Anybody buy an e-Golf outside of State where it's sold?

[CyberPine]

Anybody buy an e-Golf outside of US state where it's sold?

What are the pitfalls of buying it outside of a US state where it's official sold? No dealership expertise, maintenance and recall support? No roadside assistance?

Anybody know when (if ever) it might be officially sold in Florida?

 

[RonDawg]

The big issue you'll have is servicing. If you get a problem like the dreaded shutdown-for-no-reason issue that a few eGolfs have had, you will have to bring the car into a dealer that sells eGolfs. No other VW dealer will know how to work on it (and from what I've read, even eGolf dealers don't know how to fix the problem). Even if it's something that is found on other Golfs like the nav/entertainment system, the local VW dealer may still not work on it.

I have heard stories of other "limited availability" EVs like the Toyota RAV4 EV being refused service at a dealer in a state where they are not sold, even for issues that have nothing to do with the all-electric powertrain. Even with the Nissan Leaf, perhaps the most widely available of any EV, someone had posted that the sole Nissan dealer in all of Alaska won't work on them.

 

[RonDawg]

I thought cold was the real battery performance killer.

Cold temporarily reduces battery performance, unless it's so cold that the battery freezes. Once the battery warms up, it regains its capacity. Heat OTOH permanently degrades batteries, as early Nissan Leaf adopters have found out.

 

[Sparky]

My eGolf was delivered to S. Florida. Happy to report that my local dealer has serviced it twice (performed TSBs for delayed charging and the HVAC fixes), and I have no reason to believe it would ever necessitate "going back" to the selling dealer. On the first call to VW customer care, they assigned a regional case manager to serve as a liaison to the local dealer, scheduled the service and pushed out the TSB to the service writer, so that the master tech knew exactly what was needed. I've had some great VWs serviced over the years, and this blew me away.

From what I understand, the dealer up North just had to install an EVSE to get approved to sell eGolfs. The master techs are all going to be able to service these just like they service hybrid Touaregs and Jettas. I thought it might help to choose a dealer that also sells BMWs, as they have a free Chargepoint EVSE in the lot next door for charging.

We may never see this "compliance car" sold outside the CARB states, but it is an amazing ride (especially in traffic on 95)! Feel free to PM me if you want more details.

Anybody buy an e-Golf outside of US state where it's sold?

What are the pitfalls of buying it outside of a US state where it's official sold? No dealership expertise, maintenance and recall support? No roadside assistance?

Anybody know when (if ever) it might be officially sold in Florida?

 

[dublectric]

I would believe that RonDawg is correct in that excess heat can permanently degrade battery performance. An earlier post implied that Florida's warmer weather might therefore pose a problem, but I would claim that Florida's weather shouldn't necessarily influence your decision on that basis. I did a quick check of VW dealers in inland southern California, and one dealer in Palm Desert, CA had 5 eGolfs on the lot at the time. If VW has approved the sale of eGolfs in an area where the average high temperatures are up to 107 F in July, then I would think that southern Florida's highs in the low 90s should be well within VW's design parameters for ambient temperature.

 

[JoulesThief]

I would believe that RonDawg is correct in that excess heat can permanently degrade battery performance. An earlier post implied that Florida's warmer weather might therefore pose a problem, but I would claim that Florida's weather shouldn't necessarily influence your decision on that basis. I did a quick check of VW dealers in inland southern California, and one dealer in Palm Desert, CA had 5 eGolfs on the lot at the time. If VW has approved the sale of eGolfs in an area where the average high temperatures are up to 107 F in July, then I would think that southern Florida's highs in the low 90s should be well within VW's design parameters for ambient temperature.

True, but you forget about the effects of rain and water, in addition to the heat, and being a huge peninsula, on the effects of the battery, and VW requesting you keep it dry. It too, is in the owners manual, if you read it. In addition to running the AC year round, decreasing battery life, and decreasing the range of the car, additional load on the electrical, traction and 12v batteries.

 

[JoulesThief]

Don't want to..

And VW doesn't want to sell e-golfs to Florida residents, for what ever reason.

 

[Sparky]

Agreed. I don't think the climate of S. Florida versus So. California has any noticeable impact on battery life. I pass all the competitive EVs (Teslas, Nissan Leafs, Volts and ELRs, etc.) on I-95, and have thus far not seen any battery degradation in 6 mos. from a 110 mi. round trip commute (partially recharging at work and home on a daily basis).

VW's decision to restrict the sale of new eGolfs to the CARB states is more likely because this vehicle represents a "compliance" obligation that the manufacturer has to meet federal fleet emission standards, and not due to design limitations of the vehicle. Although we don't have the Level 3 DC Fast charging network alternatives like So. California, there are enough Level 2 charging options to make commuting with the eGolf in S. Florida no problem.

