2017 A3 etron

[Fcwdmdpedo]

My car has gotten much worse about kicking in to the ICE mode when going up my mountain and asking just a little more of it than creeping. That is with having as much as 10 miles of ev range left.

Anyone else?

 

[user 317]

Not me, but no regular mountains in my EV range.

 

[mrsassy]

Yes, I live on a small mountain and this is a daily problem.
Leave house with battery full (full currently means 75% of original range).
Downhill all the way to soccer practice. Battery still full.
Head for home and the ICE kicks in almost immediately because it is uphill.
Reach home before the ICE is warmed up and EV is allowed again. Battery still full.

I used to make this trip fully on battery and now I am forced burn a lot more fuel since that software update.

Sometimes I will pull off the road and turn the car off/on so that I can use EV again. Sometimes I will even do this while driving by shifting into neutral. But you need your foot on the brake to start the car again which can be tricky.

I am constantly fighting with the car to get it back into EV mode and the amount of time I spend looking at the screen and switching modes instead of looking at the road is not good.

 

[Spot]

Yes, this happens increasingly for me. My commute is 6 miles with a substantial hill for miles 4 and 5. The threshold for the ICE kicking in has definitely crept down over time. 2016 model. For the last few years the EV has not lasted for the full 12 miles round trip in winter. In the last year I haven't been able to keep it in EV mode at all, it always kicks over to ICE somewhere on the hill.

 

[bros225]

By "ICE" I presume you mean "battery hold mode"? Mine switches to "battery hold mode" only when the stored EV power is depleted or when I activate the boost mode. And after activating boost mode, the car is sometimes stubborn allowing me to return to EV mode. Could it be that you boost mode is being activated prematurely?

 

[5x112]

I have a 2016 with 90k, and have had 3 batteries. The first went out at 50k because it would not charge to 100%, the second went out at 75k with the same symptoms you have. You can watch the ICE mode get ready to kick in on the flow graphic. The car starts using max battery power under load or even flat consistant speed. They the ICE slams on, even though it is supposed to warm up first using reserve battery power (not good for engine). It also would not charge up to 100% Audi told me I had a bad charge cable and would not replace battery. My car has onboard charging so I don’t necessarily need a cable, so that was bs. It took video demostrations of onboard charging and all the bogus error messages that were popping up to get a new battery. I suffered for about 10K miles while proving it was the battery. I heavily use the battery, and minimize ICE use, and I don’t think the little battery can handle multiple full charges and depletions a day. The 3rd battery is working great after about 15k, so we shall see…

 

[Fcwdmdpedo]

All these replies are very helpful. My Audi service claims the computer thinks you will not have enough battery only to make your destination so the ICE kicks in. Do ya’ll think the software “updates” have caused some of this? Sure would like to pursue a battery under warranty but don’t know if I can pull it off.

 

[Fcwdmdpedo]

I have a 2016 with 90k, and have had 3 batteries. The first went out at 50k because it would not charge to 100%, the second went out at 75k with the same symptoms you have. You can watch the ICE mode get ready to kick in on the flow graphic. The car starts using max battery power under load or even flat consistant speed. They the ICE slams on, even though it is supposed to warm up first using reserve battery power (not good for engine). It also would not charge up to 100% Audi told me I had a bad charge cable and would not replace battery. My car has onboard charging so I don’t necessarily need a cable, so that was bs. It took video demostrations of onboard charging and all the bogus error messages that were popping up to get a new battery. I suffered for about 10K miles while proving it was the battery. I heavily use the battery, and minimize ICE use, and I don’t think the little battery can handle multiple full charges and depletions a day. The 3rd battery is working great after about 15k, so we shall see…

Did you get the batteries under warranty?

 

[bros225]

All these replies are very helpful. My Audi service claims the computer thinks you will not have enough battery only to make your destination so the ICE kicks in. Do ya’ll think the software “updates” have caused some of this? Sure would like to pursue a battery under warranty but don’t know if I can pull it off.

What your Audi service claims in nonsense. The car doesn't know about nor care about your destination. The EV should run until the stored power is depleted (or your car think's it's depleted) or the power boost is triggered. Re- updates, the 93M2 service bulletin broke my charging scheduler (and aux AC... but they fixed that), but didn't seem to affect the EV functions.

 

[Dvniner]

My 2016 A3 etron is on its 2nd battery. First battery lasted about 4 years / 50k miles before having all of the symptoms described in the posts above, especially the repeated switching to ICE despite having plenty of EV battery charge left, especially on hills and in any temp less than about 60F. Multiple visits to the dealer resulted in a "nothing is wrong" reply, until finally at 66k miles the specs on the battery didn't check out (supposedly they did check out before that point) and the battery was replaced under warranty. With the new battery the problems disappeared immediately, and at almost 90k it's still going strong. I'm just hoping that if this battery also craps out that it happens before the 100k warranty is up.