An e-car driver was astonished when his vehicle suddenly demanded an oil change. However, this error does not seem to be new.
Stuttgart - E-mobility is not only transforming traffic on the roads and production in industry, but also the work in a car repair shop. Instead of changing the oil or replacing the spark plug or other components, the electric cars have to be called into the workshop due to software problems. Porsche recalled around 12,000 electric cars last year due to a software error. All the more astonished was a Facebook user whose e-car suddenly demanded an oil change and an inspection.
With the modern e-car models from Mercedes-Benz, Audi or Tesla, the driver is constantly informed by the information on the display. Particularly important is the display of the battery level and, if it approaches a low level, the distance to the nearest charging station. If an e-car is still stranded with an empty battery, the ADAC can help. However, an e-car driver discovered a completely different piece of information on the display of his e-car.
E-car indicates due oil change – "my car and I probably don't speak the same language"
"My electric car and I probably don't speak the same language," the Facebook user writes under a photographed image of the display of his electric Audi. "I don't understand what it wants from me." In the picture you can see that next to the indicator for the battery level, according to which the user still had a range of 124 kilometers, there is a red symbol of a wrench. Underneath it says: "Oil change and inspection due." Since pure electric cars logically do not have an internal combustion engine, they do not need engine oil.
In the comments under the post, some users made fun of the apparently faulty display on the electric Audi e-Tron:
- "Audi Software knows that Audi likes to consume oil. These genes have been preserved."
- "And don't forget, the air in the tires should also be changed regularly."
- "It wouldn't be a traditional automaker if they didn't try to stick to inspection intervals."
- "Unfortunately, there is no longer any talk of 'Vorsprung durch Technik'."
- "Software from a diesel from 89?"
The author of the article comments that his Audi even tells him to turn off the ignition from time to time. "E-cars also have an ignition," writes another user. However, the author counters that the connection between electricity and ignition seems "Spanish" to him. "Sounds more like a short circuit in my opinion."
A Facebook user's Audi e-Tron indicated that an oil change and inspection were due. © Screenshot Facebook/Electric car D-A-CH-FL
For the reason that an electric Audi e-Tron requires an oil change, Facebook users have various solutions. "What's so funny about that?" asks one user. "The box must have transmission oil or brake oil that needs to be changed." Another replies that, with a few exceptions, electric cars do not have a transmission, but that the change of brake oil could be a possible cause. In fact, the cause seems to be much more trivial. "It's just the same software as the combustion engine, only the displays have been adapted," writes one user.
Software error as the cause: "Actually, it should be indicated here that you should refill Adblue"
In fact, the Audi e-Tron, which has been in production since autumn 2018, is not based on an electric car architecture, but on a combustion engine architecture and therefore also contains the infotainment of its combustion engine counterpart. Incidentally, this is not unusual for the first electric models. Mercedes-Benz's EQA and EQC SUVs are also based on converted combustion engine architectures before the flagship EQS introduced an all-electric car architecture. In the case of the Audi e-Tron, it is simply a software error that displays information for a combustion engine model. "Actually, it should be indicated here that you should refill Adblue," writes one user.
The fact that the electric Audi SUV may require an oil change is by no means new. Several media already reported such a software error at the beginning of 2020, which can apparently still occur with the models today. On Facebook, many users explain that the problem can be fixed with a short update, but some have much less understanding. "Anyone who is committed to 'Vorsprung durch Technik' and has not delivered for several years should not be surprised in the end." Audi itself had described the error in 2020 as "very annoying" but "harmless".
