Lose 1/8th charge after about a day from full charge, without driving.

[shawner123]

Hello everyone,

TLR skip to bottom

I have a 2015 Limited I've owned since new, 29k miles, after 5 years in Southern California range still seems good usually always 70-80 miles if I drive it carefully. Only problem it ever had was I was one of the early people who experienced the car shutting itself down before they had it as a recall, fortunately I was parked when it happened, but the way Volkswagen handled it almost ruined the car experience for me.

I generally do not charge fully unless I'll be using the range that day or and generally never leave the car long with a full charge.

I've noticed occasionally, when I do charge to full because I am planning on using the range up the next day, if for whatever reason I end up not needing the car, after about a day or two the car will lose 1/8th of power on the power gauge, however since I rarely run the car low enough to really need the entire charge at this point it isn't an issue. It doesn't drop further than 1/8th on its own regardless of time it sits after that.

If I feel like if I bring this in to Volkswagen they're going to ask me when the last time I changed the oil was, that has been the experience the entire time I've owned it to the point that I have had non-dealer mechanics that I trust do what very little maintainance or repairs it may need (rotate tires, check brakes, etc).

I'm just curious if anybody else has experience this and knew if it was a significant problem or concern, or if it was just one of those things that happens to battery powered cars after a while.

I have read the owners manual, and tried to search online extensively (at least I think so), and even for laughs tried to get some info from VW Customer Care, and still no dice.

I'll take any ideas even critical ones, I love this car and want it to last forever, but I'm afraid bringing it to a dealer and asking them will make it worse!


TLR I've owned a 2015 for 5 years, and now when I charge fully before a trip, if I don't end up taking the trip the car loses about an 1/8th of a charge in a day or two. It doesn't drop further than 1/8th on its own regardless of time it sits after that.

 

[f1geek]

Is it really losing two tick marks worth of charge, as confirmed by driving range? If you use a tool like ODBEleven, can you confirm cell voltages have dropped from ~4.1 V down to ~4.0 V? In other words, is the SoC needle movement a real reflection of the battery pack state or charge or is it some electrical / software issue?

When I charge my car to 100%, I do not see the needle get pegged. There is always a tiny gap (looks like about 1 or 2 percent) left. But, once I charge to 100% I typically begin a long drive within an hour so I do not let car sit unused for a day.

 

[shawner123]

It's difficult for me to tell, I don't really have any technical knowledge when it comes to using tools like ODBEleven or reading voltages and such, which is why I'd love to just bring it to VW and be like "everything ok?" but they are such crooks and so incompetent when it comes to the e-golf it really frightens me, I'll never forget the technician there who kept insisting that they really do have to have their oil changed (VW Van Nuys) or how VW DTLA handled the situation when my car had the over volt shut down recall within a week or two of purchasing the car brand new. I swore I would never buy another VW again after some of these experiences but I really love this car and I think especially the 2015 1st gen was very over engineered and well built which is why I loved VW for so many years.

If I do indeed charge to full, and don't need to go on the highway for anything, the car can last a week or more without needing another charge with my regular driving habits, so it is often difficult to judge if it is truly losing the charge or just the needle, driving around town I get so much better miles per KW that it can sometimes exceed the EPA standard slightly.

I come up against this maybe once a month as I am very conscious about what levels I charge to depending on my needs, the needle is usually pegged at full but now that you mention it I believe that there has been an occasion when I've gotten in a the car and noticed it didn't quite reach the top, and then if I do need to use the cars full range, it is difficult to gauge if it truly charged to the top since heat/ac traffic speed has such a large influence on the highway miles.

Over time for the same highway trip (I'm generally always taking it to the same place when I do need the max range) I've notice it going from taking 2/8th notches to 3/8th-3.5/8th, but I kind of expected this with it being a 5 year old 1st gen electric car with such low range.

Anyway thank you for the input, just curious has anyone had any luck bringing the car into VW to have them test the battery or check up on something like this? I guess in my head it's just a carryover from the ICE days so my brian thinks there could be a "leak" somewhere, however the fact that I could charge it to a lower % i.e. for storage on long trips and leave it for weeks with no noticeable loss makes me feel like it must be ok.

 

[f1geek]

If you are really concerned, you should visit an independent EV shop. EV West? Others? It will take VW dealers years before all of their mechanics know how to deal with EVs.

If you are getting the same range as usual, then it may not be a significant issue. On the other hand, if you want warranty coverage, you must go to a VW dealer.

 

[JoulesThief]

Either drive the car 3 or 4 miles after a full charge, or don't charge fully, unless you plan to use the top portion of the charge, shortly after the charging is complete.

This is more for charging at mobile locations, not for fully recharging at home.

I sometimes lose one tick mark on my 2015 SEL, if I don't drive immediately a few miles or 1 tick after fully recharging. I sometimes think it's the coolant pump circulating coolant around the charge controller after it's finished recharging and has been disconnected.

 

[flyboy320]

Not knowing how the battery management system works, it may be the system balancing the cells. It uses resistors to discharge the cells that have a higher voltage to bring them to the same level as the lower voltage cells, this may be enough to show a less than 100% charge.

 

[f1geek]

Interesting. Since 88 e-Golf cells are wired in series (3 banks of 88 are then wired in parallel), where exactly are the resistors positioned so each cell can be regulated with a resistor?

 

[shawner123]

Well looks like I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and hope it's okay! It's such a shame that nobody at VW knows anything about their own car. Thanks for the responses everyone.

 

[0ooxe]

sorry in advance if anything. not an expert here and if i say something stupid please just shut me up. lol https://dragonpharma.to/dbol-test-cycle/
could it be because of the weather? i mean, depending how hot / cold is there, you may lose some of the charge. then again, sorry if anything

 

[f1geek]

Correct. Temperature has an impact on usable capacity. Pack Temperature changing after a full charge could change SoC.

 

[shawner123]

Thanks for the reply, I live in Souther California so the temperature is usually ideal, and the car is kept in a climate controlled garaged so it just must just not be able to h old full capacity for very long, it seems that even if it's 4-6hrs after a full charge the level goes down on it's own. However below that point the car could sit for weeks with no loss. Oh well, still love the car.