Thoughts on eGolf

[equ]

Congrats, FC! VW's do feel surprisingly high end these days.

[ZBB]

Originally Posted by kognito

There is (was?) a full electric Fusion also. It didn't sell well, so it might be history allready

Ford's only full BEV is the Focus.

The Fusion Energi is a plug-in hybrid (like a Volt) -- although its battery-only range is 21 miles (compared to the Volt's 40…). Its still on sale.

A woman I work with has one and likes it, and I see a fair amount of them around (they are now eligible for the AZ hybrid plate -- so easy to spot).

[SARAFIL]

That's pretty cool, congrats. I've been out of the loop for the while, are the Turbo and Mini both gone at this point?

[Alan]

That is really cool, that is a totally new driving experience for you. What is the most amount of miles you could drive with one charge ... Also if I'm reading this right as ZBB commented it takes 6 hours for a full charge ?

[ZBB]

Originally Posted by AF

That is really cool, that is a totally new driving experience for you. What is the most amount of miles you could drive with one charge ... Also if I'm reading this right as ZBB commented it takes 6 hours for a full charge ?

The eGolf has an EPA rated range of 83 miles.

The battery capacity is 24.2 kWh. Charging time is dependent on multiple factors:
1) Charger rating -- Mrs. FC's car has a 7.2kW charger, so it would take just under 3.5 hours to charge from completely empty to completely full on a 240V 40A or higher outlet. Sounds like the base '16 eGolf comes with a 3.6kW charger instead, which would double the charging time (and achieves its fastest speed on a 240V 20A or higher outlet).

2) Outlet power delivery -- V * A = W * 80% = Continues power delivered. A regular household outlet is 120V 15A, which delivers 1440 W (i.e. 1.4kW) continuous. A 240V 50A outlet (what I have for my Tesla) delivers 9.6kW continuous.

1 and 2 also work together -- FC is using a 240V 50A outlet -- but since the charger maxes out at 7.2kW, that's the fastest he can charge at. But if he plugs into a regular household outlet, he'd only be able to charge at 1.4kW, which would take 17 hours to charge the eGolf because the outlet is the limiting factor.

But remember -- that's only the max time to charge. Most of the time, people plug EVs in every night or every other night -- and it charges while you sleep. At their usage of ~9 miles per day, if they charge every other day, it would be topped up in ~45 minutes… I usually charge every other night -- and have a ~55 mile commute -- so I'm adding 110-120 miles to the battery when I charge, which is ~4 hours of charging. since the Tesla has a 10kW charger, which I use on an outlet that can deliver 9.6kW of power (and that adds 30-31 miles of range per hour of charge)...

[JST]

I'll be interested to hear what the range looks like on a typical Boston winter day.

[Alan]

ZBB, thank you for taking the time to explain it, I really appreciate it

[ZBB]

Originally Posted by JST

I'll be interested to hear what the range looks like on a typical Boston winter day.

I'm curious too...

I've had to park outside the last couple weeks (we're doing some spring cleaning and using the garage for sorting). Even in mild AZ winters, I notice the range impact from the battery warming. We had lows right around freezing this week...

[JST]

Originally Posted by ZBB

I'm curious too...

I've had to park outside the last couple weeks (we're doing some spring cleaning and using the garage for sorting). Even in mild AZ winters, I notice the range impact from the battery warming. We had lows right around freezing this week...

I assume that the egolf has a battery heater (it must), but does it have liquid cooling? Can't remember.

There is, unfortunately, no way to get the Tesla's battery heater to come on with shore power (short of charging the car), afaik. Running the HVAC helps a little, but I still routinely get huge spikes in energy usage on cold mornings. The other day for a short time I was showing 888 wh/mi while the heater ran in stop and go traffic.

Wonder if the Golfs battery can be pre-warmed?

[John V]

Any idea why Tesla won't allow pre-warming of the battery when the car is plugged in?