We got our first Hybrid, golf GTE

[pistolpete12]

Well with the wife only doing short school journeys, and round to her friends house, we had been looking at hybrids for a while

she had a mk6 golf gti, which was burning oil, we started looking back at Ford Kugas, tiguans, and other suv diesels, but 1, I am not a fan of diesels. 2, she only does short journeys.

this then brought our discussion back to hybrids, our first port of call was the outlander, which all in all seems to do the job, eventually she upped her budget and bought a 2017 mk7.5 golf GTE
I have got to say, its lovely. one of the nicest cars we have ever owned, normally he have high mileage ratty cars.

After driving it, i really like the hybrid, even considering getting myself a 330e, but not for a while yet, especially with my work installing chargers

Anyway, i am now looking at home charging
a great wealth of info reading through this thread https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

With the type 2 charging, does it just know what to supply the car and you just set the charger at 7kw? as some chargers show you can switch between 3.5 and 7 kw? i am not sure what the max charge rate is for a GTE

I do already have an outside 32amp RCD (type 1) socket, So i could either swap that out to be a charger, as it was for the old hot tub, or purchase one of the 32amp blue commando plug chargers , anyone used these?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jolt-Portable-Adjustable-...

i would probably get a proper charger and just swap out the socket for the charger. I would also go tethered as its round the back of the house mounted on the shed, so not too much of an issue for how it looks, also means the wife doesn't have to drag it out the car every day


cheers people, i am off to do more reading

[blank]

Pretty sure the golf will only charge at 3.6kW but you're better off fitting a 7.2kW charger for future proofing.

Your existing supply would probably be OK if it's sized for 32A constant but may need some additional protection depending on what is built in to the charger you decide on.

[plfrench]

I don't think it is it really worth charging a hybrid with a relatively small battery on anything other than 3pin at home? It'd be less than four hours from empty to full, so just plug in over night and job done.

Full EV, absolutely worth going 7kW charger.

[sjg]

GTE is 3.6kw (16A) max. You don’t have to worry about matching anything up, the car will only take what it, the cable and charge point are capable of.

If you’re getting a charge point fitted they’re quite expensive as they now need to be smart, the electrical regs are more stringent and the grant went away. If you can keep a 13A socket and the granny charger out of the weather I’d be inclined to use that, you can still fill it in a few hours. Definitely worth making sure it’s as easy as possible to plug in, you can cover a lot of miles on electric if it’s always full at the start of the day.

They’re good cars, I had one for 2 years on lease and it would still be a really good fit for our use.

[pistolpete12]

plfrench said:

I don't think it is it really worth charging a hybrid with a relatively small battery on anything other than 3pin at home? It'd be less than four hours from empty to full, so just plug in over night and job done.

Full EV, absolutely worth going 7kW charger.

Fair enough, i just know the 3 pin socket is not always best for constant high load draw, another reason i was looking at the 32a commando socket
We do just plug it in over night and its all done, so no issues there at all

I have an outside socket for it was considering mounting the charging lead up on the wall so we dont have to keep taking it out the boot every night, as its the only place we will use the three pin plug

[pistolpete12]

sjg said:

GTE is 3.6kw (16A) max. You don’t have to worry about matching anything up, the car will only take what it, the cable and charge point are capable of.

If you’re getting a charge point fitted they’re quite expensive as they now need to be smart, the electrical regs are more stringent and the grant went away. If you can keep a 13A socket and the granny charger out of the weather I’d be inclined to use that, you can still fill it in a few hours. Definitely worth making sure it’s as easy as possible to plug in, you can cover a lot of miles on electric if it’s always full at the start of the day.

They’re good cars, I had one for 2 years on lease and it would still be a really good fit for our use.

ahh perfect i did wonder what its max was
i have a weather proof 13a socket i use at the moment, i wasn't sure how the granny charger block holds up the the weather permanently if mounted on an outside wall

[plfrench]

With the e-Golf we had you could drop the current draw all the way down to 3A, if you wanted to reduce the strain so to speak. It might be the same on the GTE. Perhaps a 6A (I can't remember what the full options were) would be a good balance of time vs current draw?

