VW Contacted to Promise Me OTA Update Q1 2022 - So Can't Be 2.4

[simonrg]

Edit - 29/3/2022
Outcome of thread:

The logic for charging is:

• Is location set:
  • if location set is car at set location:
    • if at set location is schedule set:
      • if schedule set charge according to schedule
      • if no schedule set charge immediately to level set for location
    • if not at location ignore scheduled charging and charge according to charging screen
  • if no location set charge according to charging screen

Basically, despite several different explanation of charging in the manual, there is only one charging logic.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Original post:

Since last year I have not been able to rely on charging occurring as set on the car, for example I set 80% car charges to 100%.
In January VW Connect acknowledged that my car was not behaving correctly, since then approximately every 2 weeks they have been asking me to try charging and send screenshots, photos, times of charges, results, etc..
Last week I got an the email saying the fault would be fixed with an OTA update in Q1 2022, having just listened to 2.4 update information, this can't be 2.4 and I already have 2.3.
So, has anybody else had an OTA update after 2.3?
Is this a special update just for my ID.3?

On Sat, 12 Mar 2022 at 07:52, We Connect Support <weconnect-support@volkswagen.de> wrote:
VW Logo Volkswagen WE Logo

Hello,

Thank you for using Volkswagen Digital Services.

Regarding your request, we would like to inform you that in the first quarter of this year 2022 there will be a new Over the Air update for your vehicle with a lot of improvements for heating and charging.

For further clarifications, we remain at your disposal around the clock, 7 days a week. You may reply to this email, or call us on our dedicated line 0800 – 2797508. We kindly ask, that you indicate your reference 0001163420 for a quick follow-up.

We wish you always a safe and pleasant journey with your Volkswagen ID.3.

Your Volkswagen team

[G43FAN]

Since last year I have not been able to rely on charging occurring as set on the car, for example I set 80% car charges to 100%.

That's been the same for 100% of other users. There are some workarounds but the In car scheduling doesn't work consistently.

In January VW Connect acknowledged that my car was not behaving correctly, since then approximately every 2 weeks they have been asking me to try charging and send screenshots, photos, times of charges, results, etc..

Pretty standard for Connect support, they won't say 'Oh no that's a known issue' they will treat yours problem as unheard of and ask you for information, I think more to appease you than actually do any data gathering.

Last week I got an the email saying the fault would be fixed with an OTA update in Q1 2022, having just listened to 2.4 update information, this can't be 2.4 and I already have 2.3.
So, has anybody else had an OTA update after 2.3?
Is this a special update just for my ID.3?

Again standard resolution process, we've identified your fault and a fix is coming. No there have been no OTA updates since 2.3, No it's not a special update they have written for your ID.3.

[simonrg]

Since last year I have not been able to rely on charging occurring as set on the car, for example I set 80% car charges to 100%.

That's been the same for 100% of other users. There are some workarounds but the In car scheduling doesn't work consistently.
................
Again standard resolution process, we've identified your fault and a fix is coming. No there have been no OTA updates since 2.3, No it's not a special update they have written for your ID.3.

Thanks for your reply, to summarise my ID.3's problems are not unique, VW Connect's last communication is 100% incorrect, which means they have effectively been that way for the last 3 months while they asked me to help them get to the bottom of the issues.
My ID.3 has had lots of problems since purchase but had not had any charging problems, I had assumed this was because I don't use scheduling I just plug in and charge.
So I was surprised late last year, the car's charging behaviour changed. When plugged in and immediately charged, the car charged to different levels than those I had set, either meaning the car is under or over charged when we next come to drive it. Under charged disrupts our travel plans, over charged will damage the battery over time if not spotted.

[ksoni94]

Doesn't Q1 end in 10 days? seems a very vague timeline for such a short amount of time.

[Utumno]

Since last year I have not been able to rely on charging occurring as set on the car, for example I set 80% car charges to 100%.
In January VW Connect acknowledged that my car was not behaving correctly, since then approximately every 2 weeks they have been asking me to try charging and send screenshots, photos, times of charges, results, etc..
Last week I got an the email saying the fault would be fixed with an OTA update in Q1 2022, having just listened to 2.4 update information, this can't be 2.4 and I already have 2.3.
So, has anybody else had an OTA update after 2.3?
Is this a special update just for my ID.3?

