sd94114

My Audi etron barely holds a charge long enough for me to get around town. So I'll go a week without charging it. Is there any harm in this and more importantly when it says it's driving as a hybrid at this point, how can it be if there's no charge?

Timmay

I'm confused about the terminology "hybrid" with respect to the e-tron. I thought a hybrid was a combination gasoline/electric powered vehicle. Are you saying there's a message that comes up in the e-tron that states it's in hybrid mode?

sd94114

Yes, you can drive it only using the battery, the batter and gas, and just gas.

Flying Scotsman

It will state hybrid mode when using both the engine and the battery. EV mode is battery only.

sd94114

Right, I know. But my my question is: If the battery has lost its charge can the car still function using gas and battery. (Am I just daft?)

superswiss

Yes, it can. Your battery is probably not completely dead I assume and still holds some charge. Hybrid mode is essentially the default and in this mode it uses the battery to store recouped energy from the brakes or when you drive downhill or from unused engine energy while cruising and then uses it to assist the engine. That's how a non-plugin hybrid works and charges the battery. EV mode is just sort of a bonus and if you charge the battery you save more gas as there is more electric energy it can use. Have you noticed if you accelerate slowly from a stop, does it still sometimes start moving with the electric motor only before the engine kicks in? If I remember correctly, the e-tron has a third mode, that tries to preserve the battery charge while driving long distance, so that there is enough energy in the battery to use EV mode once you get to a city.

As for your question regarding harm, a battery is most happy if charged. Generally an 80+% charge is the happy state. An uncharged battery will degrade faster, so to get most out of your battery, you should keep charging it and maintain it at a proper charge level each day. But in general, the less charge there is in the battery, the more the engine is used to propel the car. I rented an e-tron in Switzerland on my last trip. The battery was pretty much empty when I picked it up, and it never charged much while I had it. However, it still was able to use the electric motor to move the car around town briefly, especially the initial few feet from a stop, before the engine kicked in.

Out of curiosity, how old is your car? I've always been curious about how long these batteries really last in Hybrids.

SYMAWD

The car recaptures energy every time you coast, hit the brakes or have the engine running (works like a generator) so that is how some charge is always is always staying in the battery allowing the car to still drive short distances in EV mode.

Timmay

Okay now I realize for the first time the e-tron is indeed a hybrid. All along I was under the impression it was a fully electric vehicle (no gasoline engine).