Audi A3 E-tron
- Thread starter Sandra
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I think the photo shows the car just having been taken off the jacks. The e-tron is approximately 120kg heavier than the A3 Sportback S-Line TDI 184PS. Most of that weight is the battery which is located over the rear axle. The engine also has an electric motor stuck on the end so it should be reasonably well balanced. I'll take some more pictures in better light so we can compare.
The battery has just completed charging. The Owner's Manual states that charging with the e-tron Charging System from a domestic outlet (230 V, 10 A) should take 3.7 hours (3 hours 42 minutes). I started charging the empty battery at 16:12 this afternoon and it completed charging at 19:51 or after 3 hours 39 minutes. Pretty accurate eh! The Charging System does not show the number of units consumed (unlike my rapid charger) so I can't give you an exact figure, but around 8.5 kWh which works out at about £1.13 for approximately 20 miles.
I thought I would share a few thoughts and opinions on Audi's A3 e-tron smartphone app. It is available for both Android and iOS and I have found it very convenient for getting the car warmed up on these frosty mornings prior to departure. It could be easier to set up and configure from the outset and it has problems communicating if you don't set up Audi Connect properly or keep your car in a garage 
Once you login using your 4-digit PIN, you get to the Main screen:
Select Vehicle and you reach the Vehicle screen which provides information on Trip data, Doors & lights, Status and Park position
The actual vehicle location and my current position have been disabled in this instance, but you get the idea....
Select e-manager and you reach the e-manager screen which provides information on Status and control of A/C and Charging
You can set up A/C to heat or cool the car immediately or set a timer so that it will have reached the desired temperature for a set departure time. Similarly you can set the charging timer to charge immediately or set a timer so that it will charge and have completed by a set departure time.
Once I have made more journeys and covered more miles the statistical information may start to make sense. It could certainly benefit from some help pages. By all means, come back with any specific questions or things you would like me to try out.
Simples.......
Once you login using your 4-digit PIN, you get to the Main screen:
Select Vehicle and you reach the Vehicle screen which provides information on Trip data, Doors & lights, Status and Park position
The actual vehicle location and my current position have been disabled in this instance, but you get the idea....
Select e-manager and you reach the e-manager screen which provides information on Status and control of A/C and Charging
You can set up A/C to heat or cool the car immediately or set a timer so that it will have reached the desired temperature for a set departure time. Similarly you can set the charging timer to charge immediately or set a timer so that it will charge and have completed by a set departure time.
Once I have made more journeys and covered more miles the statistical information may start to make sense. It could certainly benefit from some help pages. By all means, come back with any specific questions or things you would like me to try out.
Simples.......
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Is it possible to start the A/C without the car being plugged in? The information page says that it will use the power from the mains rather than the batteries, but was wondering if you are out and about and wish to cool/warm the car you can do so?
@pjuk, The UK spec e-tron comes with Auxiliary air conditioning as standard (as opposed to Auxiliary heating/air conditioning, which uses the engine to provide heat). Quoting from the A3 / S3 Owner's Manual (issue 09.2014) page 134:
"It regulates the temperature in the vehicle interior and is powered electrically. It is only switched on if the high-voltage battery is sufficiently charged and there is enough fuel in the tank."
So in brief, yes, you can use the air conditioning / climate control while you are out and about providing you fulfil the criteria in red above.
"It regulates the temperature in the vehicle interior and is powered electrically. It is only switched on if the high-voltage battery is sufficiently charged and there is enough fuel in the tank."
So in brief, yes, you can use the air conditioning / climate control while you are out and about providing you fulfil the criteria in red above.
Does the eTron come with a CD-ROM containing an electronic version of the manual to be loaded on for viewing on either the MMI or a PC ?
I uploaded a ZIP of the A1 manual (mainly .HTML files and .JPG images) to a file-sharing website for others to read and it was very popular with prospective buyers - I still get emails 4+ years later from people who found the link and are trying to download it now the sharing website no longer exists.
If you have one for the eTron it would be good if you could do the same. Why car manufacturers are the only people not to let you download manuals these days I continue to not understand - I can download electronic manuals for everything else I buy - just not cars.
I uploaded a ZIP of the A1 manual (mainly .HTML files and .JPG images) to a file-sharing website for others to read and it was very popular with prospective buyers - I still get emails 4+ years later from people who found the link and are trying to download it now the sharing website no longer exists.