On Sat, 12 Mar 2022 at 07:52, We Connect Support <weconnect-support@volkswagen.de> wrote:
VW Logo Volkswagen WE Logo

Hello,

Thank you for using Volkswagen Digital Services.

Regarding your request, we would like to inform you that in the first quarter of this year 2022 there will be a new Over the Air update for your vehicle with a lot of improvements for heating and charging.

For further clarifications, we remain at your disposal around the clock, 7 days a week. You may reply to this email, or call us on our dedicated line 0800 – 2797508. We kindly ask, that you indicate your reference 0001163420 for a quick follow-up.

We wish you always a safe and pleasant journey with your Volkswagen ID.3.

Your Volkswagen team

You should expect their promise to be broken. They are clearly referring to 2.4, and it's not OTA.

[OB1CCFC]

Yep they are referring to 2.4 and it’s not OTA.
Embarrassing.

[simonrg]

Frustrating turns out they were referring to 2.3, which I got back in October.
It appears whoever sent this message had not reviewed any of the information I have sent them over the last 2 months and they are now asking me to repeat all the actions and to send them information already sent.
I seem to be stuck in an infinite support loop. In fact i have gone backwards as I was told over a month ago that the issue had been escalated and they would supply a specific fix, hence I wondered about a targeted update.
I guess it is back to the dealer, as I am getting nowhere with VW Connect.
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"On Mon, 21 Mar 2022 at 12:02, We Connect Support <weconnect-support@volkswagen.de> wrote:
VW Logo Volkswagen WE Logo

Thank you for contacting Volkswagen Digital Services.

We do apologise for any inconvenience that may be being caused, and we thank you for your patience.

Please be informed that based on our internal tools, it appears that the 2.3 software update has been installed successfully in your ID.3. To enable for us to confirm this, would you kindly provide a photo of the 'System information' as displayed in the 'Settings' section of the infotainment display.

Surrounding the issues that you report with the scheduled charging, below, we will provide you the information to set up the 'Departure times' as a cross reference for you. Please ensure that all settings are correct, after which if the issue continues, please reply with the requested information given at the end of this email.

Although it is not obligational, we recommend to update the app regularly as each new release contains improved and/or additional functions. The current release for the We Connect ID. is 5.11.4 for Android devices.

To set up the ‘departure times’ from the infotainment system, please proceed as follows:
........

From the We Connect ID. app, you are able to configure and/or edit the profile settings, however, the charging location can only be created from within the infotainment system. To view your settings, go to the ‘profile’ section and select ‘Charging at home’.

After the above settings have been cross checked, if the issue continues, please reply with the following information so that we can pass the issues to the designated team to continue their investigation:
Date and time the above settings were cross checked.
Photo of the 'Departure times' and 'Charging profile' from the infotainment system.
Screenshot of the 'Departure times' from within the We Connect ID. app.
Screenshot of any error message received along with a brief explanation as to what occurred.
Photo of the globe and 4G signal bar from the infotainment display.
We thank you once again for your time and cooperation.

Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are available 24/7, you can reach us by email or by calling 0800-2797508, quoting 1219035 for quick reference.

We wish you a safe and pleasant journey always, in your Volkswagen ID.3.


Your Volkswagen team "

[G43FAN]

Hi Simonrg - Please don't take this the wrong way, but it has been stated on this forum, the Facebook groups, the EV Forums and admitted by VW that the In car scheduled charging function DOES NOT WORK.

Taking the car to your dealers will not fix it.
VW Connect are not writing a piece of software to fix it just for your ID.3. If they could do that they'd have fixed it already for all of us.

VW Connect have no idea what to do and aren't allowed to say "Oh that, It's broken" so they go through a charade of collecting screenshots (I was asked for a screenshot of my phone at one point to see if I had 4G) then telling you it's escalated then in my experience passing it to someone else who restarts the whole thing.
"The current release for the We Connect ID. is 5.11.4 for Android devices. " - This is from their email.. the current version of We Connect ID on the play store is 2.2.4 !!!

