[Facedutton]

Why do some chargers work and not others. Is there a “wild west” in charger design without standards to be observed?

 

[p473kjm]

I have been using Ohme ePod on a new Tiguan since the start of Jan with British Gas Off Peak 0000-0500. The car synchronised with the App after I connected the cable so I can see the current charge % stored in the battery. Price cap is set between off peak hours at 7.91p and it works, Dynamic charge is set on and it seem to use the full 5 hour window to charge. Also setting ready by time to 0300 and it pushed it in quicker just as a test. I am guess the VW 20A rated cable might limit the charge rate but no issue as I see it.

 

[kleith]

Hi, I can confirm it is still an issue to use dynamic charging with the Tiguan 1.5 PHEV. We have an Ohme pro home charger (Ohme is apparently causing the most problems to the Tiguan; not Ohme’s fault) and are on Octopus Intelligent Go. Having charged a few times with no issues, last night the car’s 12v battery was drained and we had to have the RAC out to get us moving.

The VW dealership (we’ve only had the car a month) says it is a ‘known issue’ and there is a scheduled software update in week 8 of 2025. In the meantime, it’s a case of immediate charging only or risk a very dead car. Currently cheaper to use petrol…

Unimpressive. Our previous car — Volvo XC40 PHEV — coped fine for three years.

 

[Golf GTE 8.5]

It's a joke....that's the first I've heard about a planned upgrade in week 8. Great news if so. Sorry to hear you woke up to a dead car...my neighbours loved me when it set my alarm off for 20 mins and I literally couldn't kill it.

 

[delcollins1967]

Hi, I can confirm it is still an issue to use dynamic charging with the Tiguan 1.5 PHEV. We have an Ohme pro home charger (Ohme is apparently causing the most problems to the Tiguan; not Ohme’s fault) and are on Octopus Intelligent Go. Having charged a few times with no issues, last night the car’s 12v battery was drained and we had to have the RAC out to get us moving.

The VW dealership (we’ve only had the car a month) says it is a ‘known issue’ and there is a scheduled software update in week 8 of 2025. In the meantime, it’s a case of immediate charging only or risk a very dead car. Currently cheaper to use petrol…

Unimpressive. Our previous car — Volvo XC40 PHEV — coped fine for three years.

Hi Keith. I have the exact same setup / car / charger as you have. The solution until the software update is: plug in as you do and then on the Ohme app select Max charge. This then starts the charge but after 30 seconds select Smart charge on the Ohme app. This stops the charge until the cheaper tariff kicks in (0030). Been doing this for 3 weeks now and no 12v battery drain issues. Hope this helps.

 

[kleith]

Thanks! I’ll give that a go

 

[kleith]

I’ll be chasing it up with my dealership, and will post any update. It’s already going back in for other electrical bugs — airbag fault within two weeks, and occasionally cycles through other ‘unavailable’ safety elements.

 

[DaveS]

Having spent some time with main VW agents who did not know about off peak scheduled charging and my new car and after phones calls from Germany it has been confirmed that the Tiguan ehybrid 2024 cannot be charged on a time schedule from the app or wall mounted charger. VW could not explain why this facility is no longer available. So it would seem that charging is only possible on plugging in. In order to use off peak electricity it means manually plugging in at 12.30 am!!

I have a new Tiguan Phev and have had 3 12v battery drains in the last two months already. The dealer is doing his best, even one of their own managers is having the same problem. It’s always the same issue, plug it in to charge overnight on cheap rate with Octopus Agile tariff and Ohme home pro. It doesn’t happen every time, but every couple of weeks randomly. Last time I plugged in about 5pm and at 11pm the alarm was triggered as the battery was dying. Couldn’t turn it off until battery had completely died half an hour later as the remote wouldn’t work and the car was basically dead. Neighbours were not too happy !!

 

[Golf GTE 8.5]

I have a new Tiguan Phev and have had 3 12v battery drains in the last two months already. The dealer is doing his best, even one of their own managers is having the same problem. It’s always the same issue, plug it in to charge overnight on cheap rate with Octopus Agile tariff and Ohme home pro. It doesn’t happen every time, but every couple of weeks randomly. Last time I plugged in about 5pm and at 11pm the alarm was triggered as the battery was dying. Couldn’t turn it off until battery had completely died half an hour later as the remote wouldn’t work and the car was basically dead. Neighbours were not too happy !!

I shouldn't laugh, but my golf GTE 8.5 did the same over Xmas....epic. 3 instances of a dead 12v battery in about the same number of weeks - absolute joke.

 

[Golf GTE 8.5]

Hi Keith. I have the exact same setup / car / charger as you have. The solution until the software update is: plug in as you do and then on the Ohme app select Max charge. This then starts the charge but after 30 seconds select Smart charge on the Ohme app. This stops the charge until the cheaper tariff kicks in (0030). Been doing this for 3 weeks now and no 12v battery drain issues. Hope this helps.

This 'fix' worked for me on my golf gte for about a week, then the car decided to not charge overnight- no idea why. I'm having to resort to manual start, pause then start again as close to 2330 as possible while fighting the urge to sleep at my normal bedtime of 2230 ish.

Be super interested to get confirmation of the alleged software update in week 8, as of 2 weeks ago, VW HQ in Milton Keynes weren't tracking this.

 

[Sootchucker]

VW should really employ some 14-16 year olds to do the programming for the software in their cars. Probably get a much better result than using the current 40-60 year olds that are currently programming them

Every time VW have introduced a new Head unit generation, new safety systems or now Hybrid or EV systems, it takes them a good year or more to iron out the electrical gremlin issues. It seems they are using their customer base to be beta testers for them !

