Skoda gave us 4 tips for more winter efficiency with the ENYAQ iV. I put them to the test! [EN]

On Facebook in the Skoda EV Lounge Group Skoda published 4 tips to help in winter with the ENYAQ. I put all to the test.

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►Video chapter
00:00 Intro
00:26 Tip 1 - Overnight Battery Boost
05:25 Tip 2 - Pre-Plan Climate Control
08:50 Tip 3 - Recuperation ("B" Mode)
13:33 Tip 4 - Smart Arrival (SoC)
15:51 What do you think?

[Speicherelektrisiert]

I got a lot feedback from nothern countries where it gets really cold in wintertime not like here in the swiss alps where it is rather warm compared to scandinavian north. I totally agree that those tips from Skoda work under such hard conditions at -15, -20 oder even -30 degrees to get from a horrible experience to an acceptable experience regarding recuperation power and charging. Please also accept my perspective on this topic (which applies to most of my viewers) where winters are not that harsh yet the experience still is not near "good". Because in my view a battery at 0° ist still a cold one not a warm one. A warm and really convenient battery would be at least at 15° or even above 20°. I know the temperature delta between -20 and +20 is hard to achieve but one from +5 to +20 is not that much of a challenge for a real good thermo management in an EV.

tl;dr I understand that under certain conditions these Tips might help at least a bit but please understand that under other circumstances (like here at my home) they are not helpful.

[stefandahlvik]

I get around 40-50 kW in Finland from a 150 kW charger in wintertime (-15 C). Even if I drive 150-200 km before charging so no effect on battery temperature. The first 10 min is awful, just around 30 kW! So we need the battery heating for Enyaqs AND different start/stop values to heat up the battery at home before departure (as in SW 4.0).
Thank you for your videos!

[Sabejno]

Shows simple fact. People from Skoda Lounge team never drove Enyaq.

[RicoD]

Hello Matthias, Thank you for your continued testing of Skoda. Tip 1-3 correspond with my own day to day experience and my drive from Paris to Amsterdam at -5 C yesterday. No improved range or efficiency whatsoever. Tip 4 seems to work just a tiny bit however. At least when charging on a High Power charger. The battery is heated to 20 C (as shown by my Carscanner), which increases the charging power (SOC over 20%) by a few kilowatts. I still have to test if a +20 C warm battery with an SOC of less than 20% will charge with over 50kW in Wintertime.
Bottom line: positive that Skoda communicated something, negative that it is 90% Marketing rubbish.

[barsel]

Hello Matthias, thank you for testing the efficiency tips recommended by Skoda. The video is great again!

[TheAShkins]

Honestly those tips ar valid and can be useful for some. Regarding 1st tip - your test just didn't work because the ambient temp is already warm (for Škoda in this case). If the temp is in minus degrees then the departure time setting will warm up the battery a little bit above zero. So it is better for recuperation if it is freezing outside. These tips are useful for nordic countries.
The tips Škoda suggested were not meant for efficiency but to improve a little bit of charging speed / recuperation. At least that's how I understand this. Any battery heating is not improving efficiency anyway, you just save time / increase the autonomy but you still consume electricity (either from grid or public charger or battery)

[ladyplum]

Thank you so much, you are a life saver.

[timofthomas]

I was out and about this week at -7 Celsius in my iV80 Sportline. I charged to 100% overnight and preheated the car for my start time. I drove to the moors about 100km away for a hospital visit - one of our highest altitude hospitals in the UK. On the way up I saw 3.5miles/kWh so about 5.6km/kWh with the ventilation off, just the window cracked slightly to stop steaming up, and the seat and steering wheel heated occasionally. (I had a nice warm coat and hat on!). On the way back things had warmed up to 2-3C above freezing and we had more downhill. I hit 4.2miles/kWh (6.76km/kWh). I used the method you described in mode D, using regen paddles only to hold me to 90kph or so downhill and off altogether when not needed. I used the same method in Summer. The difference - range 300 miles (482km) with temps near or below freezing, and 430 miles (690km) in the Summer at around 24C temps. I have a 2022 spec, 2023 model year Enyaq on firmware version 3.2. The WLPT range is 330miles for this car - about 500km. It is worth pointing out that I have always been quick but very efficient in ICE cars too - but for comparison driving the same way as the Enyaq in older cars, Volvo 740 2L Petrol, 53.5mpg, Rover 216 (1.6 petrol) 60mpg, Opel Insignia 2L Diesel... well, it has a 70 Ltr tank and I got over 1400 miles out of it (2253km) (91mpg / 32km/L) and around 900 miles out of an A Class Mercedes 1.6 Diesel - around 90mpg also. (conversely I can empty the tank in 500 miles too but as I drive for work and we get less than it costs us, the break even required me to drive 900 miles just to not cost me more than I got back for the journey!). The biggest things as you say, plan ahead, drive smoothly, coast where you can, and be aware on motorways (autobahn) of what is coming up behind you so that you can pull out safely and not have to slow suddenly because you cannot overtake due to someone coming past you. Hope that helps.