If you have one for the eTron it would be good if you could do the same. Why car manufacturers are the only people not to let you download manuals these days I continue to not understand - I can download electronic manuals for everything else I buy - just not cars.
A3Kent
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Looks very nice. I haven't done any research into the A3 e-tron but I can't help noticing it looks like quite a weight in the back end, compared to the front. How much extra weight is it carrying, assume it's all the batteries etc?
So does that mean if it's a really hot day and the 'high-voltage battery is NOT sufficiently charged' you cannot get any cooling for the car interior.
@h5djr, I'll let you know when we have one.... I guess that if you don't have enough petrol in the tank, that's the least of your worries. I'm not sure if heating and cooling the car is 100% HV electric or if the cooling systems (engine & battery) can lend a hand if available. I have noticed that the amount of warm air output by the climate control does appear to increase when running on the petrol engine, but this could be my imagination.
I suppose you could test it out by running the battery flat and try turning on the AC?
I feel like Jetron is a bit of a guinea pig for us future etron owners
I feel like Jetron is a bit of a guinea pig for us future etron owners
I took a longer journey last Saturday in order to obtain some realistic economy figures for dual carriageway/motorway driving using both petrol only and combined hybrid power.
I travelled from near Bracknell in Berkshire to near Chelmsford in Essex and back, a distance of 80 miles each way. The car was fully charged before I left. On the way out I used petrol only and sticking with the maximum speed limits in force 60/70 mph etc. I managed 49 mpg according to the DIS. On the way back, I enabled hybrid auto mode and managed 74 mpg which I thought was quite a good result overall. In both cases the climate control was busy keeping the interior at the pre-conditioned 21 degrees.
I travelled from near Bracknell in Berkshire to near Chelmsford in Essex and back, a distance of 80 miles each way. The car was fully charged before I left. On the way out I used petrol only and sticking with the maximum speed limits in force 60/70 mph etc. I managed 49 mpg according to the DIS. On the way back, I enabled hybrid auto mode and managed 74 mpg which I thought was quite a good result overall. In both cases the climate control was busy keeping the interior at the pre-conditioned 21 degrees.
50 and 74mpg are pretty decent figures particularly given that you are lugging an extra 300+kg around. How did the battery fare on the way back? Did it stay fully charged? I'm curious as if I am on a longish trip with no place to charge I'd like to know if I could obtain 74mpg indefinitely. Also what stats can you pull from the DIS/audi app - does it pull GPS data?
So, i have a commute of 250 miles start and end of a week, and then during the week a small 10mile each way each day. Would I be better off with a diesel??
Losing faith in my order in a big way, I chased it up today, after 2 weeks of unreturned calls from Preston. Got told that they've been told they should have a build week to give me next week. I'm quite sure they didn't actually submit my order until mid Jan when I paid the deposit right at the beginning of Dec, which is infuriating, as I think the small delay in ordering is going to cause months of delay in delivery, they mentioned May-June on the phone today. It's a good thing I can keep my current one for a while longer!
Similar position here with still no build date. Did you order the drivers assistance package by chance?
To be very clinical, why not buy a cheaper S3? This car will no doubt be riddled with problems soon! I am disgruntled
Yeah, I did, so I was expecting a delay, they gave the impression this is affecting all of their e-tron orders though.
Cheaper? base price is £1500 more, and with less standard features (not going to dispute the performance, as they're completely different targets from that angle)
I'd be "happy" with May-June as this is what they had told me originally. I'd be a bit miffed if it slipped until Q3/Q4.
Maybe they'd loan me an S3 in the interim
Maybe they'd loan me an S3 in the interim
According to a road test in this week's Auto Express they said that they during their test's cold conditions they were unable to do more than 20 miles. Also on their varied route the e-tron returned a pretty dismal 32.2mpg.
20mi in cold conditions sounds reasonable and on par with a reduction in range as with other EVs. The 32mpg sounds like they were driving in battery regen mode. Jetron above reported 50mpg in petrol only and 70+mpg in hybrid.
Jetron - any further updates regarding how you are finding the car?
Jetron - any further updates regarding how you are finding the car?
ACC seems to be the ******. I've been waiting for a production date for my car and finally got production (with ACC) in week 14. Ordered my car on 2014-08-12
And yes, you can run the ac/heater without the car being plugged in, this will drain the battery of course.
