[id44warren]

I like to have my phone visible while driving, even though I use Android auto 99% or the time. I was using a vent mount which worked fine but I'd prefer to have the phone mounted high enough to use it's camera like a dashcam if needed.

Here's my latest solution:

It uses parts from several mounting systems, fortunately they are all compatible. I also had to shorten and re-glue the extension arm part.

 

[id44warren]

I was out and about today and decided to do a fast charge at the new Electrify America chargers in Algonquin, IL. They still don't show up on Google or the ID.4s maps when searching for some reason. Lots of free spots and all seemed to be working. On the way out of the parking lot another ID.4 exactly like mine was charging!

 

[id44warren]

We took a trip to Door County, WI from home which is out in the country west of Aurora, IL. After some great and trepidation about the ability to make it up to the great north with the Milwaukee EA down, we went for it and had no problems. I charged to 95% at home and charged again from 77% to 97% at an EA in a mall parking garage by O'hare airport. Last charge was at a Chevy dealership with a 50 kw DC charger in Port Washington.

It took 50 minutes there to get it back up to 95% and then we arrived in Egg Harbor, Wi with 35% to spare. Our hotel has L2 chargers.

 

[id44warren]

Gills Rock, Door County, WI

The L2 charging at the hotel worked fine and the next leg of our journey takes us to Clinton IA. We are currently charging at a Genesis dealership in Appleton, Wi. They have a free Chargepoint DC charger. After some frustration trying to initialize a charge it turns out that you have to sign up for a Chargepoint account, and enter your credit card to allow you to initiate the charge. Got it figured out and now charging at 53kw. Charge stop two and final for this trip is at the EA in Madison.

 

[id44warren]

There was one out of four EA EVSEs available in Madison. The others had another ID.4, an Audi E-tron and a Bolt on them. My ID.4 charged at 63kw on a 150 kw unit. The other cars were charging below 50kw, even on the 350kw units. That wasn't fast enough to get me up to 80% in 30 minutes so I ended up paying $1.85.

After dark I almost hit a deer on the rural Illinois roads. I braked from 60 down to near zero to avoid it. The tires screeched and I got a bit sideways but avoided the deer. The brakes work well!

Made it to Iowa with 28% to spare!

 

[id44warren]

TLDR; We made it home, no huhu.

Total trip mileage including transporting granny, 1125 miles. Total energy costs, including charging at home a couple times, about $10. Saving as compared to my previous car, the 30 mpg CR-V, about $120. Saving compared to the 20 mpg Highlander that we were considering taking because of the Milwaukee EA issue, about $200.

The downside? About 2 hours of waiting for charging during the entire trip, and some anxiety about route planning charging at random EVSEs at dealerships.

Much of the anxiety was due to ABRP. I couldn't figure out how to replace a charger it chose in the middle of a trip with another one and because of that had to use it as a general estimator, not a route planner. For instance it would not allow me to choose the EA EVSE in Madison, Wi. It kept routing me to a Shell EVSE.

 

[id44warren]

It's now been 8 months and 12,300 miles since I brought home the ID.4 and a new goal has been achieved. My fiance finally drove my car! She drove it from Iowa to our home west of Chicago. After she got the seat and mirrors adjusted she immediately had issues with the lane following, so we turned that off, then she didn't like that it coasts forever in D mode, so we switched to B mode and she liked that better, then she didn't like the slow response of the gas pedal in Comfort mode so we switched to Sport and she thought that was more normal. Whew! After all that she actually liked driving it though getting her to admit it may be tough. And now today she said that she would like a Tesla if it wasn't associated with Musk. I think I may be converting her to the dark side!

 

[id44warren]

Took a trip to Pig Minds brewery in Rockford. Good beer and they have EVSEs! Well, Tesla EVSEs, but I got to try my new Tesla adapter! It worked well. Apparently the Mach-E dude got to try his adapter too.

 

[id44warren]

I kind of like this. It's subtle but changes the car's character.

 

[Spin]

I kind of like this. It's subtle but changes the car's character.

View attachment 27352

I don't think I would have done that.

 

[id44warren]

I don't think I would have done that.

It's just an altered image currently.

 

[id44warren]

And now I see this 2024 GTX! I'm not sure I like the blacked out wheels but it's different...

Screengrab

 

[Spin]

And now I see this 2024 GTX! I'm not sure I like the blacked out wheels but it's different...

View attachment 27485

Screengrab

That looks good to me.

 

[id44warren]

Ever since my trip last weekend which included a charge at the Bloomington IL EA station the temperature and ambient lighting settings have been resetting nightly. Previously they randomly reset every week or two. I'm going to try rebooting the infotainment unit to see if that helps.

L2 charging from the dryer outlet at Mom's place

 

[id44warren]

The reboot seems to have done the trick! No more nightly resets of the ambient colors. Now I know what to tell other people with that issue.

 

[wildpitcher]

The reboot seems to have done the trick! No more nightly resets of the ambient colors. Now I know what to tell other people with that issue.

It will likely come back, though (sorry)

Dave

 

[id44warren]

It will likely come back, though (sorry)

Of that I have no doubt.

I'm hoping that when a majority of the 2.x OS cars are updated to 3.x, VW will begin the process of updating our 3.1 cars to 3.5, and hopefully that will fix some of the annoyances. Until then, we are all getting really good at workarounds.

 

[id44warren]

After 9 months and 14500 miles, the car is still fine and feels new. My employer is pushing RTO (return to office) so I'm putting 100 miles onto the car 3 days a week now. That plus vacations and visits to parents really add up the miles. Fortunately, the ID.4 just eats up the miles!

I have been on the ComEd hourly billing program for 6 months now and they say I have saved $423 so far. 😀

 

[id44warren]

It's been cooler and I have shut the AC off for the past couple days. You'd think it wouldn't be running if it wasn't needed but I have seen some of the highest miles per kwh ever during my rural highway commute. 3.9 mi/kwh on the way home today!

 

[Huey52]

It's been cooler and I have shut the AC off for the past couple days. You'd think it wouldn't be running if it wasn't needed but I have seen some of the highest miles per kwh ever during my rural highway commute. 3.9 mi/kwh on the way home today!

The Clima system in Auto may still run the A/C for dehumidification even if cooling is not required. After all, we're "ugly bags of mostly water."

And also periodic running just to keep the seals lubricated. This is a good reason to run the A/C occasionally even in Winter on any vehicle (often needed for window defogging anyway).

So, I just leave such in Auto all the time on any of my vehicles. But for some reason I can't convince my wife to do same. But then too she still doesn't grasp that the home thermostat only needs to be adjusted by one degree from ambient to activate and therefore prefers adjusting by many degrees "to be quicker." 🤦‍♂️