A4 Phil

As many of you original owners know, when the '19 was sold it was sold as ISO15118 compliant and "Plug and Charge" would arrive with the 2020 software update. You can debate all you want as to whether or not a '20 software update ever arrived, but what we all know is that the car still does not have Plug and Charge. In fact, if you followed Audi's literature, they really kept subtly moving the goalposts. But the fact of the matter is that the original Audi literature clearly states that the car is ISO 15118 compliant and that Plug and Charge would be arriving. In fact, the initial EA Plug and Charge info graphics all featured a '19 e-tron.

Skip forward to today, Plug and Charge is still not available on my early '19 and I contacted Audi about it and had a very interesting conversation with them. First, Audi USA told me to return to the dealership and the service department would explain how to initialize it. To placate them I did return to the dealership who told me it needed a software update :-)
So I contacted Audi again and they said that Plug and Charge was dependent on the charger that I used and right now apparently the '19 only has Plug and Charge with Ionity. I clarified that I was in the US and that EA is the charging partner here which is ISO 15118 compliant. Anyway, long back and forth talk and no resolution and the raised my issue to the next level of support.
Today I receive a phone call from Audi saying that in fact there is a pending software update to bring Plug and Charge to the e-tron's that do not have it and are ISO 15118 compliant.

Do I believe Audi? Well, we have been waiting for the update for years, so I am guessing I will have sold the car and be driving a Q6 e-tron before the software is pushed. But I do believe that somewhere in the depths of VAG's terrible software group is a one or two person workshop working on e-tron software. I also do not believe that this is considered important at all by Audi. I also don't think that there is much complaining about the lack of the feature.

My issue with wanting Plug and Charge is simply that I have often found that the EA app does not work or gets hung on an old charge. In those cases it gets VERY HARD to charge and of course Plug and Charge would solve all of that.

I guess only time will tell.

Tronification

Hats off to you for your tenacity, just don’t expect those troglodytes to actually consider your request/criticism and do something about it. They’re hopelessly incompetent in this area.

wvu_sam

Problem with EA is that I don't think the Pass Plus works with Plug and Charge. I believe you have to pay the full rate when using it. Is it worth the convenience? Dunno. I'm always holding my breath starting a charging session with them, but it's the same way with EVgo. The closest DCFC to me is EVgo, which I visit several times a month (I live in an apartment with no charging available). About 20-30% of the time it fails initialization the first time.

skaven81

I agree that having plug-and-charge as a third option of "use the app" vs "use credit card at the pedestal" vs "plug-and-charge" would be a good thing. But I wouldn't be so sure that it would automatically be more reliable than the EA app. What little I could find about the ISO standard says that it's a certificate based system. So you first negotiate a "contract" with a provider (like EA) and the result of this negotiation is a certificate that gets installed in the vehicle. When you plug in, your contract certificate gets presented, and the charging station has to validate the certificate's authenticity and validity before it will proceed to start the charging session. That still requires internet connectivity and still requires that EA's servers be able to track your charging session(s). And given that the "stuck charging" issue on the EA app is a server-side issue (I've had it happen and even removing the app, all its cache, and reinstalling and re-initializing the app doesn't fix it), I see no reason why initiating the charging session via an ISO contract certificate would be any different than swiping on the app.

FWIW I've heard excellent things about the "swipe then charge" method, where you pull up to a charger, and before you even get out of the car, open the EA app, swipe "start charging" on the pedestal you're using, then plug in. Apparently this method starts up faster, and I've heard is more reliable than the "traditional" method of plugging in, waiting for the pedestal to negotiate with the vehicle, then swiping or RFID tapping to start. I'll be taking a trip next weekend where I'll be able to try it out myself, but from what I've read it seems like the best way to charge at EA.

As far as plug-and-charge goes, if I understand the limited information I could find online about it, it seems that one of the worries that people have about it (same as using the credit card reader) -- that plug-and-charge means you can't use your discounted plan rate -- seems to be unfounded, since your vehicle doesn't just blindly store a credit card number -- it stores a contract with the charging provider. This means you'll get your promotional/discounted rate as expected. But it also means that you will need a contract stored in your vehicle for every network. Maybe the standard has a carve-out for a generic "anonymous" contract that is just a wrapper for a credit card, that can be used by default if no other more specific contract is found for the network?

West 1

I appreciate the information you guys are sharing. My wife just brought home an Etron this week. I opened the Frunk to see what we had for a cable and found this.

We bought this car with 20,000 miles and the charger looks like this. One prong is melted.


Audi part number for our melted charge cable.

First Day Home.

West 1

Should have followed the rules and included a picture of the car first. Sorry.

A4 Phil

Nice car. There is a recall currently for the car and they will replace that pigtail and reprogram your EVSE. Just take it by your local Audi service center. The whole process takes five minutes.

West 1

I hope that is the case, so far I have read that they take away your current plug and offer a $500 gift card or put you on a waiting list for a new plug? Have any of you received the new plug? I think I have also read that Audi can re program your plug to make it charge at less AMPs and last longer???
I have yet to call Audi for direct information, we have only had this since Wednesday. Thanks
Mark

coldrain85

I made an online appointment a couple of days ago to have this recall addressed on Monday. When I logged in to my local dealership's service website, I could see the recalls and was able to select them as the reason for the service appointment. That way the dealership will know in advance why I made the appointment, and will contact me ahead of time if they can't fix the EVSE on the spot. I also put a comment in the appointment mentioning that I am only dropping off the EVSE, not the car.

thebishman

It is vital that your home charger if it uses a NEMA 14-50 plug uses a very high quality outlet such as a Hubbell. Do not under any circumstance use some cheap 'Contractor grade' outlet, as you're asking for trouble even with a new EVSE from Audi.

Enjoy the car; they're great!