The Life of Sparky the e-Golf

Shefwedfan

I think I might be the only e-Golf owner on boards so to try and persuade a few people to join me I have started this thread, I will update as I go along...Car is 151 e-Golf , 3.3kw charger with 26.5kWh battery.

Would like to thank everyone for the advice here, a few of my friends think I am nuts...I posted here on 15th of Feb and had car bought nearly a month later. My experience of electric is a weekend test drive of a Leaf...so you might say limited

I will say I am surprised there is not a lot more of these cars on the road. Very high spec and very comfy. I love the look of it but I have had Passat/Golf/A6/A3 in life so far so Golf Electric was easiest transition.

Picked up car yesterday and 150km range on clock with full charge.

Was on motorway at start so opened it up a bit and similar to Leaf was killing the battery. Once in cruise mode it settled down.

First error made. Battery was at 60km when I got home so I plugged in granny charger. Set up car-net and put up profile to charge only on night rate. I was thinking I was the right smart ar*e.

Checked app this morning and 60km range. F**k f**k f**k. I got a bit of power in before I left, stopped off for 20 mins at Dunboyne train station and then spent the day with car in low power mode which got me to work and then home with 5km left on car:P:P:P

Anyway just over 24 hours done. I did take it for a 20 min spin on back road earlier after a bit of a charge. It is dream to drive and alot more responsive in corner compared to previous Golf. Can't really comment on rest of driving as majority was in lowest power mode so it was good :P

One question, how do I pick out where a fast charger is from the app?

KCross

The biggest complaint about them seems to be the excessive price on them. Was it reasonable relative to Leaf/Ioniq/Golf diesel?

On the app you use the filter on the top left corner and only turn on the one blue checkbox that matches the Golf.... is it CCS it has?

From the inside of the eGolf does it look and feel the same as a petrol/diesel Golf?

I also see the energy efficient heat pump is a €1k optional extra :eek: Does yours have that?

Throw up a few pics, I havent seen a "real" one!

Shefwedfan

Well the Leaf is cheaper. You are probably talking 5k cheaper for SVE model versus the Golf. The Ioniq I have no idea as cant tell what depreciation would have been. In terms of e-Golf v diesel Golf they are similar priced based on quick looks at carzone. I didn't do a full analysis versus standard Golf. I did try and price new e-Golf but was harder than you would think. I ended up only getting a confirmed price for the Hybrid Golf.

The Ioniq is a lot lower to ground, my wife preferred the Golf because of this.

As far as I know it is CCS but as mentioned new to all this. Need to work that out, I charged from the same place as I connect the Leaf to at the train station

Inside is look and feel of Golf, alot more features than the previous model I had but very familiar. The last model I had was 2.0ltr diesel which was far too big of an engine for a Golf. It was quick or so I though. The e-Golf is a lot faster. Not on motorway at 120km but at lower speeds which is what I bought it for.....

n97 mini

It would appear (in the US anyway) that if you have a 3.3kw car then it doesn't have CCS? Over there the optional fast charge upgrade gives CCS and ~7kw charging.

unkel

You kept that quiet, we didn't see that coming!

Well wear. e-Golf is a very decent EV by all means. Haven't driven it myself but have read good reviews. Bjørn Nyland liked it, he was impressed with the build quality, cabin noise and the way it drives. And he has driven all EVs for many, many miles. Range of the e-Golf is not great, similar to Mk2 Leaf? I'm always surprised that the e-Golf is rarely mentioned here.

How much did you pay for it?

n97 mini

n97 mini wrote: »

It would appear (in the US anyway) that if you have a 3.3kw car then it doesn't have CCS? Over there the optional fast charge upgrade gives CCS and ~7kw charging.

Just read a UK review. Also says CCS is optional.

stesaurus

If you have rapid charging it will be easy to tell, you'll have a CCS scket. Does your charger socket look like this

As far as I was aware it only sold with rapid over here so should be.

Why isn't there more owners? Simple it's really over priced compared to the Leaf. Similar to the i3 but at least with an i3 you'll get far more performance than the Leaf. eGolf would be very much the same as a Leaf, just dearer.

goz83

I didn't even consider the e-golf because of the price. They are a nice car though.

DrPhilG

All the best with the car, the Golf does look nice.

However...

Shefwedfan wrote: »

As far as I know it is CCS but as mentioned new to all this. Need to work that out, I charged from the same place as I connect the Leaf to at the train station

You bought an EV without knowing whether it had fast charging capability???

cros13

AFAIK CCS is standard in Ireland on the e-Golf.