The fix for In car charging (if you believe VW) is coming with the Software Version 3 roll out. This isn't going to appear until later in 2022. There are some success with in car settings but currently the only real solution is to use a Smart charger.

[simonrg]

Hi Simonrg - Please don't take this the wrong way, but it has been stated on this forum, the Facebook groups, the EV Forums and admitted by VW that the In car scheduled charging function DOES NOT WORK......

Hi G43FAN
Thanks, I know the scheduled charging does not work, that is not my problem, sorry I didn't explain properly that it is non-scheduled charging that does not work reliably. I am not aware others are having problems with non-scheduled charging.

For 11 months of ownership the charging worked correctly for me, I would set a charge level when I plugged the car in on returning home and then if I needed to increase the charge level, I would use the app to increase the charge while still plugged in.

Charging no longer works reliably for me:

• When I set the end charge level in the car to 80% for the car to charge immediately, in the morning I have had multiple occasions where the car has charged to 100%
• Increasing the charge level on the app no longer increases the charge level in the car

Taking the car to your dealers will not fix it.
VW Connect are not writing a piece of software to fix it just for your ID.3. If they could do that they'd have fixed it already for all of us.

VW Connect have no idea what to do and aren't allowed to say "Oh that, It's broken" so they go through a charade of collecting screenshots (I was asked for a screenshot of my phone at one point to see if I had 4G) then telling you it's escalated then in my experience passing it to someone else who restarts the whole thing.
"The current release for the We Connect ID. is 5.11.4 for Android devices. " - This is from their email.. the current version of We Connect ID on the play store is 2.2.4 !!!

The fix for In car charging (if you believe VW) is coming with the Software Version 3 roll out. This isn't going to appear until later in 2022. There are some success with in car settings but currently the only real solution is to use a Smart charger.

I appreciate VW won't write software specifically for my car and so I have been dealing with VW Digital as the issues are around the software. However, as I discovered last year my car not only had the same poor software as everyone else but it was (uniquely?) incorrectly configured. In that case it took me 3 months of interacting with VW to get my car to be able to preheat from the app. In this 3 months the car spent over a month with the dealer, but in the end the car was correctly configured and I am able to preheat the car from the app.

I posted on here because I believe my issue is not with scheduled charging but just with charging, which it appears from the response that others aren't experiencing.

Having escalated the issue with the dealer and VW Executive Office, both have offered to help:

• The dealer has told that while VW has issued a press release about versions 2.4 and 3.1 they have not been told the timescale over which 2.4 will be released to UK dealers, so not very helpful.
• After a long phone call with the Executive Office they are following up my issue, but I was told if it is a digital issue then they may not be able to help, as to quote "this is purely an issue with VW Digital". So, they have asked me to continue to engage with VW Digital as this is they root to a solution to my issues.

I suppose another approach would be to get an OBD dongle, find somebody with an ID.3 where non-scheduled charging works and compare all the relevant components parameters with my car to see if I can spot if something is mis-configured.

Having replied to a Volkswagen We email and refusing to send the information requested as I have already supplied it at least twice before, I have now received this reply, like others they seem to have decided the issue is due to departure times in my car, which I don't use:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,

Thank you for your kind reply.

Once again we sincerely apologize about the inconvenience you have been facing with the Departure Times for your ID.3.

Kindly note that we would like to escalate your case again, but in order to do that we need the details requested in this case as the technicians will need to have the details with a new timestamp.

Otherwise the escalation will be rejected.

Should you wish us to take the case further please be so kind and send us the below:
A screenshot of the 'Departure times' from within the We Connect ID. app.
A screenshot of the 'Departure times' settings from the infotainment system in your vehicle.
Your smartphone model and its operating system version.
The We Connect ID. app version.
The color of the LED next to the SOS button
Your ID.3 software Version (Settings-> System Information)
The display of the globe symbol (is it crossed out, bright white, reception bars more then 2-3?).
Thank you in advance for your kind cooperation and efforts.

