCFC sessions. It even says a L1 charge is ok (although JoulesThief is dictating you have to charge at L2 after DCFC).

The 2016 manual may say something different, but I have a 2015 so I can't comment, and neither can JoulesThief because he is asking for you to post a picture of the page.

Do you think the battery has changed between 2015 and 2016, or the charging methods? Do you have a part number change to verify that?
 
I have a 2015 SEL that never locks the handle, only when DC charging. I think I would prefare it to lock.
 
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