So, some miscommunication about A3 Etron charging

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bobbisox51

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Aug 14, 2018
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Picked up the 2018 A3 Etron this week. Noticed that the battery drained down quickly and didn't recharge when I brake, as I had been told by the dealer. I gathered the only way to recharge the battery is to plug it in. That's a key little nugget of info that wasn't shared accurately. Have others had the same experience, and curious how long the fully charged battery last? Also, what's the best mode to drive the car in to get greater benefit from this hybrid??? (and I'm a little more than annoyed about what I told and the reality)
 
bobbisox51":3mokfnlk said:
Picked up the 2018 A3 Etron this week. Noticed that the battery drained down quickly and didn't recharge when I brake, as I had been told by the dealer. I gathered the only way to recharge the battery is to plug it in. That's a key little nugget of info that wasn't shared accurately. Have others had the same experience, and curious how long the fully charged battery last? Also, what's the best mode to drive the car in to get greater benefit from this hybrid??? (and I'm a little more than annoyed about what I told and the reality)

Its kind of weird as I haven't been able to totally figure this out myself, but the regen braking only works in dynamic mode/battery hold, however during this mode it purely uses the gas engine and it won't do the regen braking when you are in ev mode is what I noticed.
 
You wont see your KM's go up with regen braking. Actually that's not entirely true, I have noticed it once in the nearly 2 years of having this car. It's because the amount of energy you get from regen is fairly negligible, so you would only see it if you are very close to an increment (ie i saw my charge status bar go from red to two white bars).

In the 'power' meter (depends on how you have your virtual cockpit configured) when the indicator dips below the resting state, you are regenerating. There is a bottom threshold bar, and if you are braking hard enough to hit that, any harder braking is done by standard disc brakes (ie regen cannot slow you down that hard, so conventional brakes needed).

I think this stuff is in the manual, but I have picked up a lot by reading through other's posts on this forum. There is a lot of information to learn about this car, it's not your standard gas and brake vehicle..


Ian
 
I think what Ian says is accurate. Regen braking returns very little energy to the batteries but when the gauge dips below horizontal you are regenerating a little bit.

I've found the best way to drive this car is to coast as much as possible. It's amazing how far you can go with just occasional pressure on the accelerator and trying to anticipate braking so far ahead of time that you don't even need to. If I have to brake so hard that I peg the energy meter downward and get into the disc brakes I fell like i've lost the "game" and I'm just turning energy into waste heat.

When I run out of battery charge I'll usually switch to sport mode which greatly increases the regen braking. The regen braking becomes so aggressive it practically becomes a single pedal driving experience. In Sport mode with stop and go traffic you'll even see the battery charge slowly increase (of course you're burning gas the whole time).
 
I have the 2015 a3 e-tron - as you probably know mid 2016 the Hybrid Auto Battery Charge mode was removed. i think thats a shame - but you do have to think about how you use the car to get the benefits. Burning gas to charge the battery will never be efficient - but the trick is to save the battery for the petrol heavy bits of the journey - I see the battery as a means of deleting the inefficient slots of the journey. I also get obsessive with trying to do one leg of a journey without starting the engine- and when it kicks in get upset if I cant drive it until its nice and hot (although it doesnt actually tell me how hot it is). The car feels unhappy when its battery is low - so when on a long trip without charging being able to (very slowly) top it up in anticipation of some city driving feels cool (even if its possibly pointless)

Im hearing that later e-tron have annual fixed service intervals - mine is not fixed and it seems to be suggesting two year inspections. I assume they have changed that for a reason so will get it inspected when it needs an annual MOT.

The audi home charger has I believe a 10a and 5a option (100% and 50%- am I right) but the 10a is only a bit slower than a Type 2 charger so a home charge point Ive decided isnt worthwhile (well until we have another ev) but I had to get a different 3pin uk plug to type2 10a charger anyway as I wanted a really long charge cable to avoid using power extension leads.