Yeah... the only reason they're not popular is the price, the restricted number of dealers selling them and those dealers pushing people away from them.

stesaurus

If it's Phil's one then it has CCS.

To see where there are rapid chargers for CCS you need to change the filters in the ecars map/app as it defaults to chademo.

Manic Moran

goz83 wrote: »

I didn't even consider the e-golf because of the price. They are a nice car though.

This. I took a look at the 2015 e-Golf before deciding to go with the Passat diesel for not many more dollars after walking into the VW showroom fairly intent on the e-Golf. Getting the Passat was a decision I in no way regret.

With the Passat being retired next year, I'm already hunting around a bit for the replacement. I'm afraid to say that for the price for the equipment options, the Focus and Ioniq are both ahead of it on the shopping list. VW needs to bring the price down to compete for my business: If the Ford doesn't get it, the Hyundai will.

Shefwedfan

DrPhilG wrote: »

All the best with the car, the Golf does look nice.

However...


You bought an EV without knowing whether it had fast charging capability???

I know it can fast charge. I just dont know where and how to fast charge:P

Gumbo

s.welstead wrote: »

If it's Phil's one then it has CCS.

To see where there are rapid chargers for CCS you need to change the filters in the ecars map/app as it defaults to chademo.

It is Phil's one. The OP posted about it last week.

Unkel, you must be going blind

Best of luck OP but you'll have to change the birst cert, I've already christened my Leaf as Sparky

Shefwedfan

unkel wrote: »

You kept that quiet, we didn't see that coming!

Well wear. e-Golf is a very decent EV by all means. Haven't driven it myself but have read good reviews. Bjørn Nyland liked it, he was impressed with the build quality, cabin noise and the way it drives. And he has driven all EVs for many, many miles. Range of the e-Golf is not great, similar to Mk2 Leaf? I'm always surprised that the e-Golf is rarely mentioned here.

How much did you pay for it?

Car was 22k

Wife was outside today and said it is quieter than the Leaf, it does seem to be from the inside.

The range is circa 150km. Enought to get me around to be honest. Even my weekend trips to Cavan ever so often I should make down on a full tank

Shefwedfan

s.welstead wrote: »

If you have rapid charging it will be easy to tell, you'll have a CCS scket. Does your charger socket look like this

As far as I was aware it only sold with rapid over here so should be.

Why isn't there more owners? Simple it's really over priced compared to the Leaf. Similar to the i3 but at least with an i3 you'll get far more performance than the Leaf. eGolf would be very much the same as a Leaf, just dearer.

Thats the socket. I know it can fast charge. I just dont know how to pick on map where they are?

If I open the app I pick StandardType2 to get the normal charge points. If I want fast charge do I pick FastAC43? or ComboCCS? I wasn't sure yesterday so just went to place that I knew would work to top me up

Public charging is not critical. I plan 99% of the time to charge at home. Just if something comes up like yesterday I better figure out how and where to go :P

KCross

ComboCCS

stesaurus

ComboCCS is what you're looking for. Any CCS units will be triple chargers that can also do AC43 (Renault Zoe) and Chademo (Leaf). Both CCS and Chademo use DC charging so can only accommodate 1 of these at a time. SO if you come across a Leaf charging you'll need to wait.
There's no way you'll get 150km range from the eGolf unless you're doing all local driving at moderate speeds.

unkel

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Car was 22k

Thanks for getting back! That is big money, a new Leaf would have been cheaper and a new Ioniq only a few grand more

That said, I do recognise the e-Golf is a seriously good car, more upmarket than either Leaf or Ioniq, better interior, and will probably keep its value better. Albeit a car with a fairly limited range (which doesn't bother you and wouldn't really bother me that much either)

n97 mini

SVE/Tekna Leaf has a very nice interior! Shame the Irish spec Ioniq only comes with nylon/plastic interior, so you're right there. Does the e-golf have Leather?

Shefwedfan

n97 mini wrote: »

SVE/Tekna Leaf has a very nice interior! Shame the Irish spec Ioniq only comes with nylon/plastic interior, so you're right there. Does the e-golf have Leather?

No leather seats in it, it is material. I had option to buy Leaf, a 171 24kWh SVE Leaf would have cost the same money as the Golf......

