Now, don't get me wrong. I love my MS, but also love my eGolf. For the price, as a leased stand in until 3 is available, it is perfect as local driver. But...
I've tried to use the "departure time" charging repeatedly. First, it is very convoluted. You have to set up a departure time profile, indicate what days of the week you want it to apply, turn it on or off, then associate it with a location, then set up the parameters of that location... whew! But then comes the bad part - it doesn't work. No matter what I've done, the car charges up to minimum I set as soon as I plug in... but doesn't wake up later and charge to max in time for departure.
So, of course, I call VW. First line support doesn't even try to answer - sends me to second line support. Second line support asks me a bunch of silly questions (what are you using to jump the car?). I have to explain over and over "charging eGolf, not jump-starting Golf. EGOLF. Egolf dammit." Finally, they put me on hold to consult supposedly with tech experts. They come back on and say "I understand you are getting angry, but we are still researching... but let me ask one more question: did you connect the negative lead before connecting the positive lead? AAARRRGGHHH Count to 25. "No, I'm not angry, but could you have someone who understands eGolf please call me back, here's my number." After no call for a few days, I think to call Clipper Creek - whose charger I use. Bingo. There's an incompatibility between eGolf and Clipper Creek chargers where departure time charging doesn't work. Being worked on in Germany, maybe, hopefully. So, my contact for follow up is now Clipper Creek engineer.
As a postscript, VW calls back about a week later. Person who calls knows nothing about eGolf, but claims they were given followup questions by an expert. Sounds like it. "were you using level 1 charger or level 2 charger?". They said I should take to dealer and get TSB applied, and they'll help me with priority and access to engineers. Not going to waste my time until I get thumbs up from Clipper Creek that VW tells them it's fixed.
I know I (and others) have been frustrated by inconsistency of answers at Service Centers... but I've got to say: it's a thousand times better than getting an electric car from a non-electric-car company. We don't know how good we have it!
I've tried to use the "departure time" charging repeatedly. First, it is very convoluted. You have to set up a departure time profile, indicate what days of the week you want it to apply, turn it on or off, then associate it with a location, then set up the parameters of that location... whew! But then comes the bad part - it doesn't work. No matter what I've done, the car charges up to minimum I set as soon as I plug in... but doesn't wake up later and charge to max in time for departure.
So, of course, I call VW. First line support doesn't even try to answer - sends me to second line support. Second line support asks me a bunch of silly questions (what are you using to jump the car?). I have to explain over and over "charging eGolf, not jump-starting Golf. EGOLF. Egolf dammit." Finally, they put me on hold to consult supposedly with tech experts. They come back on and say "I understand you are getting angry, but we are still researching... but let me ask one more question: did you connect the negative lead before connecting the positive lead? AAARRRGGHHH Count to 25. "No, I'm not angry, but could you have someone who understands eGolf please call me back, here's my number." After no call for a few days, I think to call Clipper Creek - whose charger I use. Bingo. There's an incompatibility between eGolf and Clipper Creek chargers where departure time charging doesn't work. Being worked on in Germany, maybe, hopefully. So, my contact for follow up is now Clipper Creek engineer.
As a postscript, VW calls back about a week later. Person who calls knows nothing about eGolf, but claims they were given followup questions by an expert. Sounds like it. "were you using level 1 charger or level 2 charger?". They said I should take to dealer and get TSB applied, and they'll help me with priority and access to engineers. Not going to waste my time until I get thumbs up from Clipper Creek that VW tells them it's fixed.
I know I (and others) have been frustrated by inconsistency of answers at Service Centers... but I've got to say: it's a thousand times better than getting an electric car from a non-electric-car company. We don't know how good we have it!