I would believe that RonDawg is correct in that excess heat can permanently degrade battery performance. An earlier post implied that Florida's warmer weather might therefore pose a problem, but I would claim that Florida's weather shouldn't necessarily influence your decision on that basis. I did a quick check of VW dealers in inland southern California, and one dealer in Palm Desert, CA had 5 eGolfs on the lot at the time. If VW has approved the sale of eGolfs in an area where the average high temperatures are up to 107 F in July, then I would think that southern Florida's highs in the low 90s should be well within VW's design parameters for ambient temperature.

 

[dublectric]

thus far not seen any battery degradation in 6 mos. from a 110 mi. round trip commute (partially recharging at work and home on a daily basis).

Excellent, sounds like a great use case for an eGolf.

For others of you who might become concerned regarding recent posts about operating your eGolf in damp conditions, I would like to offer some relevant passages from the manual:

(pg 251) - "Never park the vehicle in areas that are likely to be flooded, such as beaches or river banks, and never drive the vehicle in WATER, on flooded roads or through water that is higher than the bottom of the vehicle body. The high-voltage battery, along with other vehicle components, can be damaged severely if the high-voltage battery is exposed to open water especially for a longer time. However, you can drive through water on roads under certain conditions => page 37."

(pg 37) - "Note the following to help prevent vehicle damage when driving through water, for example on flooded roads:

Check the depth of the water before driving through it. The water must not be any higher than the bottom of the vehicle body. [ ... ]"

There's more in the manual of course. I'm sure that most of you have read it for yourselves and can interpret it as you see fit, which is always a better policy than blindly accepting speculation and conjecture from posts on a forum (including posts from myself, among others). To me, the above statements mean: Don't be afraid of driving through even heavy rain on wet, but well-drained roads. *Do* be careful when driving through standing water, and never if it can come up to the floor of the car, or if it is of unknown depth. Around here, that means being careful driving through standing water due to localized flash flooding after heavy rainstorms, but arguably that's a good policy anyway even in an ICE car (to avoid ingesting water into the intake and resulting hydraulic engine damage).

 

[JoulesThief]

thus far not seen any battery degradation in 6 mos. from a 110 mi. round trip commute (partially recharging at work and home on a daily basis).

Excellent, sounds like a great use case for an eGolf.

For others of you who might become concerned regarding recent posts about operating your eGolf in damp conditions, I would like to offer some relevant passages from the manual:

(pg 251) - "Never park the vehicle in areas that are likely to be flooded, such as beaches or river banks, and never drive the vehicle in WATER, on flooded roads or through water that is higher than the bottom of the vehicle body. The high-voltage battery, along with other vehicle components, can be damaged severely if the high-voltage battery is exposed to open water especially for a longer time. However, you can drive through water on roads under certain conditions => page 37."

(pg 37) - "Note the following to help prevent vehicle damage when driving through water, for example on flooded roads:

Check the depth of the water before driving through it. The water must not be any higher than the bottom of the vehicle body. [ ... ]"

There's more in the manual of course. I'm sure that most of you have read it for yourselves and can interpret it as you see fit, which is always a better policy than blindly accepting speculation and conjecture from posts on a forum (including posts from myself, among others). To me, the above statements mean: Don't be afraid of driving through even heavy rain on wet, but well-drained roads. *Do* be careful when driving through standing water, and never if it can come up to the floor of the car, or if it is of unknown depth. Around here, that means being careful driving through standing water due to localized flash flooding after heavy rainstorms, but arguably that's a good policy anyway even in an ICE car (to avoid ingesting water into the intake and resulting hydraulic engine damage).

6 months is early in the life of the battery, get back to us when you have 2000 recharge cycles on the battery like that.

 

[RonDawg]

I would believe that RonDawg is correct in that excess heat can permanently degrade battery performance. An earlier post implied that Florida's warmer weather might therefore pose a problem, but I would claim that Florida's weather shouldn't necessarily influence your decision on that basis. I did a quick check of VW dealers in inland southern California, and one dealer in Palm Desert, CA had 5 eGolfs on the lot at the time. If VW has approved the sale of eGolfs in an area where the average high temperatures are up to 107 F in July, then I would think that southern Florida's highs in the low 90s should be well within VW's design parameters for ambient temperature.

True, but you forget about the effects of rain and water, in addition to the heat, and being a huge peninsula, on the effects of the battery, and VW requesting you keep it dry. It too, is in the owners manual, if you read it.

VW sells eGolfs in the rainy Pacific Northwest. And rainy/humid climates hasn't deterred Nissan and Tesla from selling their EVs in Florida or Hawaii. I've also have never heard of rain/humidity issues negatively affecting Leaf batteries. The Leaf's overwhelming Achilles Heel is the lack of heat tolerance of the batteries on the pre-2015 models (the jury is still out on whether the 2015+ "Lizard" pack better tolerates heat).

VW is not the only one limiting availability of their EV. Try buying a Kia Soul EV, Fiat 500e, or especially a Chevy Spark EV in Florida. As mentioned above, the real reason is that EV/PHEV sales to certain states count more than others in terms of eco-credits, and when your product has a limited availability, you want to limit those sales to areas where they will have the biggest impact.