Don't really want to get into a Leaf v Golf conversation because it will only end up one way.

goz83

n97 mini wrote: »

SVE/Tekna Leaf has a very nice interior! Shame the Irish spec Ioniq only comes with nylon/plastic interior, so you're right there. Does the e-golf have Leather?

I was really turned off by the lack of options in the Irish Ioniq (choose from 5 colours....2 are grey). I had written to Hyundai Ireland about it and they confirmed that it would not be possible for me to order one with Leather seats, even though the UK customers could. The grey bumper was another turn off and the bev had less spec than the hybrid. That said, I very near ordered one. The sales man killed the sale by not contacting me back about a test drive.

pwurple

Shefwedfan wrote: »

I know it can fast charge. I just dont know where and how to fast charge:P

Go to the ecars esb website, and browse map for the chargers.

https://www.esb.ie/our-businesses/ecars/charge-point-map

Shefwedfan

goz83 wrote: »

I was really turned off by the lack of options in the Irish Ioniq (choose from 5 colours....2 are grey). I had written to Hyundai Ireland about it and they confirmed that it would not be possible for me to order one with Leather seats, even though the UK customers could. The grey bumper was another turn off and the bev had less spec than the hybrid. That said, I very near ordered one. The sales man killed the sale by not contacting me back about a test drive.

Hyundai Fairview had a leather hybrid Ioniq. I think it was 2k extra. If they can do it on the Hybrid they can do it on the Full electric

For whatever reason with Hyundai they never seem to have leather as option. I went to buy an ix35 a few years back and it was same, company would do for 2k. My mate bought the Santa Fei and had to get leather added to it by another company

Height was the issue with Ioniq. Also the slopping seat in back, putting kids in and out of seat would become a problem for Misses. Otherwise I would be driving one now.

unkel

Leather is overrated anyway. Having had leather in nearly all of my cars, I'm looking forward to having cloth this time. Leather should of course be an option, it usually is as a manufacturer makes far more margin on options than on the car itself.

I get the impression that the demand for the Ioniq is far higher than the supply, so they have to impose restrictions on what you can order so they can maximise production. Obviously increasing production is not possible for them at this time (dunno why not)

Shefwedfan

unkel wrote: »

Leather is overrated anyway. Having had leather in nearly all of my cars, I'm looking forward to having cloth this time. Leather should of course be an option, it usually is as a manufacturer makes far more margin on options than on the car itself.

I get the impression that the demand for the Ioniq is far higher than the supply, so they have to impose restrictions on what you can order so they can maximise production. Obviously increasing production is not possible for them at this time (dunno why not)

It does depend on the leather of course. I loved the leather in the A6

The leather used on other model cars to be honest is uncomfortable and I don't like it. Sat into a Hybrid Toyota C-HR with leather and it was horrible.

unkel

Aye, I had a '96 BMW 7-series with the seats upgraded to electric memory comfort seats with nappa leather. An £8k upgrade when the car was new

They were lovely alright!

goz83

unkel wrote: »

Leather is overrated anyway. Having had leather in nearly all of my cars, I'm looking forward to having cloth this time. Leather should of course be an option, it usually is as a manufacturer makes far more margin on options than on the car itself.

I get the impression that the demand for the Ioniq is far higher than the supply, so they have to impose restrictions on what you can order so they can maximise production. Obviously increasing production is not possible for them at this time (dunno why not)

If they can produce it as an option in the UK, they can do it for here too. They just decided that it was easier to have no options and take advantage of the fact that orders were going to be out the door anyway. I was annoyed that the Irish were getting treated as second class buyers.

Shefwedfan

Home charge point installed. Happy days!!!!

n97 mini

unkel wrote: »

Leather is overrated anyway.

Having ordered a plastic interior you're not biased either!

Have had leather in every car since '06. You generally get the top spec with leather, so it's not just about the leather itself. And if you have young kids then the leather pays for itself in terms of cleaning.

unkel

goz83 wrote: »

If they can produce it as an option in the UK

You know well it is not an option in the UK. There are two trim levels, the higher one has leather. If you order the higher one, the wait is even several months longer. I agree though that there's no reason Ireland couldn't have the same two trim levels (we only get the lower one without leather)

You also know you can order leather in Ireland, but it will be fitted at dealer level, not from factory

n97 mini wrote: »

if you have young kids then the leather pays for itself in terms of cleaning.

