[no ice]

I recently bought a 2015 golf GTE. The most I get on the display after a full charge is 17miles and when I drive it carefully it manages no more than 9 miles ! It’s done 57k miles with a full VW service history. In regen mode it’s only ever managed to re gen 1 mile
It’s booked in with my local dealer next week for investigation. They want £60 to look at it initially. Does anyone know of this sort of low battery performance?

 

[grump young guy]

I have a 1 week old GTE and on full charge shows 22 miles.
In this temperature that goes down pretty quickly, I get around 15 before the engine kicks in.

I suppose with a little battery degradation (which is expected with any battery) those figures aren’t a million miles away although 9 is on the low side.

 

[tom66]

Have you checked what the indicated range is with the climate control OFF? (Press the 'OFF' button - both displays should read 'OFF' - heated rear screen and heated seats should also be off.)

 

[no ice]

ok , so thats a bit reassuring then. It may also be that I have the climate turned up quite high.
I was expecting it to work out cheaper for the electricity than petrol . However at 9 miles on a full charge and 13p per kWh at home to charge 8.7kw battery it’s approx 12p per mile !
I’m was wondering why Great western railway have 25 empty charging bays at their new Worcester parkway station that says their rate is 30p per kWh . Now I can understand why ! That’s almost double the cost of petrol!

 

[no ice]

Have you checked what the indicated range is with the climate control OFF? (Press the 'OFF' button - both displays should read 'OFF' - heated rear screen and heated seats should also be off.)

Yes, I was thinking to do that on my next charge ! But then I have to drive with my coat on ! Lol
I am waiting for VW to register the app so that I can pre heat the car in the morning off the mains, that will be very nice!

 

[Tooks]

Yes, I was thinking to do that on my next charge ! But then I have to drive with my coat on ! Lol
I am waiting for VW to register the app so that I can pre heat the car in the morning off the mains, that will be very nice!

What @tom66 means is that when you first get into the car, press the climate control and heated seats/window off and the estimated range should go up. Press climate on again and it will go down. All you’re seeing is the cars estimate of the electric only range achievable at the current battery state of charge, in the current temperature and with the car configuration as is (heating etc). Change any of those variables, and the estimate changes as well.

As for getting only 9 miles before the engine kicks in, that is pretty low, in my 4 years and 90k+ miles in a GTE I don’t recall ever getting that low a figure! You still need to drive appropriately, and pre-heating the car whilst plugged in (which helps warm the battery too) will help get that to 15 miles or so.

On the pre-heat front, you should be able to set pre-departure times using the cars menus, you don’t need the app?

 

[stevelup]

I don't have a GTE - I have a BMW 530e - but can echo the above statement. Pre-conditioning whilst connected to power is crucial to maximising range. At this time of the year, I get about 19 miles range if I pre-heat, 13-14 if I don't.

 

[GTEowner]

I'd recommend scheduling the charging so it completes just before you use the car in the morning, that way you've got some heat in the pack and it'll perform a little better.

If you have the climate set to "Hi" it uses a lot more power (6kW) than if it's set to a temperature (3kW and less).

See where you can get range meter too with the climate and everything else turned off, if is consistently below 18 miles you're probably near the the threshold to be eligible for a nice new pack, certainly stick with it and I'm sure you'll get one before the battery warranty expires.

 

[gladini]

In regen mode it’s only ever managed to re gen 1 mile

Do you mean when you press the eMode button by the gear lever, and then on the screen display you select battery charge mode ?

Or do you mean when the battery has gone down to zero, and the engine has kicked in and it's running in Hybrid mode ?

Ref the latter, the second state, I collected my car at Heathrow yesterday and it had 0 on the GOM, and leaving it to its own devices it took over half an hour / 20+miles along M25 + other motorway before it got to 2 on the GOM.

If though you use eMode button > battery charge mode, and it doesn't put more than one mile in after 30mins or so or driving, then something is def wrong. (PS the fuel consumption during this will be 30-35mpg max, it's horrendous.)

 

[tom66]

On the Mk7 GTE the charge rate under Battery Charge mode is barely faster than the mains cable - about 3kW while idling, and at most 6.5kW when driving. This equates to charging the battery fully within 1-2 hours. AND the fuel economy is still terrible!

 

[DutchGTE]

Most of the things have already been said above, but check the following things when getting in as 17 miles indicated is way too low for a fully charged battery:

• AC/heater/blower off (just press the off button next to the dial)
• Wing mirror heating off
• Heated seats off
• Heated rear window off

My GTE gives 45 km when fully charged, which equates to 28 miles, even in the cold (3 ºC).

 

[Gee Tulp Eee]

Have you checked to see you don't have a 'Lower Charge Limit' set at 50, 60 or 75% and an erroneous recurring departure time? You should set the limit to 100% to be sure, and set your own departure times to enable pre-heating.

 

[gladini]

On the Mk7 GTE the charge rate under Battery Charge mode is barely faster than the mains cable - about 3kW while idling, and at most 6.5kW when driving. This equates to charging the battery fully within 1-2 hours. AND the fuel economy is still terrible!

Set the units display to km per 100 wots-it (the bottom one of the 3 choices), the one that shows -ive numbers in the instant fuel usage readout in the between-dials trip computer

Then try at 15mph traffic jam, 30mpg urban, and 60-70mph dual cabbage/motorway
The surprise is that walking speeds up to 15mph produces the fastest recharging. (But you'll cry at the unleaded mpg)