Can I ask which dealer you ordered from? I was apparently the first few to place an order from my local dealer and they still don't have any idea about a build date
When I finally got contact from them last week I got told that they were expecting an update this week, which she was hoping would be a build week. That's the same for all their outstanding orders at Preston though.Can I ask which dealer you ordered from? I was apparently the first few to place an order from my local dealer and they still don't have any idea about a build date
Getting similar delays to others -
ordered end of september - lots and lots of extras - including driver assist
sales man silently disappeared
got a 2nd one 1st/2nd december
next day a 3rd took over
same day they explained adaptive cc issue - said won't get a build week until after wk8 if we leave it on - removed driver-assist, added components back in changing ACC to CC
tick tick tick
. . .
tick tick tick
today I get told that anyone without a build week already won't get their car until july-september - upto 11 months after I ordered.
Getting very fed up with this - already operating on company permission to keep my present car for more than 4yrs - now I need to explain the need to keep it for another 6-7 months or so.
Even if I tried to switch to something else (since all the other "stock" Audis lying around are basic models) with extras in it I suspect I'd get it around the same timeframe anyway.
If the Tesla was £10K cheaper and had a slightly longer range I'd order that - their website says delivery April or May 2015 for all cars/options.
ordered end of september - lots and lots of extras - including driver assist
sales man silently disappeared
got a 2nd one 1st/2nd december
next day a 3rd took over
same day they explained adaptive cc issue - said won't get a build week until after wk8 if we leave it on - removed driver-assist, added components back in changing ACC to CC
tick tick tick
. . .
tick tick tick
today I get told that anyone without a build week already won't get their car until july-september - upto 11 months after I ordered.
Getting very fed up with this - already operating on company permission to keep my present car for more than 4yrs - now I need to explain the need to keep it for another 6-7 months or so.
Even if I tried to switch to something else (since all the other "stock" Audis lying around are basic models) with extras in it I suspect I'd get it around the same timeframe anyway.
If the Tesla was £10K cheaper and had a slightly longer range I'd order that - their website says delivery April or May 2015 for all cars/options.
Had an "update" from Preston today, to tell me that there was no actual update, they're trying to use area managers to push Audi UK for a build week, but don't have one yet.
considering you had a 4 month head start on me I won't hold my breath!!
Congrats on the earlier week
Itguy
Registered User
sounds good.
Lincoln Audi were telling me at the weekend that it was the ACC which was being problematic as Audi hadn't figured out how to get it to talk simultaneously to both electric drive and engine drive when on, so when one cut out and the other cut in the ACC was disabling itself.
Sounded just like software to me, so hopefully they have it sorted now
Lincoln Audi were telling me at the weekend that it was the ACC which was being problematic as Audi hadn't figured out how to get it to talk simultaneously to both electric drive and engine drive when on, so when one cut out and the other cut in the ACC was disabling itself.
Sounded just like software to me, so hopefully they have it sorted now
Looks like a lot of people are getting build dates with the ACC option. Time to chase up the dealership!
https://speakev.com/threads/a3-e-tron-delivery-date-at-last.5267/
https://speakev.com/threads/a3-e-tron-delivery-date-at-last.5267/
@pjuk, I've been off the road for a few weeks (back problem) hence haven't been in a position (literally) to provide any feedback. I should be up and out again soon.
So, I got an update of a sort. They rang to tell me that they'd still not got a build week and that the assistance pack was causing delays, and that taking it off might help but that either way they had been told it could be as bad as the end of the year. She did say that because it was going over the expected date they might look at courtesy cars, and that she'll let me know when there's progress either way.
Anyone have experience of how a courtesy car for a delayed order would work?
Anyone have experience of how a courtesy car for a delayed order would work?
Could you keep us informed regarding this as I'm likely to be in the same situation and a courtesy car would be appreciated. My expected date is the beginning of May, according to the paperwork.
Yeah, mine was March-April, so I'm guessing the pressure's stepping up as we're into that window now.
I had honestly thought all the delay problems had been sorted. Maybe a polite email to Audi UK might be in order.
I did say to her that I thought the ACC issues had been sorted and early orders including it had been given a build date. She said they'd really been struggling to get updates from Audi UK and that it was currently working its way through area managers and up the chain to get an answer. A courtesy car would be handy if it's still going to be delayed though.
