[JamesW]

I have just had my charging cable replaced under guarantee. (1,500 miles & 11 weeks from delivery)

Initiation of charging was only happening first time about once in three attempts. Usually it worked the second time, but sometimes I had to unplug and re-insert the plug over and over again before the tell-tale 'click' from the charging unit, the lights starting their little dance, and charging getting under way. (Once started, however, it never failed to run to completion). It took me a long time to figure out what was happening and at first I used to play with all the buttons, lock and unlock the car, mutter dark oaths, and so on, until eventually, thank heaven, it always started. But recently I have pinned it down to this much simpler procedure of just unplugging and re-plugging until it clicked.

I contacted VW by email and after consulting their technical department they told me that some charging units had a faulty relay and they recommended getting the garage to try a new one. My garage went ahead and ordered in a replacement for me, which was just as well because there were apparently only two left in the country! (Methinks I may not be the only one who has had the problem!)

Fortunately the fault appeared in the workshop this morning so they were able to authorise the replacement under guarantee. This was good because intermittent electrical faults can be a nightmare to pin down, let alone prove.

They charged it for an hour in the workshop without trouble, which let me drive the 30 miles home in a relatively unrestrained way, leaving any enormous gas-guzzlers who decided to breathe down my neck puzzled little specks in the rear view mirror. And charging started first time when I got home. Not that I have entirely uncrossed my fingers.

So - if anyone else gets this problem - don't take three months, as I did, to realise that it isn't something you are doing wrong!

But, I just LOVE this little car.

 

[JamesW]

Woohoo! Glad you got it sorted.

Our little Up is in the garage at the moment for the charge port solenoid issue. - if your charging plug gets stuck in, you'll have this issue.

We are 2500 miles in and loving it too..

Also loving its big brother the Golf we are currently driving

So far the charge port has worked fine. More excitement for the future, perhaps...
The e-golf does seem to be a lovely car too, but I haven't tried one.

 

[JamesW]

Yes, this forum is great, but it would be nice to see a post from an e-up! owner who hasn't had charging problems! It's a little unsettling to see these problems arising in brand new cars. Perhaps it's the old internet problem of selectively hearing when things have gone wrong. If so, please join us, ye happy and contented owners out there. (Actually, I am happy and contented now that I have a new charging cable...)

Henry - My car-net app works well on my android (Nexus 5) phone, so much so that I hardly use the computer program to access it at all. I wonder whether re-installing your app would let you set up the PIN again. Probably you've tried that. Please say how you get on.

One evening mine went haywire while a normal charging process was going on, bearing no relationship to what was actually happening. It told me that the charging cable was unplugged when it clearly wasn't, and it actually showed the range having gone down at one point. Then the charging process terminated normally, after the expected time, with full battery when I checked the car.

Remote starting and stopping of the charging process seems a little hit and miss, but when it works it makes it easy to turn on the charging when the sun is shining and our solar panels are generating some, or in summer all, of the energy being used. Then we are quite literally running on sunshine.

 

[JamesW]

I never worked out how to get car-net working, the website always seemed to be borked. Am I really missing out on anything?

I don't have any trouble seeing it up but I use it almost entirely on my Android smartphone (it works on my Android tablet too). I wouldn't really want to be without it. In fact I did have a problem when it stopped updating and I actually booked it in with the dealer.
They seemed to reboot the system at the car end and it has been done since.
Whole it was in they implemented an official recall and replaced the charging cable (my third-the second having been faultless) and the relay which detects the cable beyond plugged in, also faultless. This was a big job and they had to order some sort of single-use gasket which VW would not let them order until they actually needed it, and then took two days to deliver it! But they lent me a brand new diesel Golf, reminding me how much I prefer the EV.
I use the so mainly to check the progress of charging, but I can also stop and restart charging remotely, and also start the air conditioning - provided the car is plugged in. It also tells me where it is parked. Reassuring to see it is still in the garage at home when you are on holiday, but my wife thought it was a bit intrusive when she got back after a walk with a friend and I said "how was Hartley Mawdit pond?" !

I'd recommend having another go at setting it up. Oh yes, last thing, it is seriously impressive when you show it off...

Good luck. Tell us how you get on.

 

[JamesW]

Apologies for all the typos in the above. I did it on my phone and Google was presumably trying to be helpful...

 

[JamesW]

For some reason the car net system hasn't updated all the data since mid May. If there a way to reset it at the car end? Would rather not loose any historic data though. Thanks, Joe

It sounds like the problem I had. Mine had stopped updating for more than a month by the time I contacted the dealer. I'm not quite clear what actually put it right because the main job turned out to be the work involved in the charge mechanism recall, but it did involve powering everything down and restarting it. Then when I tried it (from home while it was still in the garage 30 miles away!) it was working again. And it's been fine ever since.
If you do ask your dealer by all means tell them that I had the same problem. They might even contact Peter Cooper of Southampton to share experiences.
As for losing historical data- I have a complete record back to 13 December last year (for some reason, we took delivery in August) so although the data does not seen to go right back it was certainly not wiped by whatever they did in mid April.

 

[JamesW]

Eric, I believe the problem with charging cables long enough to get you all the way to town and back is that they entangle other cars and elderly people crossing roads. And hedgehogs. Not good.

But that really is bad news about the Chievely CCS because that is our half way point to a daughter's family in Oxford and we keep meaning to try it in the e-UP! You have to be able to rely on them.