[jgfaustus]

Thanks for putting these to the test. I'm in the Nordics and have had a 2018 e-Golf for six years, here are my thoughts:

Scheduling the climate control so the car is pre-heated when you leave should give a bit more range at least. Not so much from a warmer battery - since the effect on the battery is rather marginal - but because the initial heating of the cabin from say -10C to +20C uses energy from the wall rather than from the battery. But at temperatures above freezing I would expect the effect to be too small to be noticable, it's barely noticable on my e-Golf and the Enyaq 80 has more than twice the battery.

DC charging my e-Golf is 39 kW in summer, aboout 20-30 minutes to 80%. In winter it's down to mid-20s kW. The lowest I've seen is 15 kW, the car said two and half hours for a full charge, I sat there for well over an hour to get to 80%. That was at -10C, the car had been sitting outdoors overnight, and I had driven just a few hundred meters to the charging station.

My next car will have active battery preconditioning, I think it's the only way to really improve the EV winter experience.

For cars that don't have battery preconditioning, the only tip I know of is to DC charge after driving for a while, rather than at the start of a trip. It won't give charging speeds like in summer, but it's noticeably better than DC charging a cold soaked battery in sub-freezing temps. For the e-Golf, maybe 25 kW instead of 15 kW.

[eirikm]

Thank you for the video! Also, regarding tip #3: B mode or heavy recuperation shouldn't really be used in slippery (proper) winter conditions. You want to spend whatever friction you have on steering the vehicle, not accelerate or decelerate.

[eastmidlandparkway]

Hi matthias thank you for the latest update video on the skoda enyaq about the 4 tips on heating and changing the enyaq l always try to watch your videos as l am awaiting delivery of my new enyaq sport line plus 85X in may so I am watching all the tips to get a good result of driving my first EV car
Best wishes
Kev

[atterberg]

Great video even though its sad to realize that it seems like Skoda is so much over with the ME.3 and just think about ME 4. Old customers dont mean a thing for them.

[robinbailey]

Thanks for the extra explanation on tip number 1 - changing the default from charge immediately.
Here in Finland I only have home charging at the summer cottage not in the winter apartment so I use the ABC method in the winter. Always Be Charging. Every time we go to the supermarket I use the AC charger and my SOC varies between 50% and 80%. Works well for us, but then we don't do long journeys in the winter.
Also I have non-studded winter tires so gentle acceleration and coasting is a must!

[mariuszgaazkiewicz]

I have asked Skoda EV Lounge on face book about the explanation about the tips because it sounds BS to me and thanks to You Mats I ve got it - nice job mate. 👍👍

[Faber]

Again really nice video, really good explanation. Your idea about a video how to drive efficiant would be nice. You might even spice it up with vacation travel and not evryday comuting. like which speed is the fastes travelspeed in a Enyaq at highway (speed/ charging time). How to be more efficiant in the alps. that or what you find interesting :)

[henrikdamgaard]

I asume the preheating while plugged in help on the range sightly, because youre not using the traction battery for the initial heating. In my case I save around 3-4% on a 60 version. Im still struggeling with camper modes and sandbags :o) Nice content by the way. Henrik/DK

[antonioPaulino]

Thank you for your videos and helping me with tip 3.i have been for months defending the theory that mode D would be more effecient than mode B and I got lots of people on forums slamming me down. How could mode B ever generate more electricity than mode D, when using the break pedal is using the same system to slow the vehicle down.

[blade]

Hi, which OBD reader and App do you use please ?

Enjoy your videos, very clear and useful.

[martintkac]

Hello Matthias, what kind of battery diagnostic tool are you using on your phone?

[thetourk]

Great video again, yes I agree. It's surprising how out of touch skoda are with their own cars.
What is the app that you use to give battery information.?
The 85x is my first ev, I've had it just over 2 months now, it's a good but not with out it's draw backs. In the uk we had are first bit of cold ( ish only -4) weather. As expected it makes quite an impact on battery usage. About 1.7 less miles per kwh . The car inside is well insulated so I the temperature set to 18.5c and use the heated steering wheel on low.
I've only got a plug in charger that does 11amps so it makes no difference to battery temperature ( I assume) though it is useful to heat the car before I go out . Clears the snow and ice off the windows.