Skoda Enyaq iV 60 (2021-2023) fast charging situation
Discussion
I'm doing some digging on these as they seem very capable family cars.
They do have a huge pitfall apparently.
Most websites cite them as having 132kW fast charging, which is acceptable for a once or twice a year trip to the south in my experience.
However, it seems that they had 50kW DC charging capabilities by default with the faster 132kW being an optional extra.
MY2024 seems to have rectified this by making that fast charging option standard on the cars.
Aside from the obvious "what the f
k was VW thinking", my main question is if anyone has some useful info on this. Mostly: is this something that could be upgraded on a second hand car in some way? Is it a hardware change? Does Skoda sell the upgrade?
For me it turns a perfect big family car into something that is useless to go any further away from home than its own range. I can imagine people either get stung second hand or the second hand values of these without that option being pretty terrible?
PS: I contacted one Skoda dealer and they made it clear that I was speaking Mandarin to them.
They do have a huge pitfall apparently.
Most websites cite them as having 132kW fast charging, which is acceptable for a once or twice a year trip to the south in my experience.
However, it seems that they had 50kW DC charging capabilities by default with the faster 132kW being an optional extra.
MY2024 seems to have rectified this by making that fast charging option standard on the cars.
Aside from the obvious "what the f
k was VW thinking", my main question is if anyone has some useful info on this. Mostly: is this something that could be upgraded on a second hand car in some way? Is it a hardware change? Does Skoda sell the upgrade?For me it turns a perfect big family car into something that is useless to go any further away from home than its own range. I can imagine people either get stung second hand or the second hand values of these without that option being pretty terrible?
PS: I contacted one Skoda dealer and they made it clear that I was speaking Mandarin to them.
Very much doubt this would be upgradeable - the higher charge rates will require more cooling for example so there will likely be additional hardware to enable it. However, the 2022 brochure states the 60 is 120kW charging capable - page 30 - https://www.barlowmotors.co.uk/include/offers/06-0...
132kW is the motor power output, not the charge rate.
We have an Enyaq 80 as a pool car at work, long term average is 3.1 miles per kWh but the lack of a heat pump (which was also an option) knocks that below 3 in winter. Knock the top 10% and bottom 10% off and on an 80% charge consumption a 60 would be around 145 miles usable.
You are aware that charging rates are far from linear though - Fastned are a good source for this info as it's based on real world tests of the car being used on their chargers. That shows a 60 won't go beyond 100kW - https://www.fastnedcharging.com/en/brands-overview... but by 60% you're down to 60kWh charge speed anyway.
My summary view on the Enyaq is it's a decent car, but not a great EV. It's also been plagued by software and niggly electrical faults - current one being the travel assist isn't usable because the steering wheel sensor has died which is a very common issue. I CBA asking someone to book it in because it'll disappear for week, it might come back fixed but there will be something else need doing on it soon enough so we only tend to book it in for anything that renders it undriveable or unsafe.
132kW is the motor power output, not the charge rate.
We have an Enyaq 80 as a pool car at work, long term average is 3.1 miles per kWh but the lack of a heat pump (which was also an option) knocks that below 3 in winter. Knock the top 10% and bottom 10% off and on an 80% charge consumption a 60 would be around 145 miles usable.
You are aware that charging rates are far from linear though - Fastned are a good source for this info as it's based on real world tests of the car being used on their chargers. That shows a 60 won't go beyond 100kW - https://www.fastnedcharging.com/en/brands-overview... but by 60% you're down to 60kWh charge speed anyway.
My summary view on the Enyaq is it's a decent car, but not a great EV. It's also been plagued by software and niggly electrical faults - current one being the travel assist isn't usable because the steering wheel sensor has died which is a very common issue. I CBA asking someone to book it in because it'll disappear for week, it might come back fixed but there will be something else need doing on it soon enough so we only tend to book it in for anything that renders it undriveable or unsafe.
