2019 battery pack for 2015 and newer eGolfs!

[chefross4]

I spoke to VW HQ in Virginia yesterday. I suggested that they offer the same battery pack in the 2019 eGolf for us 2015 owners. They said, "brilliant idea, no really!" and he promised to alert the HQ in Germany of this idea. I'm not that brilliant and why didn't they think of this? I'd love to have 195 mile range on my eGolf, wouldn't everybody?

 

[miimura]

I spoke to VW HQ in Virginia yesterday. I suggested that they offer the same battery pack in the 2019 eGolf for us 2015 owners. They said, "brilliant idea, no really!" and he promised to alert the HQ in Germany of this idea. I'm not that brilliant and why didn't they think of this? I'd love to have 195 mile range on my eGolf, wouldn't everybody?

That's hilarious. It's never going to happen through sanctioned channels.

 

[f1geek]

I completely agree - VW will never offer replacement battery packs. VW wants to sell cars not battery packs. That being said, VW is reluctantly manufacturing e-Golfs. If you want a VW BEV with 195 miles of range, you're going to have to get a future vehicle.

I have read that BMW is offering i3 pack upgrades in Europe, but then BMW is also getting into the stationary battery storage business, so they need used packs. BMW has no plans to offer battery pack upgrades in the US.

 

[johnnylingo]

BMW has no plans to offer battery pack upgrades in the US.

Yep, this is the current status and finalized my decision to get a new 2018 i3 rather than spend $8k (hopefully) retrofitting a 2014/2015.

It is very unlikely that VW would ever offer a battery upgrade for the 2015/2016 e-Golfs, especially since the e-Golf is being replaced by the the Neo in 2020. Best case scenario some 3rd party company offers it, but it would require the prices of batteries to drop significantly in order to be practical. Spending $8k on a battery upgrade for a 2014-2016 i3 made some sense since there was a $20-40k price difference between those and a 2017/2018. But with the e-Golf the difference is much narrower and it isn't practical. Same for the Focus or anything else in that price range.

 

[MLS]

Another reasonable question could be: if a battery needs to replaced under warranty, will they replace it with one of the newer battery packs? Or will they have old ones laying around for that purpose?

Of course, as mentioned in another post, we can always hope that these people go from prototype to after-market someday:

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/this-startup-nearly-tripled-the-vw-e-golfs-battery-capacity/

http://www.kreiselelectric.com/en/projects/electric-golf/

 

[Verkehr]

My conservative guess is that they'd find a used pack that's slightly above the 70% threshold to give you since that's all VW is on the hook for.

 

[JoulesThief]

I spoke to VW HQ in Virginia yesterday. I suggested that they offer the same battery pack in the 2019 eGolf for us 2015 owners. They said, "brilliant idea, no really!" and he promised to alert the HQ in Germany of this idea. I'm not that brilliant and why didn't they think of this? I'd love to have 195 mile range on my eGolf, wouldn't everybody?

That's hilarious. It's never going to happen through sanctioned channels.

/\ This... some underling at VW telling you what you want to hear.

The reality is VW wants to sell new cars, and avoid any warranty work like the plague. They want your car dead, in an accident, or whatever by the time it's three years or older, or your lease is up, and they sell it to a new owner.

 

[BomBoi]

it is a great idea , which i expect they should of thought of this while improving the egolf.

 

[Sparklebeard]

I've a sneaking suspicion I could sell my 2016 and buy a 2019 for about the cost to my pocket that VW might want to charge me for a new 2019 battery replacement if such a thing existed....