We remain at your disposal around the clock, 7 days a week. You may reply to this email, or call us on our dedicated line 0800 – 2797508. We kindly ask, that you indicate your reference 0001219035 for a quick follow-up.

We wish you always, a safe and pleasant journey with your favourite Volkswagen ID.3.

Your Volkswagen team

[G43FAN]

I'm sorry, much of what you describe implies some form of scheduled charging and there are so many other threads here and elsewhere where scheduling is part of the issue I assumed that was the case?

Charging no longer works reliably for me:
When I set the end charge level in the car to 80% for the car to charge immediately, in the morning I have had multiple occasions where the car has charged to 100%
So does the charger just charge continually from when you plugged in until 100% in a flat curve?
What charger are you using and has this been changed or updated recently. (There's another thread about 'Ohme Home Pro' chargers exhibiting a similar issue or so it seems)
Difficult possibly but have you managed to recreate this on another charger?

Increasing the charge level on the app no longer increases the charge level in the car I would ignore the app for now personally,. I do use it but I force close and restart it before and after every interaction otherwise it just seems to go to sleep. (Android).

As for the Uniquely incorrectly configured, that seems very odd. At a time when VW Techs can or could do no more than replace modules, as guided by emails from Germany. (Information I was given by a VW Manager) and in a car where access to the App to switch on heating is not limited by any model variation (to my knowledge) I am surprised to hear that a dealer managed to change configuration to repair the issue rather than doing the straight module swap.

After a long phone call with the Executive Office they are following up my issue, but I was told if it is a digital issue then they may not be able to help, as to quote "this is purely an issue with VW Digital". So, they have asked me to continue to engage with VW Digital as this is they root to a solution to my issues.
I had a similar exchange with them, there is still a massive lack of understanding about how important the software is in these cars and that it's a fundamental component not some optional extra that is a bit glitchy. The statement this week about VW being experts in software and OTA roll outs was quite unbelievable and concerning. It makes you think that they think this is about right.

[Utumno]

I hope I haven’t missed the point but this just sounds like all the investigation and configuration We Connect had you do has made the problem worse and wasted a shirtload of time.

I’d remove all the location and schedule stuff in the car and app and only have a cap of 80% set in the car. If you need a scheduled charge you’ll need a charger that does the scheduling outside of car settings.

Ignoring charge caps is one of the widely reported symptoms of the in-car scheduling and location being broken.

Reportedly VW have improved this in 2.4 but nobody really knows and 2.4 isnt available yet anyway, and even when it is available it’ll need a dealer visit to install together with hardware changes.

[simonrg]

I hope I haven’t missed the point but this just sounds like all the investigation and configuration We Connect had you do has made the problem worse and wasted a shirtload of time.

I’d remove all the location and schedule stuff in the car and app and only have a cap of 80% set in the car. If you need a scheduled charge you’ll need a charger that does the scheduling outside of car settings.

Ignoring charge caps is one of the widely reported symptoms of the in-car scheduling and location being broken.

Reportedly VW have improved this in 2.4 but nobody really knows and 2.4 isn't available yet anyway, and even when it is available it’ll need a dealer visit to install together with hardware changes.

Hi Utumno,
Thanks, so there is bleed through from scheduled settings into dumb charge settings then.
We Connect has asked me to alter scheduled settings, so it sounds like they may have made it worse, once again this morning car was set to 80% charge level but it has charged to 90%.
I will try and delete all scheduled settings and see if that helps, I assume this is possible in the car, as I can't see how to do it in the app.

[simonrg]

My latest reply from VW Connect is unbelievable, basically that features that did work in the app / car have been broken for future updates.

Is it really true that even the features that previously worked related to charging no longer work? Or is my car just wrongly configured as I have previously experienced with other features?

It feels like I purchased a car from VW and without my knowledge they have taken parts of it back, bits of the fuel tank for example.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
VW Connect reply to my email below, explaining that I didn't have an issue with scheduled charging as I don't use it, just normal charging:
Hello,

Thank you for your reply and explanation provided.

We would like to kindly inform you that it isn't possible to change the charge level at the moment from the app for immediate charging.

Furthermore, some of the features installed in the updated app are in preparation for the upcoming SW update and as new functions introduced and current functions optimized.