We used a 3 pin at 13A for about 7 months before we had a 7kW charger installed and it seemed fine. We plugged the 3 pin into a socket inside the garage and then just poked the cable out under the garage door.

[pistolpete12]

[pistolpete12]

plfrench said:

With the e-Golf we had you could drop the current draw all the way down to 3A, if you wanted to reduce the strain so to speak. It might be the same on the GTE. Perhaps a 6A (I can't remember what the full options were) would be a good balance of time vs current draw?

We used a 3 pin at 13A for about 7 months before we had a 7kW charger installed and it seemed fine. We plugged the 3 pin into a socket inside the garage and then just poked the cable out under the garage door.

I found that menu the other day, i might drop it down as it charges over night, so even if i drop it to 7 amp itll still be charged by morning
At the moment i'm just letting the car sort it out

[Malcolm E Boo]

I have just taken a Passat GTE as a company car after having two Passat Diesels.

I am very impressed with this car the hybrid tech and how it works is very clever and the regen braking and charge when driving is just pure wizardry.

I only have a 3 pin plug and charge it off that overnight with no issue. I run the lead under the garage door and plug the car in from there. I just switch the plug off when I am not at home.

This car is far more economical than the diesel Passats and I save around £200 a month in company car tax. What's not to like.

[pistolpete12]

Malcolm E Boo said:

I have just taken a Passat GTE as a company car after having two Passat Diesels.

I am very impressed with this car the hybrid tech and how it works is very clever and the regen braking and charge when driving is just pure wizardry.

I only have a 3 pin plug and charge it off that overnight with no issue. I run the lead under the garage door and plug the car in from there. I just switch the plug off when I am not at home.

This car is far more economical than the diesel Passats and I save around £200 a month in company car tax. What's not to like.

I looked at the passats for me, they look pretty good

I really like the regen braking, the wifes getting used to it now too

[Tractor Driver]

Malcolm E Boo said:

I have just taken a Passat GTE as a company car after having two Passat Diesels.

I am very impressed with this car the hybrid tech and how it works is very clever and the regen braking and charge when driving is just pure wizardry.

I only have a 3 pin plug and charge it off that overnight with no issue. I run the lead under the garage door and plug the car in from there. I just switch the plug off when I am not at home.

This car is far more economical than the diesel Passats and I save around £200 a month in company car tax. What's not to like.

…are you mainly doing shorter journeys? Completely agree that for shorter (~<100miles) runs, the GTE should give better economy than a diesel, assuming it has been fully charged. Much above that on a gentle motorway run and I’d have thought a sensibly driven diesel would start to edge ahead on economy.

[Malcolm E Boo]

Overall as a package it is more economical. The increase in economy around town and shorter journeys outweighs where it is worse on longer trips/motorways.

[ajprice]

I know the pure EV range on these is supposed to be around 30 miles on a charge but is more realistically 20 something miles. How many miles does a charge last if you only use it in hybrid mode or GTE mode, and leave the pure EV mode alone?

[JD]

ajprice said:

I know the pure EV range on these is supposed to be around 30 miles on a charge but is more realistically 20 something miles. How many miles does a charge last if you only use it in hybrid mode or GTE mode, and leave the pure EV mode alone?

20 is about absolute worst case in the cold weather, medium warm day 30 is easily achieved.

It will depend on the route profile as it only uses the motor when it is favourable to do so (unlike some PHEV that just use up all the battery right away) so if you were to jump directly onto the motorway it will barely sip at the battery, and you could do hundreds of miles with some battery left.

If you set a journey in the sat nav it will also use the electricity to greater effect.

[ajprice]

JD said:

20 is about absolute worst case in the cold weather, medium warm day 30 is easily achieved.

It will depend on the route profile as it only uses the motor when it is favourable to do so (unlike some PHEV that just use up all the battery right away) so if you were to jump directly onto the motorway it will barely sip at the battery, and you could do hundreds of miles with some battery left.

