Is A3 etron operable with ICE only?

[Ajeliasvargas]

I received a message from my local dealer that the battery needs to be replaced on my 2016 A3 e-tron. For this repair the total cost is $11,240. I asked if the car can be driven without replacing the battery (ie, just utilizing the gas engine). Has anyone else been able to find out if that is possible? The original message on the dashboard was System Fault: safely park vehicle. Other than that the car was working fine. The battery issue was the diagnosis. I was hoping to get three more years out of the car before trading in, but the dealership said the ICE could stop working at any time. I'm wondering if anyone else has had this situation.

 

[cmc]

there is no starter motor for the ICE... the ICE is started by drag once the car has gotten moving by the electric motor. so no battery means no ICE.

 

[dlinkA3]

there is no starter motor for the ICE... the ICE is started by drag once the car has gotten moving by the electric motor. so no battery means no ICE.

However, our A3 Sportback e-tron has started in battery save mode incorrectly, before it has even moved. We have it set to always start in EV mode, but this switch has occurred more recently over the past 2 years. Our A3 e-tron is now with our dealership to investigate this switch to battery save mode AND we now have TACS testing being done on the battery pack,mfinally.

 

[bros225]

I received a message from my local dealer that the battery needs to be replaced on my 2016 A3 e-tron. For this repair the total cost is $11,240. I asked if the car can be driven without replacing the battery (ie, just utilizing the gas engine). Has anyone else been able to find out if that is possible? The original message on the dashboard was System Fault: safely park vehicle. Other than that the car was working fine. The battery issue was the diagnosis. I was hoping to get three more years out of the car before trading in, but the dealership said the ICE could stop working at any time. I'm wondering if anyone else has had this situation.

Wow, that's an alarming price tag to replace the battery! I'm pretty sure my ICE has started while the car is at a standstill, so I presume there is indeed a starter motor of some type. Whether it runs on the 12V battery or the high-voltage battery is a mystery to me. I would guess that it would take a software overhaul to get the car to ignore the high-voltage battery and operate on ICE alone since the car is a parallel hybrid, meaning it wants to have the ICE and electric motor working together. Given that your car is otherwise working fine, it could be that the software is detecting a battery fault but keeps going on the ICE. I wonder if it would do that indefinitely or at some future time just quit entirely? I heard that the 2016 model has an "ICE only mode" - if true, then that would seem to make it more amenable to ignoring the battery. I have a 2018 and it is either EV or hybrid, but never ICE only. Sorry, lot's of questions but no answers!

 

[Nuje]

There is a recall for the battery for the 2016 (and possibly other?) model years. Not battery functionality per sé, but apparently the case holding it can crack, or fail at seams/welds, or something to that effect.

The fix is a new battery case (with new battery) - free of charge, as part of the recall action. Ask the dealer about that if you haven't been in for that recall yet.

Edit: Added link to recall notice.
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10172542-0001.pdf

 

[cmc]

Yes even if the ICE is started while the car is stationary that is from the HV battery spinning the electric motor which then spins the engine as a starter. There is no 12V starter like regular ICE cars. It's pretty neat how they designed this so well (IMO) to fit into a tiny space. So, dead HV battery means no ability to start the ICE. You can find all of this info on various youtube videos or PDF technical documents that Audi published. e.g. if it is too cold the battery cannot power the motor and hence cannot start the ICE. One of the compromises in this design.

The transmission is actually triple clutch btw, 2 are used as regular DSG clutches and one additional to couple/decouple the ICE with the motor. Don't forget to replace the transmission fluid every 40K.

 

[bruuster]

There is a recall for the battery for the 2016 (and possibly other?) model years. Not battery functionality per sé, but apparently the case holding it can crack, or fail at seams/welds, or something to that effect.

The fix is a new battery case (with new battery) - free of charge, as part of the recall action. Ask the dealer about that if you haven't been in for that recall yet.

Edit: Added link to recall notice.
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10172542-0001.pdf

I had this recall done on the battery casing. If the battery is fine they will only replace the casing.