Setting a Global Charge Limit in the Volkswagen e-Golf

What is a global charge limit?

A global charge limit is a setting that restricts the maximum charge level of an electric vehicle’s battery, regardless of the time of day or charging conditions. It is used to ensure that the battery does not charge to 100%, which can help prolong its lifespan.

How do I set a limit if I schedule charging in the vehicle?

If you schedule your charging via the e-Manager screen in the vehicle, and your charger ¹ is set to always supply power, then you just need to set the Upper battery charge limit in the charging location settings:

How do I set a limit if I schedule charging with the charger, or I use the charge now button in the charge port?

Firstly, you can’t use the charge now button, as it will always charge to 100%. Make sure the scheduled charge button is active.

1. Create a charge schedule with an upper battery charge limit

Create a charge schedule, make sure it’s enabled (ticked), and make sure the associated charging location has the desired Upper battery charge limit set. As far as I can tell, the departure time doesn’t matter.

2. Set the lower battery charge limit to the same value

Go to Settings on the e-Manager screen and set the Lower battery charge limit to the same limit. This setting partly overrides the normal behaviour of a scheduled charge, by forcing the charging system to charge immediately to the specified % (before waiting again).

How it works

• The active scheduled charge means that when power is connected to the car the charging system will activate.
• Normally, it would calculate the charging time between the current % and the % limit specified in the charging schedule, and then wait to start charging. The goal of the charging system is to complete the charge just before the departure time.
• However, with the lower battery charge limit also set, it has to start charging straight away.
• Because the upper and lower limits are the same, there is no delay in charging, but equally it cannot exceed the desired % limit.

Octopus Intelligent Go compatibility

I’ve been successfully using this method with a myenergi Zappi charger for several months now. Octopus control the Zappi (via the myenergi API), and as soon as the car receives power it charges to the limit that I set.