2017 e-Golf - Slow charging at some L3 Chargers

[Can37]

I am having an issue with my 2017 where I only get 20kW charging at some stations - so far all the EVGo ones I have tried (NY, NJ and VT), a Royal Farms unit in MD and one Electric Circuit in St Jean QC. I get normal 40kW charges everywhere else I have tried. I have an open ticket with VW Canada and they seem to be hoping it is an issue with the chargers, but I see no evidence of this happening with 2016 or 2015 cars. The tech who looked at the car had 36 "Quick Charger Init Errors in the logs

If you have seen this issue, please reply here,

Thanks

Matthew

 

[forbin404]

Sometimes the charging stations have another car plugged in and that halves the output. (But they charge Full $$$)

Sometimes the unit is busted.

Sometimes the power source is limited.

 

[johnnylingo]

Agreed...99% chance it's the charger.

Have you looked on PlugShare? Pull the up the charger, and view comments from other users. When an L2 charger is only 16A, people take notice and mention it. I'd assume the same is true for L3.

 

[Can37]

I checked the Plug share check ins for the chargers, all of them have recent 40kW charges on CCS. I was the only one using the chargers at the time. I have seen this issue at a lot of chargers - 8 in total from 3 providers. 6 were on EVgo. I don't think there is any chance this is a charger issue.

 

[forbin404]

too bad VW dealers can't test it because they never have a L3 charger.

 

[miimura]

too bad VW dealers can't test it because they never have a L3 charger.

Let me fix that for you:

Too bad VW dealers can't test it because they only have the low power 24kW DC chargers.

 

[forbin404]

too bad VW dealers can't test it because they never have a L3 charger.

Let me fix that for you:

Too bad VW dealers can't test it because they only have the low power 24kW DC chargers.

Really? 3 Local dealers down here only have L2. Interesting.

 

[johnnylingo]

Yep, all the Silicon Valley dealers have ChargePoint 24 kW fast chargers as of few months ago. I would assume VW corporate paid the bill.

Sunnyvale
Stevens Creek
Capital
Newark
Hayward
Redwood City
Dublin
Walnut Creek

Of course, whether they actually work or not is a separate thing.

 

[Can37]

The Canadian dealers are also getting 24kW Chargepoint L3 stations plus 2 L2s, one in a service bay and one outside. At my dealer the outside chargers are available for public use 7/24

 

[egolf2017toronto]

Yes, in Canada all VW dealers that want to sell the e-Golf must have a L3 charger.

 

[Zeuser]

Yes, in Canada all VW dealers that want to sell the e-Golf must have a L3 charger.

Really? Where I bought mine, they only had a L2 chargers. A Chargepoint in back and a Flo in the service bay. They're trying to push the Flo to customers by offering a full warranty and a rebate when purchased with the eGolf.

 

[egolf2017toronto]

Yes, in Canada all VW dealers that want to sell the e-Golf must have a L3 charger.

Really? Where I bought mine, they only had a L2 chargers. A Chargepoint in back and a Flo in the service bay. They're trying to push the Flo to customers by offering a full warranty and a rebate when purchased with the eGolf.

I may be mistaken then. Perhaps L2 is sufficient for VW Canada to certify a dealership to sell e-Golfs.

The question in my mind then is why would a dealership want to install DCFC if it's not required by VW Canada? The total cost for DCFC can run into tens of thousands. It would seem to make limited business sense for a dealership that sells only single digits of e-Golfs a year (AFAIK true for all dealerships in Canada for 2017) to make such a large investment today.

 

[Can37]

The question in my mind then is why would a dealership want to install DCFC if it's not required by VW Canada? The total cost for DCFC can run into tens of thousands. It would seem to make limited business sense for a dealership that sells only single digits of e-Golfs a year (AFAIK true for all dealerships in Canada for 2017) to make such a large investment today.

If they don't have a L3 charger, they can't test the car properly. Bytek in Ottawa has a 20kW charger and even this is not good enough to test the issues I am having with 50kW chargers.

 

[RonDawg]

too bad VW dealers can't test it because they never have a L3 charger.

Let me fix that for you:

Too bad VW dealers can't test it because they only have the low power 24kW DC chargers.

Really? 3 Local dealers down here only have L2. Interesting.

The 5 closest dealers to me here in LA County are also L2-only, according to Plugshare.

 

[myhui]

This dealership has a L3, but it was broken when I went there a month or more ago.

Volkswagen Santa Monica
2440 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90404
(424) 322-2756

https://goo.gl/maps/7UKVNNwqjJu

 

[JoulesThief]

This dealership has a L3, but it was broken when I went there a month or more ago.

Volkswagen Santa Monica
2440 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90404
(424) 322-2756

https://goo.gl/maps/7UKVNNwqjJu

It's also very, very expensive to use. Which is why, in the Peoples REpublik of Kalifreebiefornia, where in Santa Monica, they believe everything that isn't free should be broken or destroyed. Check the fees on that one on Plugshare.

 

[forbin404]

This dealership has a L3, but it was broken when I went there a month or more ago.

Volkswagen Santa Monica
2440 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90404
(424) 322-2756

https://goo.gl/maps/7UKVNNwqjJu

It's also very, very expensive to use. Which is why, in the Peoples REpublik of Kalifreebiefornia, where in Santa Monica, they believe everything that isn't free should be broken or destroyed. Check the fees on that one on Plugshare.

Plugshare implies that if you don't own a VW, it's expensive.

 

[RonDawg]

This dealership has a L3, but it was broken when I went there a month or more ago.

Volkswagen Santa Monica
2440 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90404
(424) 322-2756

https://goo.gl/maps/7UKVNNwqjJu

It's also very, very expensive to use. Which is why, in the Peoples REpublik of Kalifreebiefornia, where in Santa Monica, they believe everything that isn't free should be broken or destroyed. Check the fees on that one on Plugshare.

Part of it is to also discourage freeloaders from hogging it, leaving it only for people who truly need it.

EVgo units aren't cheap to charge at either. On a cents/mile basis it's probably cheaper to take my Alltrack than use an EVgo unit..

 

[miimura]

Part of it is to also discourage freeloaders from hogging it, leaving it only for people who truly need it.

EVgo units aren't cheap to charge at either. On a cents/mile basis it's probably cheaper to take my Alltrack than use an EVgo unit..

Yes, the EVgo chargers are not cheap, but for those of us who are all electric, it's cheaper than keeping an ICE as a spare car. It's cheaper than renting an ICE too. In fact, I used one this past weekend just to avoid the possibility of getting stuck in case the charging station at my destination was not working. It worked fine, but spending the $11 was worth it to make sure I would not be inconvenienced.

 

[95GLX]

I have found that the heavier cords on the Level 3 CCS/SAE Combo plugs don't always lock in 100% and fail to charge or stop charging early. I have started supporting the cord when possible so the weight it not pulling down on the locking mechanism. I will post some pictures when I can but you can look at my activity on Plug Share under the same user name as here to see what I have posted at some stations that I use regularly.