If you set a journey in the sat nav it will also use the electricity to greater effect.

Thanks. I only asked for future reference when I'm next car shopping. I live in a flat and park on the street, so was wondering whether a small battery plug in like a GTE or Ioniq would be doable or worth it with a top up charge at Tesco or wherever every week to top up. Work commute would be up to 100 miles per week, depending on when I'm working from home or in the office.

[paradigital]

With our Passat GTE Advance we’re getting around 22 miles from it at the moment, in the summer it’s more like 28-29.

We take it from Cheshire to North Devon at least once a year and average over 65MPG typically, even when fully laden with a family of four and associated luggage.

Shorter, but outside of EV range trips can net anything up to 120+ MPG, as my recent 60 mile round trip will attest to. The trip computer estimated around 60% of the trip was zero emissions, which is well beyond the pure EV range, meaning that I get a usable amount of additional range from regen. I do tend to drive everywhere in B rather than D though.

Our Passat was definitely a gateway drug though, I’d have likely not bought my Model 3 Performance without having already bought the wife the Passat. Her usage is 90% (or more) pure EV, as typically it’s school runs and local shopping. We charge it overnight on Octopus cheap rate, and top it up on sunny days for free, which makes it insanely cheap to run per mile. Add to that the kit levels you get for your money, and the fact that we picked our (at the time) 3 year old low mileage example for £18k, it’s easily the best value car I’ve ever bought.

[JD]

ajprice said:

Thanks. I only asked for future reference when I'm next car shopping. I live in a flat and park on the street, so was wondering whether a small battery plug in like a GTE or Ioniq would be doable or worth it with a top up charge at Tesco or wherever every week to top up. Work commute would be up to 100 miles per week, depending on when I'm working from home or in the office.

Just be aware that it's very unlikely charging a PHEV at a public charger will ever make financial sense (its more expensive than using it on pure petrol)

Also you can't just "top up" anything other than then newest of PHEV, a GTE full charge will take nearly 4 hours.

[andy43]

pistolpete12 said:

plfrench said:

With the e-Golf we had you could drop the current draw all the way down to 3A, if you wanted to reduce the strain so to speak. It might be the same on the GTE. Perhaps a 6A (I can't remember what the full options were) would be a good balance of time vs current draw?

We used a 3 pin at 13A for about 7 months before we had a 7kW charger installed and it seemed fine. We plugged the 3 pin into a socket inside the garage and then just poked the cable out under the garage door.

I found that menu the other day, i might drop it down as it charges over night, so even if i drop it to 7 amp itll still be charged by morning
At the moment i'm just letting the car sort it out

I’d stick with a quality 13A socket and just turn the amps down a bit on the car to be super safe. A dedicated EV charger is lovely and futureproof but rather expensive.
I charged a Tesla for two years off a 13A socket using a Screwfix 10a charger and it was fine. I’ve also got a 32a commando socket for the Tesla mobile connector charger but honestly I mostly used the screwfix one because the cable was 10 metres. I’ve been charging off the same 13a socket for 8 years with no problems.
My existing 32a commando socket won’t meet regs and probably neither will yours as you now need special rcd pen protection for ev chargers which is quite amusing seeing as your last use of the existing rcd protection involved you sitting in an electrified pool of water…

[ajprice]

JD said:

ajprice said:

Thanks. I only asked for future reference when I'm next car shopping. I live in a flat and park on the street, so was wondering whether a small battery plug in like a GTE or Ioniq would be doable or worth it with a top up charge at Tesco or wherever every week to top up. Work commute would be up to 100 miles per week, depending on when I'm working from home or in the office.

Just be aware that it's very unlikely charging a PHEV at a public charger will ever make financial sense (its more expensive than using it on pure petrol)

Also you can't just "top up" anything other than then newest of PHEV, a GTE full charge will take nearly 4 hours.

Fair enough, petrol or plain hybrid it is.