Battery Did Not Recharge At All On a Long Trip

[Cws]

there is a hack, maybe...

Some drivers have commented that in sport mode, there is charging of the battery.

I tried it out on my commute this morning and was able to go from zero to 4 miles on the battery gauge in stop and go traffic. not sure how much of this is related to regenerative braking versus actual charging from the motor, and I'm not sure if it would work on a long trip at steady speed.

would be interested to see the results others get in various driving situations. Fuel economy was impacted. I got about 30 miles to the gallon in mixed driving. using this mode takes some practice, but its also fun. It turns two pedal car into one pedal car.

 

[JR22046]

Charge mode uses a lot of gasoline and is not at all an efficient way to charge your battery. I do not miss that mode at all in my 17 etron . I do have charge mode in my Cayenne plug-in and used it a few times before I realized it is false economy. I recommend you plug in whenever possible and just drive the car. It will figure out the best efficiency for you. With a short commute my 12 month average is 181 Mpg. I also drove cross country with a full load, roof mounted bike, and cargo carrier and got 29 mpg averaging 75 mph. Amazing car and pretty much perfect for my lifestyle.

 

[esquared]

There does definitely seem to be code preventing charging from driving once the battery is depleted. Going down certain hills around here, if I am in electric mode I generally add somewhere around an eighth of a charge, but if the battery is depleted when I come down the hill, that doesn't happen, though the ICE doesn't run.

Effectively, I totally disagree ... there is no capability to "recharge" the battery on the 2017 US A3 e-tron Premier ...

(1) CHARGE mode was removed from the 2017 model.

(2) Use of HOLD/DYNAMIC does only marginal charging of the battery to sustain electrical systems, such as AC, and to keep battery capacity to boost ICE performance.

Allow me to define what I mean by "charging the battery" ... restoring the battery to full capacity while driving under ICE power. Of course, there is a likelihood of reduced power, reduced mileage, and, likely, higher pollution during a charging phase ... so what ... I want to recharge the battery while driving with the ICE. Consider this example ... Driving a long distance high speed trip on a highway, wanting to maximum charge the battery when I am nearing my destination to run on electric in town. It is my understanding that this IS what CHARGE mode did in the 2016 model. Can someone please verify?

(3) Hold battery does NOT hold the battery ... it only somewhat does. It is clear that the battery demand from electrical systems depletes battery no matter if in HOLD mode or not. Consider this example ... traveling about 100 miles from northern Arizona to central Arizona, battery fully charged upon departure, car set in HOLD/DYNAMIC mode, trip mostly downhill, speed around 75mph, running AC, battery ends up at 50% capacity at destination ... hardly a HOLD of battery capacity!

I am confident that Audi removed CHARGE mode in 2017 due to power and mileage loss and/or higher pollution levels running only on the ICE. This may have resulted in lower gas mileage and eMPG ratings and possibly jeopardized pollution certifications in a state like California. As a result, Audi took away the CHARGE option from owner discretion to control their mileage and pollution claims as being reliable. Not being able to fully charge the battery while driving is a travesty. Please know that I am a huge A3 sportback fan, from the diesel to the e-tron ... love them all!!! I just want to be able to control truly recharging the battery to full while driving on the ICE.

FYI ... between driving around town and longer trips, as detailed above, long term combined mileage is around 56mpg. The best combined local and highway average on the A3 TDI was around 39mpg.

Comments/Replies are welcomed ... Chip

 

[esquared]

There does definitely seem to be code preventing charging from driving once the battery is depleted. Going down certain hills around here, if I am in electric mode I generally add somewhere around an eighth of a charge, but if the battery is depleted when I come down the hill, that doesn't happen, though the ICE doesn't run.

Effectively, I totally disagree ... there is no capability to "recharge" the battery on the 2017 US A3 e-tron Premier ...

(1) CHARGE mode was removed from the 2017 model.

(2) Use of HOLD/DYNAMIC does only marginal charging of the battery to sustain electrical systems, such as AC, and to keep battery capacity to boost ICE performance.

Allow me to define what I mean by "charging the battery" ... restoring the battery to full capacity while driving under ICE power. Of course, there is a likelihood of reduced power, reduced mileage, and, likely, higher pollution during a charging phase ... so what ... I want to recharge the battery while driving with the ICE. Consider this example ... Driving a long distance high speed trip on a highway, wanting to maximum charge the battery when I am nearing my destination to run on electric in town. It is my understanding that this IS what CHARGE mode did in the 2016 model. Can someone please verify?

(3) Hold battery does NOT hold the battery ... it only somewhat does. It is clear that the battery demand from electrical systems depletes battery no matter if in HOLD mode or not. Consider this example ... traveling about 100 miles from northern Arizona to central Arizona, battery fully charged upon departure, car set in HOLD/DYNAMIC mode, trip mostly downhill, speed around 75mph, running AC, battery ends up at 50% capacity at destination ... hardly a HOLD of battery capacity!

I am confident that Audi removed CHARGE mode in 2017 due to power and mileage loss and/or higher pollution levels running only on the ICE. This may have resulted in lower gas mileage and eMPG ratings and possibly jeopardized pollution certifications in a state like California. As a result, Audi took away the CHARGE option from owner discretion to control their mileage and pollution claims as being reliable. Not being able to fully charge the battery while driving is a travesty. Please know that I am a huge A3 sportback fan, from the diesel to the e-tron ... love them all!!! I just want to be able to control truly recharging the battery to full while driving on the ICE.

FYI ... between driving around town and longer trips, as detailed above, long term combined mileage is around 56mpg. The best combined local and highway average on the A3 TDI was around 39mpg.

Comments/Replies are welcomed ... Chip

 

[hangtime10]

Driving in Sport mode and allowing the regen to be my primary braking method. I get 10 km of range in 35 mins of driving on the hwy. Allowing the car to do some regen when I hit some traffic.
On a drive to Ottawa I did the same over about 80 kms and I recharged about 25 km of range.
The trade off, sport mode (Hybrid Hold) does use more fuel than Hybrid Auto.