So the trip from hell was highlighted by a final charging stop at a Shell Recharge outlet. After completing a charging session, the vehicle would not physically disconnect from the charger. Multiple calls to Audi and Shell were made, with both blaming each other. This occurred over a period of 12 hours. Multiple attempts of trying to disconnect the cable, including a manual release pull of the yellow tab in the front engine compartment, only resulted in a break-off of the tab itself with no release of the actuator. Calls to Audi suggested trying a rapid key press of the fob to send the vehicle a code to release the actuator. This didn't work. Shell shut down the charger. Reset it, but nothing worked. Can't express how angry this left me. Finally found a local VW dealer who came out to inspect the vehicle because I was not close to an Audi dealer. They eventually removed the front wheel. The inner lining to gain access to the mechanism itself. At this point, they forced a manual release of the actuator. Finally! The VW dealership did not even charge for the service (2 hours at my vehicle)! Amazing. Put the vehicle back together and got to a preferred dealer who plugged in one of their chargers and was able to release cable. Great. Now what? Was it the Shell charger? Is this an ongoing problem? The vehicle will go in for service soon to look for faults, but now confidence in public charging is tainted at best.

 

This has happened to me before at a public charger that wouldn't release the cable. This worked for me:

1. Step out the car and lock it with the keyfob
2. Hold the lock button on the keyfob for 10 secs
3. Unlock the car with the keyfob (this also unlocks the charge door port)
4. Press the button to release the charge cable on the charge port door
5. Pull out the charge cable and proceed with your day.

I have heard of it working for a few other people in a similar scenario but its one to keep in your back pocket if it happens again.

 

Interesting. I hope it doesn't happen again but would easily give this a try if it does.

Many thanks!

 

oh, so this happened on the Q6?

 

No. Full disclosure. It was actually a MY21 etron I sold to a friend. Wanted to get the communities take on this.