WetEV

Some EA chargers are on the side.

LavaGrau_A3

Sorry to hear of your troubles with EA. They're definitely a mixed bag, expanding fast but obviously sacrificing reliability doing it. I haven't had any serious problems, but I'm planning more carefully for my next trip.

The most recent EA facility to open near me has very low parking blocks. Allows you to get in close. Cable still needs to be longer as it still puts too much pressure on the port. No way for an e-tron to use that first unit. EA Metro 580 This is/will be a great place to charge though; 3 X 150 kW, very quiet corner of the lot. Has a J-1772 AC unit as well, which given the problems I've read here, could allow someone to at least get to another facility or not have to abort a trip.

This sounds like my experience this past summer with a unit that had cable cooling issues. Dropped to around 19kW and then to 8kW. Cable was HOT.

My car had the recall work done in October. I noticed that the pulls seemed "different" somehow; swapped around, not sure. After reading your post, I thought I'd better check the function prior to my next road trip. All worked well and thanks for bringing that to our attention. I also made a quick trip to the local EA station to check charging function (the one I mentioned above). Worked well, but the kW and kWh readings on the chargers were way off; dispensed 21 kWh and only got debited 5 kWh. 75% off is a good deal, but not confidence inspiring.

iStocky

First time poster, long time forum lurker. I can't help but share my own story, which is way too long to type at this point. But sadly, Audi really is digging in hard on e-tron and not caving on any issues that come up. I wrote this letter after I had literally the worst compounding sequence of events happen paired with unimaginably awful experiences with the Audi brand along the way. Short version...locked at a charger, fail safes didn't work, lots of things broken on my e-tron, lots of dealer and roadside issues, and even having my case escalated to the top unfortunately did nothing to help my cause.

Here's the letter I wrote/tweeted that eventually made it to the desk of Audi North America CEO, which is when I finally started getting some help. No e-tron owner, let alone loyal Audi customer, should ever have to resort to the lengths I went to just to get some assistance.

LavaGrau_A3

Welcome. I commented on one of your videos, the one about the volume control. Mine did the same thing, but it worked fine after the update completed. Your's recover?

alexlear

Thank you for posting. The description you gave of your experience is exactly how we felt during early problems and our most recent troubling experience. Unless you've been through this, it's hard to describe. This should matter to all owners reading this.

DMcDnald

Sorry to hear of these experiences. Is returning the vehicle under a lemon law a possibility? Perhaps that may get someone's attention.

iStocky

Sadly, the lemon law route is simply not workable right now, thanks in large part to how Audi of America is choosing to handle (or not handle) these issues. Specifically, every time I have taken my e-tron in for the vast number of issues I've had, they come back with "we can't fix something we can't reproduce" and then they chalk it up as user error.

Side tangent: the first time my locked charger issue happened, they flew in the lead field technician from Germany to Austin. They tore apart my e-tron for two days, calling me every few hours to ask specific questions about exact details of what went wrong. After all of that, they "claimed" it was user error in that "when you arrived at EA, the log files show that the passenger door was opened prior to the driver-side door and this is what caused the charger to fail." To which I asked them how many times they were able to replicate the issue...crickets.

So we're all really screwed here if we try and go the lemon law route. The only way that would work is if a) the same issue happens 4 times in a 12 month period or b) your vehicle is in Audi's possession for 60+ days without any repair being made. Either way, Audi is screwing us both ways by denying that these issues exist or simply chalking them up as user error vs vehicle malfunction. It's the American Airlines equivalent of "delaying" your flight to the next day so they don't have to issue refunds for what should be a cancelled flight. Regardless, unless Audi is validating the issues we're having, documenting said issues, and attempting to fix them, none of this falls under lemon law. Even with my video evidence ( , , ) they still say it's all user error.

I have more than that going against me too given that I purchased my e-tron in Austin and then moved to Boise. Basically, I'd need to re-register my vehicle in Boise and get them to show 4 service records of the same instance before I could ever consider pursing lemon law. Otherwise, my current path is to get my e-tron only serviced in Texas to continue building the case there, which is not at all a solution.

Anyone up for a class action?

theo1000

Man this is tough to defend. My sympathies are with you. Keep yanking the chain some thing may come of it.
BTW what the hell has door opening sequence have to do with charger operations! Doesn't make any sense right but there is an effect.

RE: Your attempts to disengage from the DC fast charger.

Yanking on it actually makes things worse. Its either a 2 finger disengage or it does not disengage at all. Best I can guess If the communication pins lose contact you are locked in till the system reestablishes communication. Now I wish AUDI would have clarified how to do this or to educate us unwashed masses on the procedure but somewhere in the mothership the actual disengage process is safely locked away for engineering records. Soo… ..along with a ton of salt here is the disengage process that has worked for me at 4 different EA stations here in the Midwest.

Be gentle, don’t hurry the process.

- Pull up parallel to the charger not perpendicular as designed.
- Plug-in to the charger first. Always use the 150 kw cable as the 350kw cable is less reliable. And you can’t charge above 150kw anyway.
- Again smooth gentle yet firm plug-in to ensure firm contact on all pins. Minimal yanking on the plug port. No! your Grandma can not do this. Certainly my wife can not.
- Do NOT slam your driver side or for that matter any door after you plug in. Yes! This interrupted a charge for me and I was stuck for 10 minutes till it released.
- Next start the EVSE equipment. Don’t panic when you hear whirrs and fans and nothing happening. It can take 2-5 minutes sometimes for the charge to start.
- To release always approach the EVSE and stop the charging.
- IME do NOT press the button on the Charge port to stop charging. It is so tempting but IME the results are unpredictable. Cable lock has happened to me.
- Once the EVSE has done its thing, the light should flash white.
- Plug the plug within THREE white flashes.
- If you miss the Three white flash window the Cable will usually but not always relock. At least it happens to me every time.
- Occasionally the car will go to a green flash and remain unlocked but very inconsistent for me.



This procedure has worked for me flawlessly the last 15 or so times I have charged at EA.
Why it works I don’t know.
Why AUDI locks the damn cable in the first place, pure German Software engineering thinking. Need to be sent for remedial head examinations.
And yes the cable always locks L1,L2 & L3. Just last month my wife got locked with L2 EVSE and I had to pull the cord to release her.

LavaGrau_A3

It is my understanding that this is pretty standard with EV's, including Tesla. Keeps people from interrupting your charge or walking off with your EVSE when publicly charging. Potentially lots of current as well with to suddenly interrupt. Hard on the equipment and safety concerns as well.

Also, I'm curious, anyone using this option in the MMI and having unplugging issues? VEHICLE > Charging & Efficiency> Charging > 0 > DC connector: unlock after charging ends.

ThomasW

After someone mentioned on here to pull a couple of fuses to reset the charging mechanism, I was googling around and came across this URL: https://vw-audi.oemdtc.com/442/step-...audi-a3-e-tron

It says 2019 A3 etron but that is obviously incorrect since they do not make it anymore in 2019. The PDF that is linked in there as well is apparently some official internal documentation that was supposed to go to the dealers etc. In there, it outlines the procedure to follow to disconnect the EVSE. It also refers to the fuses as one potential solution if it gets stuck. One of the steps listed there is to actually open the driver door. Not sure if that is just to make sure the car is unlocked or whether it actually has some influence.

I followed it exactly last time when disconnecting from the level 2 charger at work where I had issues in the past. I was able to disconnect without any problems. I have not tried this with DC fast charging yet.