Audi A3 e-tron B-Mode discovered (bug by race condition)

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etronfan

Active member
Joined
May 10, 2019
Messages
30
Hello Everyone,

I wanted to share with you something I discovered.
I consider this a bug by race condition that allows to have the B-Mode like Toyota Hybrids and the Golf GTE for example. The Audi A3-etron lacks this functionality and i find it a little bit annoying. My dealership and the owner manual doesn't specify it.

I invite you to watch this little video.
It will allow you to be in Sport mode while being in full EV, and have the automatic regen braking when lifting the foot from the acceleration pedal.

I am interested to see if it is working on the latest models and / or cars delivered in other countries than Switzerland.

https://youtu.be/OgiFIB4PlNE
 
I don't really understand what the issue is with just leaving the car over in manual shift mode while on full-electric; what's the issue there?
 
HI Nuje,

the issue is that normally you cannot have EV mode when in "Sport." Why is this desirable?? Sport mode has much stronger energy recovery. EV+Sport gives you better recovery without running the gas engine.
 
Hello Nuje,

I am not a mechanic but here are my thoughts :

- Modern automatic cars shift gears up automatically in manual mode when going too high in RPMs in order to avoid damage to the engine. Is being electric any different ? i don't know.

- As said in the video, with my car, if i let it in manual in EV, and it changes gear up automatically , the change is brutal, so it feels wrong, and i wouldn't want to mess with that

- If my car ever decides for any reason (ex : low EV) to go into gas mode, and i am in first gear at 40-50 KM/H, well i m not sure that's good (cold engine, brutal change of gear)

- Now i know with EV+S that the brakes are not used anymore (except for the full stops), and the regen is a bit better

All of this combined i never used the manual mode in EV
 
Interesting discussion here. So what I do is this: Drive in electric mode and coast as much as you can to get the best range possible. Be aware of lights, etc and time it so you know exactly when you need to start slowing down. When you need to brake, pull the stick down into sport mode and use the regeneration to slow your car down. It won't turn on the gas engine as long as you don't press the gas pedal (which is what starts it) in this state. Basically, timing it right allows you the best of both worlds. Figuring out this timing becomes a "game" which makes driving this car so enjoyable. I try not to use the brakes as much as possible and just try and use sport mode to slow down. This should make your brakes last longer (saving you money from brake replacement), save you money with gas, and fill you with delight (satisfaction) when you actually do time it perfectly.

I mostly use the car for just driving to work and back (includes dropping kids off and picking them up). I recently was able to travel 1015 miles on a single tank of gas, for an average of 109 miles per gallon. It's my new record :)
 
Well, if this trick I found is working for you, you won’t need to worry about pressing the pedal in S mode that would turn on the engine ;)
 
This works for my 2016 model.

It saves having to hunt around for manual gears when you want regen braking/one pedal driving.

Good shout, thanks for the tip.
 
You are welcome. Another tip.
If you go into any other gear mode (P, N, R) you have to go back in D mode. Otherwise, when you ll go back in D, it will be put in hold.

Hard to explain but just go back in D from S in order to avoid the motor
 
I'm going to totally try this tomorrow on my LA commute.

I had to read the OP post a few times to understand what the OP was trying to say he discovered. But I understand it now. EV mode AND Sport mode's regenerative braking, for one pedal driving in EV mode, not having to change modes and not use gas, and maximize regenerative braking.

I was doing what "theshank" says he does of shifting to Sport to slow down and stop. That's fine except for the constant switching out of Hold to EV with the switch, after you start to move again. Its alot of work in stop and go traffic. If this works for me, it might be pretty amazing if I can use all EV on my commute that is 25 miles and is 60% freeway, 40% street. Almost all of it in stop and go freeway traffic or congested streets. Right now I use Hybrid mode on uncongested freeway stretches because all EV is usually short about 3-5 miles. All EV + the regnerative braking, I might not need to use any gas.

Thanks in advance I'll let you all know how it goes.
 
What Driving Mode should I be in? I used Comfort on my commute today, and this secret B-Mode worked poorly. I ran out of battery quicker than not using B-Mode, maybe because of no coasting?

I felt the brake regeneration every time I took my foot off the gas. And I saw it on my gauge but I kept losing battery quickly. I lost all my battery in stop and go freeway traffic, about 50% through my commute. I normally run out of battery about 70%-75% through my commute.

I saw no battery regeneration at all even with a long stretch of high speed brake regeneration slowing. I see some battery increase from brake regneration in normal Sport mode. I see none with this B-Mode.

Any tips? Should I be in Dynamic Driving Mode?
 
Hello,

Those settings normally don't have any impact on the battery consumption or regen.
For myself i had a little increase of range. But of course, the more you coast, the more you regen.
Just today on a 5 KM coasting, i was able to regen around 6 KMs in S EV, without using any breaking, and yesterday i was able to get around 20 Km on a 15 Km coast.
 
Interesting fact.
When i was doing this 15-18km downhille yesterday, i got fully charged. I wondered what would happen if the battery is full and there is a big downhill.

Well, even if you are in EV, the motor will then turn on in order to have the motor breaking.
It still continued to slightly charge but the motor was around 3000 RPM in order to try to slow down the car.

Seems to have been well thought.
 
So thank you etronfan for discovering this hidden mode. But it doesn't seem useful for stop and go daily commuting. My battery runs out much faster than if I use EV on streets and shift to Sports to stop. And Hybrid on the highway.

I think I get more distance out of regular EV mode because the car coasts on flat ground vs, your B mode which slows down the car to try to regenerate. The problem is that I see no gain on my battery gauge at all in this mode. Even in regular EV but using Sport to slowdown and stop, I see a tiny bit of regeneration. In your B mode I see none, even on short steep downhill stretches where I might see some regeneration in regular Sport mode.
My commute doesn't involve any 10km stretches of downhill, so I'm getting zero regeneration on mostly flat ground in this B mode.

I suppose if I know I'll be going downhill for a long stretch, I will try it, but it doesn't have any day to day practicality for me. But unfortunately this doesn't work for me for normal commuting driving with lots of stopping and traffic.

Thanks however for finding this. You truly discovered a feature that was unknown before.
 
I'm not sure if this comment is useful or relevant, but anyway...

I don't have any long downhills but I do start my morning fully charged and go directly to active regen braking in EV mode using the tip in this thread.
There is a small hill I go down 1 minute into my journey and I notice that there is no regen braking, only coasting.

I assume that this is because the battery is full (or as full as the software will allow) therefore the battery can't store the regen power.

Once I have driven for a few minutes more I note that regen braking becomes "normal" and one pedal driving is possible.
 
Hello,

Exactly. If you are fully charged, you will be coasting, even in S EV, so no regen braking.
It will do that in order to avoid breaking the electric motor system.
If the downhill is way too strong (which is not your case here), the fuel motor will kick in to slow down the car.
 
Hello,

In battery hold, your car will try to keep the same level of battery.
In this mode, you will alternate between the electric and fuel motor.

If you drive in the city with this mode, the battery might lose power.
If you are on the highway, it will charge a bit.


In battery charge, you will use a lot of fuel (more then 8 or 10 L/100KM) in order to charge the battery. The electric motor will never be used.

I tried it and my fuel tank was being "emptied" quite fast.
 
Hi, there is another way more easy to find B-mode in our´s ETRON´s.
When you are driving in EV mode, don´t matther the gear, put the manual mode, and then, very quicky, put the gear in S-mode automatic.
You can drive in B-mode (S mode with full EV drive)
 
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