~92mi max range for 2019 e-Golf??

[tlovejr]

I noticed recently that my car shows ~92-94 max range after a full charge. I use a Clipper Creek Level 2 charger at home.

I purchased the car used in January 2020 with ~2k miles on the clock. At the time, it showed about 118 mi after full charge. 11 months and 3k miles later, it shows ~92-94 as max range.

WTF? Thoughts?

 

[tlovejr]

I forgot to mention - I imagine the first response from most people will be the logical "Take it to the dealer and have them run a diagnostic". The unfortunate part of that is that my local VW dealer closed earlier this year. :x So now I have to drive 1hr+ to the next dealer. Yes, doable, but not as quick and easy as I'd like. So I'm trying to get some thoughts from the expert community before taking any next steps.

 

[f1geek]

This is a common cause of confusion with the e-Golf. The range you see is the GOM (Guess-O-Meter). It has nothing to do with the charging station you use. It is a guess made by the car's BMS (battery management system) of range available based on how you drive (fast vs slow), ambient temperature, and how heavily you use the HVAC in the car. In other words, it learns your usage pattern (in the recent past) and predicts range based on that usage pattern. I do not believe a diagnostic from a dealer will help. Make sense?

 

[tlovejr]

Hmm, that sorta makes sense. Are you saying that the fact that it showed 118mi range when we bought it and only 92mi now was because the former driver was lighter on the throttle (as opposed to my heavy foot)? And not because of some horribly degradation in range potential?

 

[f1geek]

Exactly. You can (maybe?) try the experiment yourself: charge to full and then drive VERY gently on local level roads only (avoid hills), with minimal heat or A/C turned on. Try to use up most of the battery pack's charge (take it down to ~20% or less state of charge). As you drive you will see your range drop more slowly than it did before. When you charge again to full, you should see a much higher GOM reading.

 

[tlovejr]

Wow this seems like it could have some negative consequences for resale if someone wasn't fully aware. "No, I swear this car goes ~120miles. Just ignore what the dashboard tells you. No really, I'm telling the truth, its in great shape - the car goes much further than what it says...."

I'm curious if there is a way to reset the whole learning process to prevent such a scenario? Or does puttering around town for a few hours in order to manually discharge the battery and have it learn anew considered an acceptable default requirement for all owners? :?

 

[f1geek]

Caveat Emptor, as always.

No way to reset other than disconnecting the 12 V battery, I guess. But maybe this is something that is stored in a way not dependent on 12 V power? The easiest way to "reset" is to change your driving and heating/cooling style.

Your Mileage May Vary, as always.

Best of luck!

 

[ZeroMoon17]

You'll probably see your GOM go up during the spring and fall where ambient temperatures are less extreme, and see a large dropoff in the winter and small dropoff in the summer due to the lower and warmer temperatures. Using the heater will drain your battery much faster than using the AC and the batteries don't like the cold very much.

This is why newer EV platforms all have climate controlled battery packs, but the Egolf is a pretty old platform (first came out in 2015) and was a learning experience for VW to build their new MEB.

 

[f1geek]

Totally agree. Additionally, the e-Golf SE does not have a heat pump (SEL and my rare 2017 LE has heat pump), so turning on the heat really takes a chunk of energy out of the battery pack. I find the seat heaters are very good and there is the option to place the car in ECO mode, which while reduces the rate of heating, eventually warms up the interior to a comfortable temperature (at least for me where I live in the SF Bay Area) in "winter" temperatures.

It is too bad that VW has a liquid glycol cooling/heating system for the power electronics and drive motor, but none for the battery pack. I suspect it could have been implemented, but since the MQB platform is designed primarily for ICE powertrains, there wasn't enough money in the budget or space in the chassis to implement a liquid cooled battery pack given the relatively low energy density cells employed (NCM 1:1:1).

But it seems the MQB EVs are now dead, with VW putting its weight behind the MEB bespoke EV platform, so all new VW BEVs will benefit from liquid pack cooling and should be less influenced by (though there still is an effect) swings in ambient temperatures.