I've had young kids for the past 13 years and all our family cars during this time came with leather. In all that time, one of the kids puked. Once. Not on the leather but on the carpet in the footwell. Leather is overrated in my experience. Also not comfy when it is warm and not comfy when it is cold. Looking forward to cloth. Hope the kids won't start puking now

goz83

unkel wrote: »

You know well it is not an option in the UK. There are two trim levels, the higher one has leather. If you order the higher one, the wait is even several months longer.

My mistake. I was making the point that the UK customer can get "factory" leather. It may not be a stand alone option, but they can get it.

unkel wrote: »

I agree though that there's no reason Ireland couldn't have the same two trim levels (we only get the lower one without leather)

The lower spec that we have is not the same as the UK lower spec. We get a couple of things they don't....so it's more like a middle spec.

unkel wrote: »

You also know you can order leather in Ireland, but it will be fitted at dealer level, not from factory

Knowing that I would be paying for cloth seats AND leather seats would bother me. It's just as easy to to put leather in as it is to put cloth in, so to me it makes no sense not to have the option.

unkel wrote: »

I've had young kids for the past 13 years and all our family cars during this time came with leather. In all that time, one of the kids puked. Once. Not on the leather but on the carpet in the footwell. Leather is overrated in my experience. Also not comfy when it is warm and not comfy when it is cold. Looking forward to cloth. Hope the kids won't start puking now

It's not so much the puke, or lack thereof. It's more the dirt that builds up and can't be cleaned out of cloth seats when you have kids. I used to be a car valeter and there is a point where the dirt can't be fully removed and the colour of the seats fade. The Ioniq looks way better with the leather seats. The cloth seats are just horrible....but I know that's a matter of taste. To me, they look like early noughty Fiat Brava cloth seats. The Black ones are nice, but they don't come with the Irish BEV model.

Shefwedfan

So update on life with Electric Car/Golf(not getting into the whole acronyms yet)

Have car 2 weeks now. After first day issue with charging have had no major problems. I have it set to charge at night rate and also to be nice and toasty when I leave house in morning so that was a start. I cannot understand how anyone would buy electric car and then not get home point installed.

The VW Car-Net app is not great. I can tell it to start charging and turn on A/C but it won't allow me to set up profiles etc for charging. Call in with VW to fix this

Driving wise the car is perfect, very nippy and great for back roads. I like the ability to pick 3 regen options. Majority of the time I haven't turned it on but from today starting with Regen 3 and trying to use "single pedal driving". Also I should pick the mode each time I jump in, if going for long journey. Will start that from now on. Really have drove it like I would a diesel/petrol car and getting Avg Consumption of 3.2 mpkWh. Not 100% sure what that means

Apart from that a couple of nice features in car, it has its own wifi system. So when driving you can connect phone/laptop to wifi and work away. Bit hard when driving at same time. DAB radio system is great for RTEjr radio to keep kids quiet.

Boot is great, double buggy fits. I haven't tried the 3 car seats yet, I need to swap out Axiss first but space looks good.

I do get a lot of funny looks, especially in city driving etc. Confused looks when no noise out of car and then I go spinning off. :P As it looks exactly like Golf most people just expect the tractor roar of a diesel.

So far so good....

unkel

Shefwedfan wrote: »

getting Avg Consumption of 3.2 mpkWh. Not 100% sure what that means

It means you are getting an average range of max. 108km, which is not bad.

(3.2 * 1.609 * 21kWh usable)

Show us a pic of the 3 car seats when you try!

Shefwedfan

unkel wrote: »

It means you are getting an average range of max. 108km, which is not bad.

(3.2 * 1.609 * 21kWh usable)

Show us a pic of the 3 car seats when you try!

Ahh it will be a while yet, number 3 not even arrived yet :-)

108km not bad but I am not driving it right. Haven't used regen properly and not putting into correct mode. Based on feedback on other forums I should always put into Eco and regen 3 which I don't do.

My driving style for electric is wrong, at the moment I am flying up to corner, breaking so regen sits at Max for a few secs and then hit the power coming out of corner:D floor it coming out of corner might be better description:P so I use very little of the regen. Took a little trip with regen at 3 and I shouldn't need to hit brakes at all if I do it properly. Also Eco mode jumps from 70km on clock to 80km on clock so that would make a difference.

I plan on doing a trip to Cavan next weekend so that will be the big test. See how many KM I can have left on clock when I hit parents house

unkel

You're driving it just right

Shefwedfan

unkel wrote: »

You're driving it just right

Sorry let me put that right, my driving style doesn't suit getting the max KM out of the car.