We thank you once again for your time and cooperation.

Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are available 24/7, you can reach us by email or by calling 0800-2797508.

We wish you a safe and pleasant journey always, in your Volkswagen ID.3.

Your Volkswagen team
--------------------------------------------------
My email to VW Connect explaining they were trying to solve a problem I had not asked about:
Hi,

It looks like you are not trying to solve the problem I have,
"Once again we sincerely apologize about the inconvenience you have been facing with the Departure Times for your ID.3."

I have not been using Departure Times, i.e. I don't use Scheduled Charging.

Between December 2021 and December 2022, I had no issue charging, I would set a charge level of 80% on leaving the car, plug in to charge immediately and then use the app to increase the charge level if I needed more charge. The charge level is now not reliable and the app is unable to charge the charge level.

From December 2022 I have had the issue that if I set a charge level (80%) on my ID.3 before leaving, then plug in the car, it starts to immediately charge and I expect it to have stopped charging at the set charge level (80%) when I return, but on multiple occasions when I have returned I found the car has charged beyond 80% and has a set charge level of 100%. I have not been using Scheduled Charging.

The other issue that I now have is that the charge level displayed on the app or at least the level set on the app has no relation or effect on the car anymore.

So I expressed in my email reply of 21st February "I am concerned that the unpredictability of the charge level has on occasions meant the car has been left at a high charge for unrecommended lengths and more annoyingly we have returned to the car to find it has insufficient charge for our planned travel." No mention of Departure Time.

Last year I discovered my car was (uniquely?) incorrectly configured. In that case it took me 3 months of interacting with VW to get my car to be able to preheat from the app. In this 3 months the car spent over a month with the dealer, but in the end the car was correctly configured and I am able to preheat the car from the app. My point being that I once again appear to be experiencing an issue which is not the common issue "scheduled charging not working", but a failure of core functionality, could this too be down to incorrect configuration of my car.

Please could you let me know what information you require to escalate my issue with unpredictable charge level and failure of app, rather than the departure time issue you requested information for.

[G43FAN]

This is getting very confusing with lots of text from We Connect which is pointless. Your repeating yourself but not answering questions. Information you are giving is contradictory (or confusing) I'm genuinely trying to understand what is happening but it's not clear.

Thanks, so there is bleed through from scheduled settings into dumb charge settings then.

Can't work out what you mean by this but it raises the question again. Do you have any Location saved into the car at all?

We Connect has asked me to alter scheduled settings, so it sounds like they may have made it worse, once again this morning car was set to 80% charge level but it has charged to 90%.
I will try and delete all scheduled settings and see if that helps, I assume this is possible in the car, as I can't see how to do it in the app.

This states clearly you have got scheduled settings but in your response to my 'Scheduled settings don't work comment' you have stated you are not using them, which is it? Having any location settings in the car affects general charging, hence people suggest not using them and deleting any locations.

When was the last time you rebooted your phone? (iOS or Android incidentally) Does any of the other phone to car functionality work (heating I guess is the only one we can test here).

[simonrg]

This is getting very confusing with lots of text from We Connect which is pointless. Your repeating yourself but not answering questions. Information you are giving is contradictory (or confusing) I'm genuinely trying to understand what is happening but it's not clear.

Agreed it is confusing, thanks for your perseverance, sorry about all the text, I wanted to include so I wasn't misrepresenting VW, but I can't find the BBcode to hide text as on other forums.
I don't use scheduled charging, but was asked to set up a charging location by We Connect and at no time have I had any active schedules while I was having these issues.
As you say and @Utummo implied there appears to be bleed through of settings from Scheduled to non-scheduled charging. I have not seen this mentioned before, all I have seen is that scheduled charging does not work.
I have now deleted the location I was asked to add by VW and will see if this fixes my problem.
As far as I am aware nowhere in VW documentation does it say you can't use immediate charging if you have scheduled charging.
I can understand there is a potential for conflict between different methods of setting charge level. There needs to be a precedence, but this should not be an issue if none of the schedules are active.
Hopefully all sorted, now I have deleted the location and hence have no schedules either active or inactive.
Thanks.