 

[Maturedriver]

With all the issues with the latest VW PHEV system and home chargers I plan to continue using my 13amp Granny charger. Soon moving house so plan to have an Octopus Go contract. 8.5p/kW between 00.30 and 5.30 so should put a decent amount of charge into the car PLUS I could operate my washing machine and dish washer during that time period at that cheap rate. In summer I might, just might, be able to charge the car through the solar panels provided I don’t run too many things in the house.

Please feel free to say if this plan is flawed in any way.

 

[mr_carrot]

With all the issues with the latest VW PHEV system and home chargers I plan to continue using my 13amp Granny charger. Soon moving house so plan to have an Octopus Go contract. 8.5p/kW between 00.30 and 5.30 so should put a decent amount of charge into the car PLUS I could operate my washing machine and dish washer during that time period at that cheap rate. In summer I might, just might, be able to charge the car through the solar panels provided I don’t run too many things in the house.

Please feel free to say if this plan is flawed in any way.

IMHO your plan is definitely not flawed!
This is exactly what I do with my Tiguan eHybrid PHEV; I use a granny charger bought from Amazon. Whilst it has a "delay charge for <x> hours" feature, I actually resorted to buying a smart plug (make sure it is rated for 13 amps), which turns on at 00.29 (it takes a minute to tune to the correct current), and turns off at 05:30 exactly. I couple this with "Octopus Go" (not the "Intelligent Go") for overnight charging at about 8.5p per KWh.

This setup provides overnight charging of about 60%-70% of the battery. If the battery is empty and I need 100% I just disable the feature whereby the charger turns off at 05:30, and finish the charge on expensive rate.
I've been fuming about the lack of the "Charging Locations"/timed charging feature since I got my Tiguan in Sept 2024. Complaints to the dealer and VW themselves fell on deaf ears. Let's hope for the software update mentioned above!

 

[Maturedriver]

Thanks for your reply and supporting my charging plan. Pleased to hear it works.

I suspect to add the missing charge timer to the latest VW PHEV system is not something that can be done over the air (OTA) and I can’t see VW with it’s current financial woes doing it as a recall through their dealers.

Like you I’m p*ssed off that VW has chosen not to include this function.

 

[electroasd]

Thanks for your reply and supporting my charging plan. Pleased to hear it works.

I suspect to add the missing charge timer to the latest VW PHEV system is not something that can be done over the air (OTA) and I can’t see VW with it’s current financial woes doing it as a recall through their dealers.

Like you I’m p*ssed off that VW has chosen not to include this function.

Out of curiosity, why do you think that this is not possible to be added over the air?

 

[Maturedriver]

I might be wrong but, unlike Tesla, VW tend to only do minor updates OTA. In fact I have never noticed any noticeable change in four years of Mk8 and four months of Mk8.5 GTE ownership after a OTA announcement. Anything significant has always been done in a VW workshop and adding a charge timer is pretty significant. I hope to stand corrected.

 

[Facedutton]

IMHO your plan is definitely not flawed!
This is exactly what I do with my Tiguan eHybrid PHEV; I use a granny charger bought from Amazon. Whilst it has a "delay charge for <x> hours" feature, I actually resorted to buying a smart plug (make sure it is rated for 13 amps), which turns on at 00.29 (it takes a minute to tune to the correct current), and turns off at 05:30 exactly. I couple this with "Octopus Go" (not the "Intelligent Go") for overnight charging at about 8.5p per KWh.

This setup provides overnight charging of about 60%-70% of the battery. If the battery is empty and I need 100% I just disable the feature whereby the charger turns off at 05:30, and finish the charge on expensive rate.
I've been fuming about the lack of the "Charging Locations"/timed charging feature since I got my Tiguan in Sept 2024. Complaints to the dealer and VW themselves fell on deaf ears. Let's hope for the software update mentioned above!

Our 2024 reg was delivered in November. I too have fumed everyday about the lack of a timing facility on the car charging system. I am really fed up staying up late and plugging in the charger at the latest possible time in the evening - around 11pm. I find it hard to believe VW have done this. Our 2021 Tiguan worked perfectly. My fear is that the “cheap chip set” installed in the 2024 model can’t be reprogrammed. We will see. I’ve been told the upgrade is scheduled for week 8? What annoys me is the VW dealership declared no knowledge of this problem when the Golf and others were delivered with the same problem.

 

[arctixx]

Hi all, I currently have a new Tiguan PHEV on order (due June) and I'm just discovering this issue with the scheduled charging! Can't quite believe it tbh, completely bonkers to not have this feature! I read above about a potential software fix on the way next week.. how legit is that? Do we have anything in writing confirming it? I'm seriously considering cancelling my order as it makes no sense to have a PHEV that I can't schedule charge! Cheers

 

[Wattsup]

Hi all, I currently have a new Tiguan PHEV on order (due June) and I'm just discovering this issue with the scheduled charging! Can't quite believe it tbh, completely bonkers to not have this feature! I read above about a potential software fix on the way next week.. how legit is that? Do we have anything in writing confirming it? I'm seriously considering cancelling my order as it makes no sense to have a PHEV that I can't schedule charge! Cheers

My gf has had one on a lease since December 2024, she would hand it back in a heartbeat. Aside from the charging schedule problem, it won't pre-heat and there have been numerous software issues that remain unresolved. VW garage says it's fine, then the issue recurs once she's left.

 

[kevlarpants]

hi, has anyone actualy managed to charge the tiguan ehybrid using a wall charger on a schedule? im considering an Indra smart pro but hetting slightly concerned , hoping the charger takes control and schedules the charge without 12v battery issues ? regards