[Astros]

We took a trip to our cabin last week, and at first found we were getting 70-100 kW at our charging stops, even when the battery state of charge was low (17%). On the return trip, we searched for an Electrify America station using the navigation instead of entering the address manually or using Google Maps through Carplay, and found we got the full 125 kW when we plugged in at 25%. Playing around with the navigation, we noticed that there is an icon that looks like a little charger on the screen when you enter a destination, right next to the heart to make it a favorite. Based on this experience, I think that the battery preconditions for optimal charging if you enter the destination in the Nav and tell the car that it's a charger.

I've circled the icon in the image below (from the web, not mine). Has anyone else tried this when DC fast charging, and does this improve the charging speed for you?

 

[Nai3t]

So did this icon only appear once you selected an EA stop from onboard nav? Or is this icon there all the time?

 

[Astros]

So did this icon only appear once you selected an EA stop from onboard nav? Or is this icon there all the time?

The icon is always there when you enter a destination in the Nav. I believe if you specifically search for charging stations it is pre-selected, but you can toggle it on for any address.

 

[SFiercex4]

I just ran an experiment today navigating to my saved location for charging (though it was not saved as a charging location but rather as a favorite on the destination web). I thought it would precondition the battery, but I ended up getting only 91 kw to start at 17% SOC. Incidentally, I was wondering what that button was, and this information is now very enlightening. I will use this the next time I ever run the battery down low enough to make a difference. Thanks Astros!

 

[Nai3t]

Cool, thanks, good to know. In theory, if I'm on a trip and using Android Auto, I'd have to switch over to VW nav AND enter a destination to access that icon? Does VW nav remain active underneath AA running Maps or Waze? Has anyone seen this icon outside of Nav?

BTW I've had to correct my wife twice now for referring to the charger as the pump, and the cable as the hose, and this icon is just reinforcing the old gas station vernacular. But no denying its appearance is unmistakably familiar.

 

[Nai3t]

.

 

[ExCivilian]

You'll need to test it trying it both ways to know for certain.

Charge stations do not always charge at their full rating for a variety of reasons.

 

[SunWizard]

Charge stations do not always charge at their full rating for a variety of reasons.

A good way to find the weak stations is go onto plugshare.com where they get rated. Also ABRP has a database of charging speeds, since it shows a wide range of charging times between different EA stations and could be a quick way to find and avoid the bad ones.

 

[gazpachoking]

It would be really great if they enable the "send to my VW" button in Car-Net that I've read other models have. (ID.4 doesn't have this yet, does it?) Then we could send the destination from ABRP or other means easily to sync up charging stop info.

 

[ericy]

It would be really great if they enable the "send to my VW" button in Car-Net that I've read other models have. (ID.4 doesn't have this yet, does it?) Then we could send the destination from ABRP or other means easily to sync up charging stop info.

To some extent you can do that in ABRP by sharing with the maps app. If you are using AA. Then the route gets picked up automatically.

 

[gazpachoking]

To some extent you can do that in ABRP by sharing with the maps app. If you are using AA. Then the route gets picked up automatically.

Yeah, that's always a good option. But in relation to this thread, there may be an advantage to using the built in navigation to precondition your battery for fast charging, (not to mention ID Light,) which it would be nice to have.

 

[Digi02]

A little off topic but I’d like to add I think it’s so stupid and backwards that the stock nav shows all nearby gas stations.
I have a long 313 mile each way trip I’m making twice a month, and saved the EA chargers I used along the way in the stock nav. I’ll route this out on Thursday using the stock nav.

 

[roflson365]

Cool, thanks, good to know. In theory, if I'm on a trip and using Android Auto, I'd have to switch over to VW nav AND enter a destination to access that icon? Does VW nav remain active underneath AA running Maps or Waze? Has anyone seen this icon outside of Nav?

I've had a 125kw charging rate without knowing about this icon so its certainly not necessary. I was using the built-in nav to navigate to the charging station though.

I'm going to do a few tests (nav + button, nav + no button, no nav).

 

[Nai3t]

I agree heating the battery before charging isn't "necessary" but probably comes in handy for owners in cold regions who want to charge quickly first thing in the morning, maybe?

My problem with this implementation is an OBD dongle is needed to read the internal battery temp, so without that, it's a guess as to whether the battery is at an optimal temp.

 

[Andy at Ross-Tech.com]

I just tried this, clicked on the charging symbol for the EA destination I had saved, and then told it to start route guidance. I watched the instantaneous consumption while standing and it didn't change at all. I may try this while logging temps to see if anything actually changes but so far I doubt it. We should get a VW product specialist to come onto the forum to definitively answer questions like this.

 

[Nai3t]

Do you have something to monitor battery temperature?

I know in my i3 the battery heater is only 1000 watts, and as such can take up to 3 hours to warm a cold battery to 75°. 1000 watts slowly moves the needle on that car's SOC, and it's only 28kW usable (3.5% per hour of draw).

I assume the ID.4 battery isn't being subjected to a blast furnace, but if this button works like we're thinking it might, then 3 hours isn't going to cut it. The battery being 3x larger than my i3 might imply the heater may be drawing at minimum 3x more current, just as a starting point.

 

[Andy at Ross-Tech.com]

According to the factory literature, the Z132 Heating Element (PTC) 3 is located in the front end of the ID.4 and it heats up the coolant for the battery pack. It shows max power consumption of 5.5kW so that should show up clearly on the instantaneous consumption.

 

[SunWizard]

Multiple reviews I have seen state the battery heater draws 5kw, and so does the cabin heater.

 

[Nai3t]

Wow, can that be right? 5kW for the cabin sounds insane. Your typical small room heater is 1.2-1.4 kW

 

[Andy at Ross-Tech.com]

ZX17 is the High-Voltage Heater (PTC) in the a/c box to heat the interior air. It has a maximum power input of 6kW. I think they view this as a safety feature since you need to be able to defog/defrost windows ASAP.