My experience running out of battery

General discussion
#1

Back at the end of Jan I did the unthinkable and ran out of battery on my Q4. I was on the way to a charger 8 miles away and had 15 miles of range. I’ve done similar journeys before but the car stopped on the motorway hard shoulder (M8)

Very embarrassing and stupid. No excuse

So I called driver line and was on hold for about 20 minutes. I gave up and called Audi assist directly. They took my details etc. and said they would arrange for someone to tow me. 3 hours later and nothing. I got regular calls from the AA to keep my up to date but they said they simply don’t have anyone to recover me so will inform the police who will do a check up on me and arrange recovery. Was at this point I realised there is a very real chance of me getting a fine and points.

The police were lovely however, even let me sit in their car to heat up (and run my license!). I was very apologetic for wasting their time. They arranged a recovery which I had to pay out of pocket (£190). The AA assured me that they will reimburse this. The police say they get calls from the AA and RAC regularly because they can’t attend.

Reimbursement wasn’t easy. They just aren’t set up well for it and I got passed between the AA and Audi several times. But I got a cheque in the post today.

Anyway I hope that helps anyone who might be in a similar situation.

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#2

For all the bad press the police get, honestly it’s nice to hear the good stories.

Don’t be embarrassed though, you had enough range showing and was heading to a charger.

Just shows the AA and RAC are not particularly reliable

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#3

Could have happened to any of us! :man_shrugging:

But thanks for sharing. Not sure what to make of UK’s recovery services these days.

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#4

I didn’t quite understand why the police could arrange a recovery to arrive within 30 minutes but the AA couldn’t! Why couldn’t the AA call that company.

The police said that they have a special agreement with that company though. Just seems like a roundabout way of things getting done. Not a pleasant experience for anyone involved!

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#5

I imagine the company the police in that area have an agreement with are for recovery of seized vehicles, accidents etc. Probably just lucky enough there were enough vehicles and/or no accidents or cars seized.

#6

I ran the battery down on my new Mégane to 6 percent before charging at Eden Project. I was travelling locally and so felt comfortable doing it on a short non motorway trip. Motorway driving is high drain on the battery and so must be more at risk of a sudden drop in range near depletion. Sounds like the Q4 doesn’t have a small reserve for such scenarios then ?

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#7

I normally don’t let the batter go below 40% but this week in my E208 I ended up at home with 12% but not as bad as I thought it’s 6 miles to an Instavolt I’ll do it in the morning.

12% would normally give me 17 miles on a motorway, so 6 miles not an issue at low speed as it’s 4 mile at 30mph road and then 50.

It was cold and heater was set to 20 but I lost 5% in 1 mile… wow I thought, hit the eco button.

Got there at 2%.

I’ve driven the car in -6 C and it didn’t drop as quick. Maybe the battery isn’t as efficient at low levels?

Will not get caught like that again.

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#8

Wow!

Real jeopardy!

I saw 4% in the Kona once, but that probably means you can get from London to Brighton in a Kona…. :man_shrugging:

I’m finding it possible to get slightly anxious in current car when just leaving it over one or two nights.

My theory is that you come in with a hot functioning battery and smartly calculated GOM, and it sits there overnight, rethinking the battery levels (and obviously re-analyses range based on last xxkm as it does)

But I understand it varies wildly with battery chemistry and potentially the kinder batteries - LFP - are pretty erratic in doing their thing on GOM and state of charge :man_shrugging:

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#9

Must be getting warmer as twice this week I got above 4kwh in my Ioniq 5
4.1 and yesterday 4.3 kwh :smiley:

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#10

That sounds promising. Still waiting to get one :roll_eyes:

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#11

Mocean have Ioniq 5 ultimate 73kw available nearly new the now.

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#12

Waiting for AWD Ultimate as it’s gonna replace the I-pace

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#13

From Mocean? I have a voucher for 20% off first month :rofl:
I was meant to get ultimate 77kwh AWD with tech pack and eco pack but software problem with it so had to take the 58kW RWD the now

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#14

The only time I panicked with the MG wasn’t really a panic but range dropped really fast was about a week or two back, fairly cold low single digit and I had about 25%, range estimation was about 65 miles. I knew I had to get to Chippenham ionity and it was about 25 miles away (half an hour). Switched on the battery heater and efficiency dropped plus being on the motorway. I arrived there with efficiency at 2.4 mpkw. Ate up about 45 miles of range just for that. Scary if those chargers didn’t work then I’d be in deep trouble. Luckily they worked. I arrived with about 20 ish miles and 12% ish battery.

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#15
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#16

That’s the practical juggling-act that people like us can learn about in a community, and in practice.

Without these types of issues fully understood by new drivers this will be a continuing source of frustrations. Dealers, especially, need to schedule discussions with their customers. But I have first-hand witnessed that they often have no clue. :man_shrugging:

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