VW eGolf Takes On The World's Toughest Electric Car Test - Loveland Trials Ep.1 

I think you guys do EV testing right. driving up a bloody mountain, yes! drive down the mountain, yes! did it make it?

We recently bought a CPO e-Golf in very clean condition, with the fast charge upgrade, 30 months of basic warranty, and less than 10,000 miles on it for well under $15,000 cash out the door; fees, taxes, etc included. We enjoy the car and it handles 99% of our daily driving/commuting needs. We 100% charge at home with a level 2; easy. My brother used to live in Frisco, CO. I've experienced going over the Loveland Pass a few times and all of that is irrelevant. Why? Because it's a 1,000 miles from here.

perfect for where i live in Arizona...i could leave it plugged in all night and use it for any small trips and never stop at a gas station with it

Fund and informative video. Tommy has really grown into the star of the show.

You guys have the best car/truck vlog on the Net. Period. Thanx for the great work and information. I would love to see you get to one million subs by the end of February 2020.

Love it! Forget hunting or fishing trips it’s a father-son EV adventure. Very funny seeing Romans lack of patience at the charger

Thanks for testing the eGolf. I have a 2019 Canadian eGolf. I appreciate your testing, but am not going to focus on the score. As Tommy says it is a great car! You've inspired me to take a road test (with charging along the way) to go from Vancouver British Columbia to Calgary Alberta!! Thanks again for testing the eGolf.

This scoring system is heavily in favor of (very expensive) cars for roadtrips. many people don´t ever need so much range to get around in their town....at least here in europe. Many cars don´t even drive 6000 miles per year and most of them drive less than 30 miles at one time until they get back to the charger. a small, cheap city car with reasonable range for city driving will score horribly in this scoring system for years to come :x

Love the ev series guys! Thanks for all the hard work!

I like the idea of scoring with an eye towards the future. Can’t wait for the Niro test. 👍

i really love this loveland trials series! cant wait to see you test more evs in the future

I can’t wait to see how the trucks perform on this test (F150 electric, Bollinger B2, Tesla pickup etc.)

Love your electric reviews. You guys does it way more interesting than any other. Tommy = EV maestro!

Well done, fellas. You're ahead of the curve with all the real-world testing. Keep up the great work.

It was really great to watch! Greetings from germany!

This is a good idea, and as a transportation journalist with OCD, I love the scoring system. It's like Alex on Autos over here.

That charger noise, i don’t know if I can handle that sound for 30 minutes....lol

Really awesome videos you guys make. I have a suggestion. When we go to the mountains, we normally go to have fun with friends and family. All seats are full. It would be great to see what's the efficiency and range when we drive with at least 4 people in the car. Thank you.

Gotta love the father-son dynamic. Every episode is No You're Wrong

Charging a smaller battery to 80 will go faster than that 500 mile battery you want to see. You should measure mileage charged not battery percentage.

Awesome scoring system. This should be a standard. Yes e cars need more range but we are well on our way. Loving your channel.

EV mondays...? its sunday.

OMG waiting for the charge station to work was stressing me out

Roman looked like he kept getting irritated with Tommy when he would talk lol 10:20 and 14:05 when he corrected him.

Great video, as always! I’ve had the eGolf for about 10 months now and I absolutely love it! It’s no Tesla but it sure has a lot going for it! Anyway, the grading scale you guys use (while pretty logical) should be EVs against current gasoline cars IMO. That way, we can pit EV tech against the best alternative we have now rather than a future release we can only dream of. It’ll produce more statistically correct EV grades.

One insight that you've provided is that It seems like the best way to enjoy an electric car is to plan correctly. Significant elevation changes and load conditions complicate the calculus. The onboard calculator needs work.

Is it really a test if you don’t back it into your garage wall and test how long it takes to order parts ?

This is awesome, I’ve been looking at EVs and my biggest concern is making to Arapahoe Basin and back from Littleton. Perfect test for that

Love your test scoring system!

I really enjoy the father 'n son segments - (and the others as well, André & Nathan). More in-line six 3.0 Duramax Diesel videos, please.

Great test keep them coming.

15:15 - Holy shit, $4.57 to put roughly just 30 miles of range in (77% to 96%)?!?! This is the best pro-combustion engine video I've ever seen....even more expensive than gas cars.

I am curious how much the charge would be if you did the initial 31 miles with all accessories on?

I really enjoyed this video! I have learned a lot about EV tech on this channel and its Pros/Cons. Great coverage guys and very entertaining! Would you say that Tesla's are the Gold standard to beat still?

I've found that in steep hills, its a very good idea to use the speed limiter, and put the car in D. Then let off the throttle, and don't touch the brakes, unless you have some sharp turns. As soon as it gets to the speed limit, it will start regenerating. I regenerated about 20 km in a couple of minutes.

God that charger was loud!!!