[G43FAN]

This is getting very confusing with lots of text from We Connect which is pointless. Your repeating yourself but not answering questions. Information you are giving is contradictory (or confusing) I'm genuinely trying to understand what is happening but it's not clear.

Agreed it is confusing, thanks for your perseverance, sorry about all the text, I wanted to include so I wasn't misrepresenting VW, but I can't find the BBcode to hide text as on other forums.
I don't use scheduled charging, but was asked to set up a charging location by We Connect and at no time have I had any active schedules while I was having these issues.
As you say and @Utummo implied there appears to be bleed through of settings from Scheduled to non-scheduled charging. I have not seen this mentioned before, all I have seen is that scheduled charging does not work.
I have now deleted the location I was asked to add by VW and will see if this fixes my problem.
As far as I am aware nowhere in VW documentation does it say you can't use immediate charging if you have scheduled charging.
I can understand there is a potential for conflict between different methods of setting charge level. There needs to be a precedence, but this should not be an issue if none of the schedules are active.
Hopefully all sorted, now I have deleted the location and hence have no schedules either active or inactive.
Thanks.

Perhaps the message should be more damning. It's not that if you set up a schedule that doesn't seem to work as it should.. It's if you set up ANY location in the Infotainment system it screws up charging all together.

As for the VW Documentation, I wasn't aware there was any available to explain the scheduled charging let alone any to suggest it was so badly executed it messes up charging altogether.. I read threw some of your historic posts and you do seem to have had some unique issues, I hope 2.4 and the subsequent 3.x whenever we get it brings things into line.

[simonrg]

G43FAN thanks great summary, I hadn't realised that scheduled charging messes up all charging, I do now.

Having deleted all scheduling stuff, set charge level to 80% and car stopped charging at 80%.

So forum 100% success, VW 0%

[G43FAN]

Well that's good news.. Curious though, has it also fixed the control of the charge level via the app?

[simonrg]

Thanks, as it turns out my issue is so simple to fix, it is a shame its not in the manual (or at least not clear to me) or I didn't work it out before. I guess I expected it to work as it always had and lots of people I asked thought I was having problems with scheduled charging.

I have reread my car's manual where there are detailed charging instructions. The manual has 2 sections related to charging, "Charging settings" and "Timer-controlled charging", no where does it say that if a location is set this stops the immediate charging ("Charging settings") from working.

To me it seemed reasonable to expect that if "Timer-controlled charging" is inactive, then all the location settings are not active as the location is displayed with all the timers greyed out, this is not the case.

I suspect I wouldn't have had this problem if I had started on version 2.3 of the software where scheduled charging works.

If my problem is not a bug but is how the software is supposed to work, then surely if the location set limit is in effect that should be reflected on the charging page when you leave the vehicle.

Perhaps the location charging should be properly separated from timed charged.

[G43FAN]

Thanks, as it turns out my issue is so simple to fix, it is a shame its not in the manual (or at least not clear to me) or I didn't work it out before. I guess I expected it to work as it always had and lots of people I asked thought I was having problems with scheduled charging.

I have reread my car's manual where there are detailed charging instructions. The manual has 2 sections related to charging, "Charging settings" and "Timer-controlled charging", no where does it say that if a location is set this stops the immediate charging ("Charging settings") from working.

To me it seemed reasonable to expect that if "Timer-controlled charging" is inactive, then all the location settings are not active as the location is displayed with all the timers greyed out, this is not the case.

I suspect I wouldn't have had this problem if I had started on version 2.3 of the software where scheduled charging works.

If my problem is not a bug but is how the software is supposed to work, then surely if the location set limit is in effect that should be reflected on the charging page when you leave the vehicle.

Perhaps the location charging should be properly separated from timed charged.

I don't think the manual states it, as that is not how VW intended it to work. They presumably wrote the manual under the impression the software worked. Of all the things that were wrong in the released versions of the software the schedule charging is probably the item that is so completely broken the only solution is to not use it.

No it doesn't work under 2.3 either.. VW have announced that it will be fixed in Software version 3 whether we see 3.0 or 3.1 is the next question and whether we see it much before October is debateable.