Really I haven't needed to, yesterday I took 5 - 6 trips, which would normal (Works, schools, shops). When I parked up last night I had 50km left in car

So as I thought, normal day to day driving I have no issues. It is really only going to be the odd day I will need to go further and I have my big durty diesel for that....

peposhi

Seen your Audi this morning,more at machine!
Sure you miss it... A little

DrPhilG

Shefwedfan wrote: »

my driving style doesn't suit getting the max KM out of the car.

Nor does mine, nor do I want it to!

I did spend a long time at the start trying to maximise my range, farting around with B and D modes, Eco always on etc.

Now I can still do that if I'm on a long trip and need to be cautious, but my day to day driving is foot down, Eco off, D mode all the way. Way more fun!

Shefwedfan

peposhi wrote: »

Seen your Audi this morning,more at machine!
Sure you miss it... A little

Did you mean "what a machine"?

Yeah I miss it, beautiful car. If it wasn't so hard on diesel in town.

peposhi

Shefwedfan wrote:

Yeah I miss it, beautiful car. If it wasn't so hard on diesel in town.

Shefwedfan wrote:

Did you mean "what a machine"?

Hahaha, typo there, my bad.
Yes... what a machine...
... somehow Audi always have catched my eye. I still miss the style of my A4 Avant (not the expenses connected to it lol)

Shefwedfan

Question and this is from Misses, do you find you hit many tweety birds? I nailed one yesterday who had a surprised look on face as he smashed into car

Misses nailed 2 this morning dropping kids off(the murdering b*tch)

But just wondering if others find they are hitting birds as car is silent?

KCross

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Question and this is from Misses, do you find you hit many tweety birds? I nailed one yesterday who had a surprised look on face as he smashed into car

Misses nailed 2 this morning dropping kids off(the murdering b*tch)

But just wondering if others find they are hitting birds as car is silent?

Your turn of phrase brought a smile to my face this morning! :pac:

No tweety bird issues for me anyway. Maybe ye are just driving too fast, with all that extra torque, for tweety bird to get out of the way!?

goz83

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Question and this is from Misses, do you find you hit many tweety birds? I nailed one yesterday who had a surprised look on face as he smashed into car

Misses nailed 2 this morning dropping kids off(the murdering b*tch)

But just wondering if others find they are hitting birds as car is silent?

What I have noticed is how careless people are with their own lives when crossing roads, especially in residential areas. They cross at an angle with their back to traffic and without so much as a glance to see if anything is coming. I suppose they might ordinarily expect to hear the sound of an engine, but not all ICE cars are noisy and cyclists can also do some damage if they hit pedestrians. I actually witnessed two women in their early twenties and a teenager with a stroller (and child) crossing the road at such an angle that it would have been at least a good 50 metres before they reached the other side. The face of them when I beeped to get them off the road :pac:

n97 mini

Shefwedfan wrote: »

and getting Avg Consumption of 3.2 mpkWh. Not 100% sure what that means

Can you change that to metric? Most of us would use kwh per 100km. Yours is working out at 19.4kwh/100km. In comparison, ours is on 14.8.

Shefwedfan

n97 mini wrote: »

Can you change that to metric? Most of us would use kwh per 100km. Yours is working out at 19.4kwh/100km. In comparison, ours is on 14.8.

Will have a look when it returns, I can't get my hands on it now as Miss Shefwed has taken a shine to it....all I got this morning was "its nippy" :P

DrPhilG

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Avg Consumption of 3.2 mpkWh. Not 100% sure what that means

I get around 3.3 to 3.4 m/kwh.

cros13

I average around the 15kWh/100km mark. But I don't drive slow

stesaurus

cros13 wrote: »

I average around the 15kWh/100km mark. But I don't drive slow

My average is about 19kWh so you must be driving a fair bit slower than me! Or does the Rex make a difference to that calc?

Shefwedfan

n97 mini wrote: »

Can you change that to metric? Most of us would use kwh per 100km. Yours is working out at 19.4kwh/100km. In comparison, ours is on 14.8.

Ok changed to it today...forgot to do it before

Done a 50 min spin, all in around City Centre. Was running at 13.1 kwh/100km average.

Done another 50 min spin and this time I was out on motorway for 30 mins of it and was doing up to 120km and was getting 14.5 kwh/100km

Shefwedfan

Ok, want to do a Fast Charge test tomorrow. Quickly looked at maps and from what I can see if there is one in Blanchardstown and one in Ashbourne?