Your second category for charging appears flawed because it doesn't take into account the battery capacity. Given the same, or even less, charging uptake, a smaller battery will get a higher score if it hits 80% first, no?

As a sidenote: the eGolf is an outgoing model. It is being replaced by the I.D. 3, which will get a much larger battery at 77 kWh and a range of 550 km 👍🏻

I love all of the electric car videos!!!

I had a 2015 e-golf (first year, 83 mile range) until 2018 and it was a great commuter car for my 30 miles each way.

You guys are impeccably fair.

Hey TFL, great Colorado scenery! Love it! How about calculating the average energy spent in kW and giving us that number as a reference of efficiency between cars. Also...temperature we need to know the temperature during the test. I feel we lack solid grounds for comparison, range is never a solid comparison point between EV's: each car calculates it differently! For reference binge watch TeslaBjorn's channel on YT! Take a bit of his methodology and concepts and and inject this into your reviews and tests

$4.57 for 32 miles...no thanks I’ll keep my TDI that gets average of 46mpg and diesel costs me 3.29 a gallon.

I feel like that fast charger is actually the... Hellcat of chargers

Scoring system well thought out for future comparison and to track/document EV improvements.

Hi. What sort of loss in range have you noticed on Electric Vehicles in Winter? Some sites are claiming up to 40% loss at temperatures of minus -4 Fahrenheit to -14 Fahrenheit.

This really does underline how far ahead Tesla is in almost every respect.

Range and recharging time is what this all about, PS I really like how u tested the a unit pulling a trailer 👍

e-Golf gen 1 (and Leaf gen 1) is now one of the hardest used car models to sell on the used car marked i Norway.

Is the eGolf more comfortable than the GtI on freeways?

Did you make sure to charge your blinkers?

The pain of driving a compliance car at any considerable distance.. I remember doing this in a Ford Focus Electric that has 75-80mi range driving between San Diego and LA. Had to tailgate behind big rigs, slowly accelerate on downhills to gain momentum, reduce speed on uphill, plan all my charging hops on level 2... It took 3-4 hours if I have to stop and charge, all day if I had to travel round trip.

Do you think the cold temperature sapped your battery range?

Where can we find the results of these tests to compare them all??

Would this e golf be good for just a commuting vehicle? As in I just use it to go to school?

16:52 Watts per minute?!? What kind of unit is that? I guess you meant Watt-hours per mile.

13:37 lol "this is easy" waiting and moving the car to different chargers for 15 minutes just to be able to start the process. If that was Tesla you guys would butcher it left and right lol

When did they put those charges in, i live right down the street fo CO Mills.

Roman is loving some Grand Funk Railroad!

Does your guises model X have the full self driving package?

Not sure if someone already asked this but...How did you get a 2020? Did you go get it from Canada? Also, will the VW stations in the US still service it? I’d love to get a 2020 but I’m guessing I’ll have to fly to Canada to get it drive or export it back.

Charging cars is pain in azz but it reminds me of the internet 15 years back and look where we are now together with smart phone and all.i bet in ten years we will charge via cell phone and wireless.soon

“It’s easy” Car doesn’t start charging for 15 minutes! Lol

It pogos around because there is regenerative brakes-- so constant stop signs in the shopping center etc, will add more range. Also there are recuperation modes in the egolf that help it regenerate too. The range is not a linear number...

I’m looking forward to you doing the test in an ID3. Hopefully the price of charging will come down!

I’ve got range anxiety, and I’m in my living room 🤯🙈 Overall, I do like all the newer golf models.

I say good call, that stretch of I-70 is dangerous to be stuck on the shoulder, especially when not near a wide breakdown shoulder.

Imagine thinking of scoring system that only cars years from now can get good marks on: "This 1965 Mustang scores a zero on safety since there's no airbags or lane assist." "What are those?" "I don't know, but I know it doesn't have them!" "Good point. You don't see horses running willingly off a clif, do ya?"

3 yr ev user here in flatland Ohio. 3 different eve's. Zero range issues once we understood the game. Wife is #1 driver. Her technique is get in car and go. Rarely charge outside of our house. Over the 3 yrs public chargers have been springing up like mushrooms.

I like your electric car rating system, but, could you add value in it some way?

I think you should give the Kia e-Niro the same test. Everyone who has distance tested the range on it has stated the range is actually more.

It would have been a nice 3.5 hour trip in a Golf. The known mismatch of the eGolf capacity to the test range and Hill climb may this test a range anxiety event. Still, the test provided insights. Thanks.

Do you think your mobile wallet app doesn't work because you are not using it on the member screen? Saw in the video at around the 10:50 mark that the charger was on the guest screen.

That was really good and informative. I agree with you, in the future things will run smoother and faster and be easier to do.

I've tried two separate tries at using Electrify America stations. Both failed. One was a faulty CHAdeMO charging unit. The second was a new site at WalMart and the cable was 3-4 feet too short to reach the designated parking space. II reported both failures to EA.