Edited by quinny100 on Monday 15th July 19:11
All sounds a bit odd. I've got a MY23 ID3 with the same battery as the Enyaq 60 and that goes beyond 50kW.
Also, the Fastned chart I think is just capped at 100kW, EV database UK reference a Fastned chart in their information and that shows it going up to 124kW:
https://ev-database.org/uk/car/1279/Skoda-Enyaq-iV...
Could you just take one you're interested in on a test drive to a nearby rapid charger and plug it in and see what happens? Make sure it has less than 50% charge in it and you should be able to quickly test the 50kW max theory.
Also, the Fastned chart I think is just capped at 100kW, EV database UK reference a Fastned chart in their information and that shows it going up to 124kW:
https://ev-database.org/uk/car/1279/Skoda-Enyaq-iV...
Could you just take one you're interested in on a test drive to a nearby rapid charger and plug it in and see what happens? Make sure it has less than 50% charge in it and you should be able to quickly test the 50kW max theory.
Its worth remembering that there is a lot of willy waving with charging rates. The 132 kW figures is peak rates under ideal conditions not the average whilst the 50 kW rate is going to be there nearly all the time. The actual rate difference is probably less than a factor of 2 and the typical pit stop time is probably 20mins vs 30mins or 30 vs 40mins not anywhere near as much of a deal breaker as you make out.
GT6k said:
Its worth remembering that there is a lot of willy waving with charging rates. The 132 kW figures is peak rates under ideal conditions not the average whilst the 50 kW rate is going to be there nearly all the time. The actual rate difference is probably less than a factor of 2 and the typical pit stop time is probably 20mins vs 30mins or 30 vs 40mins not anywhere near as much of a deal breaker as you make out.
Hmm, it's a good point that I've seen somewhere else as well, but I've been traveling Europe in an EV for 5 years and I find 50kW way too slow to do any sort of distance, while 100kW is acceptable.In general , as per quinny's post, it sounds like it's just not a good car then to go across Europe without serious delays?
Been looking into this too, I've seen in a few places that it's software upgradeable which makes sense as every other MEB car does more, why have different hardware just for the Enyaq. I think a weird upsell to get the base price low enough for grants at the time. Apparently the 3.0 onwards software improves speed across the board for MEB cars too.
This has an older Fastned charge curve on a 150kw charger showing > 100kw to 30%, >75kw to 50%, >50kw to 70-80% before tailing off. https://ev-database.org/uk/car/1279/Skoda-Enyaq-iV... - that should be 30ish minutes for a 15-80% charge which would be OK for me.
Did 430 miles in a day in an e+ Leaf with much slower charging and it was OK, by a look at ABRP we'd stop in similar places but spend less time charging. If you want longer driving stints between charges then you really need something with a bigger battery.
This has an older Fastned charge curve on a 150kw charger showing > 100kw to 30%, >75kw to 50%, >50kw to 70-80% before tailing off. https://ev-database.org/uk/car/1279/Skoda-Enyaq-iV... - that should be 30ish minutes for a 15-80% charge which would be OK for me.
Did 430 miles in a day in an e+ Leaf with much slower charging and it was OK, by a look at ABRP we'd stop in similar places but spend less time charging. If you want longer driving stints between charges then you really need something with a bigger battery.
sjg said:
This has an older Fastned charge curve on a 150kw charger showing > 100kw to 30%, >75kw to 50%, >50kw to 70-80% before tailing off. https://ev-database.org/uk/car/1279/Skoda-Enyaq-iV... - that should be 30ish minutes for a 15-80% charge which would be OK for me.
doing that on a steady 50kw would take 45min, which is a big difference imho.sjg said:
Did 430 miles in a day in an e+ Leaf with much slower charging and it was OK, by a look at ABRP we'd stop in similar places but spend less time charging. If you want longer driving stints between charges then you really need something with a bigger battery.
Agreed, range is overrated imho, unless it's your daily commute.ZesPak said:
Agreed, range is overrated imho, unless it's your daily commute.