I have discovered that using kick down when in electric mode is most upsetting and should be avoided -its also really hesitant, redlines the engine and is most undignified - but instead moving from EV to battery hold/sport mode by moving the gearselector back starts the engine smoother and ramps up the regen so you get a form of 'single pedal' driving where the foot position controls the speed rather than the acceleration- this is great fun in the Welsh twisty roads and avoids constant braking. It doesnt hit the economy especialy , I assume because it stores stuff int he battery and then switches to battery whenever you slow right down or stop- its quite intelligent how it handles heavy traffic. On a tank im getting 75-85mpg which is far better than the a3 diesel I had before. This car is however no quattro... :( I am using it for more shorter trips since Im not going to start the engine - that inflates the economy. However its important to remember that one mile of electric driving - in almost stationary traffic - is worth a whole lot of petrol and engine wear not to mention emissions which the car can't really measure.

I hate the way the regen hands over to the brakes but Im getting better at minimising the reverse kangaroo stopping. As rgards regn, on my way back from the Horseshoe Pass to home (its a high beauty spot) the 15 mile journey only uses nine miles of electricity! Regen seems higher in battery hold and recharge mode. In hybrid auto it only seems to happen under braking (even on cruise)

The manual explains that I must lift my foot off the gas completely for the engine to decouple and go into coasting mode (something my driving instructor told me years ago was a bad thing but there you are)

I dont know what trim my secomnd hand etron is, but it seems pretty high. No leather seats but electric folding mirros, cruise control (not adaptive), gps, traffic via data (enabled by audi for a year when i asked about subscribing), all round parking sensors (no camera). I use cruise a lot and i think that calms ny driving style. Dab/infotinment/cd/sd/bluetooth - and get this - I can play a DVD on the folding screen (? but why?). Its keyless - so i keep the key in a rfi safe at home...

Its heavy on corners, and pulling out of t-junctions (in ev mode) its very easy to lift a front wheel and break contact (my quattro NEVER EVER did that even in the wet) but I just need to lighten my clog I guess....

This car is the most fun to own of any I have had. I love sneaking out of the drive in EV mode and I really enjoy the sport/hold drive option that trasforms the car. I also keep switching modes obsessively (and possibly pointlessly) - so the automatic gearbox isn't at all boring ..... and I even like occasionally park/charging it when Im at a location for a couple of hours. Ive noticed that when charging it makes a whirring noise - so i guess there are shed loads of things to wear out even in the EV part.....
 
I haven't been on this forum for a few years, but the following information may be of use. I posted it on one or more of the A3 e-tron forums about four years ago.

The etron EVSE has a 100% or 50% charging option (not 10A or 5A) as the etron can detect exactly what type of plug is being used on the supply cable.
The cable from the wall socket to the EVSE signals to the EVSE by means of a "link" resistor in said cable.
The restive element incorporated into the "Link" corresponds to:

16A 2P + E Blue commando plug (IEC-60309) Link resistance = 1.195k ohm
16A 3P + N + E Red commando plug (IEC-60309) Link resistance = 1.195k ohm
13A 2P + E Standard UK 13A Plug (BS 1363/A) Link resistance = 2.69k ohm

On a standard UK "13A" connection, the most you will get using the Audi EVSE at 100% will be 10A due to the link resistor in the input cable. To get more, you could install a 16A commando socket and those associated EVSE input leads will enable you to charge at 16A using the Audi EVSE at 100%.

I have managed to fully charge in 2hrs 5min, but this is probably due to a higher than normal input voltage due to solar PV input. The mains voltage in my area is normally around 230-235 V.Regards,
Jerry
 
The regen seems to work fine for me. I recently took my 2018 on a highway trip and while coming back down from the mountains I gained 12km of range.

The thing I haven't figured out is "battery hold" mode, which seems to use the battery anyway. While not draining the battery as quickly as hybrid mode it still eats up range that I wanted to keep for EV mode when I reach the city.
 
I have a 2015 and used charge a lot until it was pointed out to me that sport/hold is not only massive fun, economic but it charges really quite significantly. I've hardly used charge since. Also when in Drive mode and you are going down hill, don't brake, move the gear lever sideways into manual (actually semi auto) mode for great regen and controllable slowing (with the throttle). In both motorways , and Welsh twisty roads and hardly ever charging (although it is cost effective to charge on a UK motorway, anything under 40pence per kWh is actually a win when you use electric only when petrol is wasteful), I'm loving this car and it's average 75mpg (the indicated mpg is always lower than the real one, check!)
 
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