Whose make was that charger? Looks like ABB Terra HP... wondering if it is EA or the manufacturer to blame

First and best test sir thank you.

I think Tommy cheated VW by not using the climate control system, which is what a driver of any car would do..not drive around like you're scared to drive your own car. Nobody is going to buy electric cars and then not use the features the cars come with...this is supposed to be a real world test. If I run out of gas, I'm calling a flatbed... If I bought an EV, I would make sure to setup any accounts/registrations needed before using various charging stations. It's just quicker and simpler, like having an Exxon or Chevron or Shell Gas credit card with those respective fueling stations

Good video. Hey I noticed recently that the Leaf+ SV/SL has the same tires as the Tesla Standard Range Plus...but the Leaf had the tires inflated to 36psi, and the a Tesla 44psi (Michelin Energy Saver tires are rated from 36-44). How much of the cars’ efficiency differences are from pure tire inflation vs. drag coefficient or other differences?

I went to your website, but I couldn't find a page with all the cars you have scored on the Loveland Pass Test. You should at a minimum have the Model X and the e-Golf now. You ought to maintain a ranking with all the scores and sub scores.

To be fair for future test if you recharge you should take the actual driven range before charge and subtract it from the remaining range when you get back so 18-31.8= -13.8 so the e-golf's actual score is -0.8 Which creates an even playing field for the future.

So what movie did you watch while charging?

let's do a challenge, 5 minutes later daddy says no its too risky.

i feel like the chase vehicle should have been the rebel with a trailer

Would regen braking not assist in the downhill part?

Unfortunately the US is not getting the VW ID3, it would have been very interesting watching you guys test the ID3 and to see how it compares to the E-Golf, which it basically is replacing, also keep in mind the E-Golf is build since 2014 which makes it a 5 year old car and the new Golf 8 just came out.

I really like the test. For scoring, I suggest tweaking it a bit so that if the car completes the test that it doesn't get a '0'... Though the e-Golf takes a long time to charge compared to the standard you set, it was capable of being recharged, so '0' doesn't make sense. By comparison, the e-Golf doesn't actually have enough range to complete the whole test, but the car still got a 1.8, so that seems inconsistent... Another thing that would be interesting for TFL to explore (partnering with Engineering Explained?) is to break down the constituents of energy consumption in a vehicle... How many watt-hours per mile consumed at a couple of speeds (improved by being more aerodynamic), how many watt-hours consumed per 1000 feet of elevation climbed (improved by weight reduction), how many watt-hours the climate control system takes to maintain a temperature difference between the cabin and the outside (improved by low emissivity glass, insulated panels, etc), and finally, how much energy goes into other stuff (lighting, display, infotainment - which is all going to be in the noise)... People obviously don't have any clue about where their watts, and watt-hours are going, and I think you guys could help understand it better...

Your experience is very similar to what the Netherlands had about 5 years ago, so that's a good sign. But there is a definite trend of high power chargers and better working rfid tags. You even have creditcard support, which we don't have yet. Or is very uncommon. It is predominantly with rfid tags though. Roaming support with various rfid tags within the EU is flakey at best, still. I see another charger at Empire Lakewood Nissan and that appears to be a dual connector ABB 50kW charger, which could have been a option. I'm just not sure if the rfid would have been accepted.

Love your electric vehicle reviews. Very informative. I want to take the plunge, but would need to see you guys having an easier time of it when traveling, towing, etc. Thanks for the insights! Do you own the eGolf? why does it have Manuf plates?

If the battery is 100% ؜ how much roughly it will have it?

I love all the Tommy videos. He is a pro

Isn't Floyd Hill just on the east side of Idaho Springs? I always called that stretch Dinosaur hill (Golden to Genesee)

$4.57 doesn't seem very cheap for the short distance you had driven in a Golf. What am I missing? I thought you saved money driving an ev.

Great little test for future comparisons of EVs but perhaps you should also record the total time taken by each car to complete the test and also the total on road travel time, so that unrealistically slow travel does not skew the results

Roman, the Tesla graph y-axis is in Watt-Hours per Mile, not "watts per minute".

Could you guys do more test on the e golf, 24 kw and 35 kw ??? Pleasee

I think you should consider doing a flat land test since you're on the edge of the plains. I assume the car companies are doing their range testing on flat ground, but I wonder about real world numbers which your tests are really good at providing.

29:08 Linus tech tips needs to build you a server look at all the external drives on the self in the background

I'll be curious to see how the electric cars will do during the winter with heater and defroster running. Boulder will be a good place to find out.

Wh/M is not watts per minute. lol It is Watt hours per Mile. So while you drive you use on average ~300 Watts per mile. I remember going up to Mt. Mitchell in a Model X 100D, which is the highest point East of the Mississippi, we were averaging somewhere around ~900 Wh/M. It's hard to push all that weight up a mountain.