Different people have different needs but you can spend a lot on extra battery capacity and better charging to maybe save an hour on that once or twice a year big trip. Efficiency and charge curve also play a big part in how easily you can do longer trips - would be good if more people would test like this video did, drive 160 miles then charge enough to get home again on 10%.
3LR wins but by less than 10 mins, most of the rest are quite close (16-19 mins charging), more efficient but slower charging cars balance out the need for big DC charging speeds - results at 35 mins mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0KODBGQVCM
Edited by sjg on Tuesday 16th July 14:08
Our 60 has the faster charging from the factory, normally sits around 80kwh when on a fast charger.
I believe all the early ones were recalled to have the upgraded speed.
Had our 60 coming up 2 years and has been great, was much better than my Tesla M3P which I sold and replaced with an Enyaq VRS so we have two Enyaq’s now. Great cars.
I believe all the early ones were recalled to have the upgraded speed.
Had our 60 coming up 2 years and has been great, was much better than my Tesla M3P which I sold and replaced with an Enyaq VRS so we have two Enyaq’s now. Great cars.
I have an Enyaq 80, bought 2nd hand last year. It was difficult to confirm if I was getting the software-limited 50kw max charge speed or the optional "125kW" upgrade (peak is a bit higher on an 80 than a 60).
As previous posters have stated, after a certain date, they stopped defaulting to software limited charge speeds and made the highest speed standard. This might be end of 2021 or early 2022 according to https://www.skoda.co.uk/news/details/enyaq-iv-mode...
If you connect the car to the Skoda app you can download a "digital certificate" which gives you a PDF showing all the vehicle details: original spec, VIN, full service history and all optional extras. In mine it lists "125kW - DC battery charging" under "extra equipment". If you see something like this then you know for sure that higher charge speed was optioned from the factory.
If the car was shipped after it was made standard, I'm not sure how you'd tell apart from actually trying to charge it.
I believe it is possible to upgrade later via software at a dealer for about £400. I have found a part number on one of the Skoda forums - see https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/500076-usefu...
Also as others have said, charge speeds will vary in the real world. I have found the Enyaq a bit frustrating for this. With the battery over 20ºC and at a low state of charge I have seen 135kW which is perfectly acceptable, but with a cold battery it could be half that.
There's no battery pre-heating in v2 or v3 software - that's only currently in the 2024 models which have v4 software.
As previous posters have stated, after a certain date, they stopped defaulting to software limited charge speeds and made the highest speed standard. This might be end of 2021 or early 2022 according to https://www.skoda.co.uk/news/details/enyaq-iv-mode...
If you connect the car to the Skoda app you can download a "digital certificate" which gives you a PDF showing all the vehicle details: original spec, VIN, full service history and all optional extras. In mine it lists "125kW - DC battery charging" under "extra equipment". If you see something like this then you know for sure that higher charge speed was optioned from the factory.
If the car was shipped after it was made standard, I'm not sure how you'd tell apart from actually trying to charge it.
I believe it is possible to upgrade later via software at a dealer for about £400. I have found a part number on one of the Skoda forums - see https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/500076-usefu...
Also as others have said, charge speeds will vary in the real world. I have found the Enyaq a bit frustrating for this. With the battery over 20ºC and at a low state of charge I have seen 135kW which is perfectly acceptable, but with a cold battery it could be half that.
There's no battery pre-heating in v2 or v3 software - that's only currently in the 2024 models which have v4 software.
We have an 80, and had it for over 2 years, love it. It is a classy car. The battery whilst listed as 330 miles approx, worst case in the winter we get about 220-240. Still not bad.
We have never had to charge it away from home, but it doesn't bother me if we would need to. Going to Cornwall later in the year (not far for us) and taking it then. We will need to charge and looking forward to it.
We have never had to charge it away from home, but it doesn't bother me if we would need to. Going to Cornwall later in the year (not far for us) and taking it then. We will need to charge and looking forward to it.
Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff