Unable to use DC chargers & Battery conditioning.

[REDEnyaq]

In early March I posted on here that after my i80 had been in the garage in Feb for an irregular home charging problem which lead to the AX4 part being changed. Since then I have been unable to charge at 13 CCS charger attempts. It was pointed out that BioHzrd had had the same problem back in Dec and sorted in Feb I believe, after the car went to a second dealership. My discussion with Skoda CS is still ongoing as I try to have the car sent to another dealership. I have been given 3 CS managers for my case so far. I can charge fine at home with my Zappi but it severely limits my trips. But the car is working!! Type 2 public chargers are few and far between. Other than BioHzrd has anybody else had this problem??

The latest input from my garage is that because I charge at night in low tariff blocks I have damaged my battery by not conditioning it! Therefore I should run the SOC down to 20% or lower and then charge in one continuous charge to 80% to allow the battery to condition itself. I have an email saying I need to do this 5 times then a miracle will happen and I will be successful at DC chargers !! After doing this twice I am still unable to use a DC charger successfully. I have asked for the technical logic behind this plan of action but am told Tech Support have been "asked the Q" but are unable to speak to me. My latest Skoda CS manager seems to support the plan at least while trying to source another agent. I have been through the Enyaq Manual download I have a link for and cannot find any requirement or instructions for "battery conditioning/ care" other than charge between 20% and 80% SOC. Latterly reinforced in ME3 with the battery care button. This whole logic seems to be at odds with the electric supply options eg Octopus Go, OI, Flux all of which give us charging time blocks at the best periods. I'm sorry if my frustration is showing.
WHAT DO OTHER ENYAQ OWNERS DO WITH REGARD TO BATTERY CARE?

[MikeJL]

Sounds like they've fitted your car with Nickel Cadmium batteries , those instructions sound similar to early mobile phones. I've done a little bit of research on battery care & never come across that advice.

95% of my charging is done overnight in max 4 hour stints, usually from 50% plus to 80%. Last used rapid chargers 6 months ago & worked fine. Have another long trip in a few weeks & will see what happens.

[orrery]

I only ever charge in 4 hour blocks. I do, however, make sure I go up to 100% every few times.

It sounds like they have no idea what's wrong and are just guessing.

[REDEnyaq]

Update, problem fixed.
Background, car had black screens in oct 22, which led to ME3.0 software update at that time. 7kW charging issues and 12V system, and drive system warnings lead to garage visit mid Feb. 28th Feb long trip to midlands showed that car would not charge at any DC chargers, tried 13 over time. My retailer had no idea, said it was due to the way I charged in 4hr blocks. Many discussions with 5 different Skoda CS managers, finally late April Gemma agreed for me to take car to another garage (Skoda Exeter, which had done ME3 update, and although 100mls away was convenient for me).
Cart in 3rd May, 2 days of email tennis with Skoda TS, no progress, Friday long phone calls garage to TS and finally lightbulb moment!! Remember ME3.0 applied Oct 22, AX4 unit changed for problem in Feb 23. TS insistent any AX4 issue would give no charge capability but actually failure of AX4 firmware not being compatable with ME3 was NO DC charge capability!! Redo software etc and 3 hrs later car ready to go.
Hats of to CS manager who was determined to get to bottom of issue and GOLD STAR to service manager at Skoda Exeter for determination and communication with Skoda TS to press switch enough times to get light on. Feb 28 to May 6th , 9 weeks to get it fixed with me limited to trips I could do from home with what was in SOC.
Have learnt a bit about battery conditioning recommendations, not all consistent with the real world of how we use/charge our cars, thats for another post.

[BioHzrd]

Oh you sound like you had the same issue as me with CS ! Took over 3 months to get a resolution and compensation for the time it took to repair my car !

The dealers telling you it's just to your charging in "blocks" is a load of bull and just goes to show dealers and technicians still know absolutely nothing about these cars they are "Trained" to work on and charge rediculous prices to "service"

Glad to hear you got it sorted, would recommend lodging a complaint and getting some compensation for any time you've been without your car and the issues with limited charging due to an ongoing issue mate !

[REDEnyaq]

BioHzrd, thanks for the reply. I lodged complaint with S CS and several follow ups. My first issue was the first SC advisor was in South Africa and no way contact but by emails. Complaint raised me through several CS managers, who all work from home part time. No one in front office knows when they are working so make phone call appointments with little chance they will be kept. The other problem is the IT system they work on is flakey ao 3 times I made contact but made no progress as they couldn't see what was on the system. In the end I was linked to a determined young lady who actually knew what AC, Dc charging meant and CCS and Type 2 connectors were. All along the car was drivable from AC charging so "not broken" so I needed CS to tell me to take it to the other dealer. I only have the one vehicle, so to a degree I needed to make do. I have left them with several complaints and a full and sharp customer survey reply which somebody was daft enough to send me. Complaint also in with motor ombudsman.
On a tech point my problem started when they changed the AX4 for another problem and didn't sync the software/firmware stds. If I remember correctly yours just happened with no service trigger or soft ware update so the fundamental issue may not be the exactly the same.

[HarryHuk]

Tonight my car has failed to charge at 3 Ionity Chargers (tried PowerPass rfid car, PowerPass app and Ionity app), and GridServe with contactless credit card.

Each time there was a "communication error with the car. Make sure the car is off and try again" or some such.
Had to abandon trip into London and go home, where it is happily charging from the PodPoint AC wallbox.

Going to call the garage in the morning. I think my local Skoda dealer has a DC charger, so they should be able to at least confirm the problem, even if the car has to go 50 miles away for the nearest EV workshop. Alternatively there is the mobile EV service crew, but the car should still be under warranty.

Armed with this thread, I will not be swayed with "battery conditioning" nonsense...

[Aragorn]

This thread is talking about a specific issue around AX4 firmware...

Essentially, the dealership replaced the AX4 onboard charger, but did not update the firmware to the correct version to match the rest of the car, which in turn broke the DC charging.

Has your car had an AX4 replacement?

[HarryHuk]

This thread is talking about a specific issue around AX4 firmware...

Essentially, the dealership replaced the AX4 onboard charger, but did not update the firmware to the correct version to match the rest of the car, which in turn broke the DC charging.

Has your car had an AX4 replacement?

Not as far as I know... certainly not recently. I've managed to DC charge several times since the car was last in the garage.

Confirmed the problem at the garage this morning, booked in for Monday morning for full investigation. If it's just a control unit external to the battery, they say they can do it there, but parts lead times are 4 weeks.

Good thing I can still AC charge...

[HarryHuk]

They wouldn't/couldn't tell me which module was implicated, but 3.5 hours in the garage this morning, reinstalling firmware and updating it to the correct version for the car fixed the problem, I can charge on DC again.

Given

Update, problem fixed. ..
... but actually failure of AX4 firmware not being compatable with ME3 was NO DC charge capability!! Redo software etc and 3 hrs later car ready to go.
...

It does sound a similar solution, even if the cause for me was not an AX4 replacement (As I haven't had a replacement)
Last garage update I had was November or early December, and as I said, until Friday I had DC charged in France Belgium, England and Scotland since then.

While I was testing it out today at the Ionity where I had had the problem, a woman was having very similar problems with her Audi Q4.
I told her my story, and suggested if it doesn't work on 2 chargers where others had succeeded, she get her garage to check her car.