Audi E-Tron with software error
27.01.2020
Audi's first large-scale electric car is not based on a purely electric one -Platform. While the ID. Family from VW or the A udi Q4 E-Tron, which will hit the road in 2021, based on the completely newly developed modular electrical system (MEB), is the big E -SUV like other luxury class vehicles of the group with combustion engine on a modified version of the MLB evo (modular longitudinal construction kit).
Anyone who has ever sat in the E-Tron will notice that instruments and infotainment systems are of course closely related to other luxury class -Audis are related. Why not? Their functionality is not fundamentally different in electric cars. However, there are differences. For example, in terms of consumption or maintenance information. The consumption of the electric car is of course given in kWh /100 km and not in liters per 100 kilometers. Because consumption is important for e-cars just because of the range, it can be displayed continuously, as with combustion engines. Every driver will notice this, if only because the numbers are usually around twice as high as with the combustion engine. Inspection notes, on the other hand, usually only pop up after several thousand kilometers.
E-motors in the lubricating oil bath?
Nevertheless, according to Audi, it was already noticed when testing the E-Tron that its infotainment system was still programmed to display oil changes due - which of course are not necessary with an electric motor. By the time series production began in week 38 2018, the bug slipped through again. For six weeks, cars were built whose software code would at some point require an oil change.
Audi has not quite coped with the leap into the electric age. One is still very attached to the oil change. In the picture: car e-tron cockpit. pic.twitter.com/6ghNL2rFuW
- Georg Konjovic (@GeorgKonjovic) January 18, 2020
As in the picture in Georg Konjovic's tweet. Right next to the consumption display (here an average of 25.2 kWh /100 km) emblazoned the stylized wrench and underneath: 'Oilchange and Inspection in 3100 km'. For Audi, the error is of course “very annoying”, but technically “harmless”. The Audi plant in Brussels is currently checking the exact number of units. According to Audi, only a very small number of vehicles are likely to have the 'old' data record on the control unit concerned. It could also be that the photo in the tweet comes from a pre-production vehicle - because there are currently no official customer complaints. But the error is known at Audi and was discovered as part of the safeguarding process. Since this is not a safety-critical issue, Audi has not yet planned to write to customers. The bug could be fixed in a few minutes using a diagnostic tester. For example with the first service. This is due after a fixed interval of 30,000 kilometers or after two years, whichever comes first.
Incidentally, under the tweet there are now more pictures of combustion engine information in e-cars. For example, the request “Please switch off the ignition” in an Audi E-Tron or the warning of the “statutory emissions test” that is due soon in a BMW i3 (allegedly without a range extender). Other comments mention the pointless POIs (Points of Interest) in the navigation systems, which indefatigably display petrol stations in Renault's Zoe. So Audi is not alone with the phantom pain of a lack of combustion engines.
