Audi e-tron & EV surge protection?

mateus

I have a leased Audi A3 e-tron and during overnight charging the car has been damaged by a power surge. The car has been unable to be fixed by Audi under any form of warranty and from their final written response the liability for any such damage lies with the owners of vehicles - i.e. the car has no surge protection and users are responsible to get surge protection fitted to their homes.
The car was being charged by an approved home charger - from my investigations on that, it would appear that the regulations also do not require surge protection to be installed at this point either.

As such I am left with the only option to claim on my insurance policy to repair the car in the short term and raise a dispute claim with the car ombudsmen to try and recover the costs incurred.

Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated as all of my attempts at raising this issue with regulatory bodies are not getting very far! 

Grumpy_chap

I can't comment on the legal position, or whether it is technically likely that a power surge would cause such problems.

However, as a lay person, I would expect as a minimum that the home charger (which is not a cheap item) would incorporate such protection as the intended use would reasonably require.

FlameCloud

Who/what is the car ombudsmen?

Ectophile

There's only so much surge protection that the vehicle manufacturers can be expected to fit.  If lightning strikes a power line nearby, the surge can be huge.

BS7671 18th Edition ("IET Wiring Regulations") recommends surge protectors be fitted to the electrics in houses where a risk assessment shows that there is a high risk (e.g. overhead power lines) and the value of the goods being protected is high enough to justify it.  However, most houses aren't wired to the 18th Edition, and even when they are, most people don't bother having surge protectors fitted because they cost money.  I don't suppose anyone considered that risk assessment when the charger was fitted.

Ectophile

FlameCloud said:

Who/what is the car ombudsmen?

Presumably the Motor Ombudsman https://www.themotorombudsman.org/

mateus

Feel as though the biggest issue here is lack of awareness. If users know that they are liable for surge damage to a 35k+ asset then fitting of a £80 surge protector is a no brainer... but who would know this when buying an EV?

DrEskimo

How do you know the car was damaged by a power surge?

mateus

There was damage to other items in my home and also additional houses in the street.

facade

Haven't they fixed it yet?  It has been 2 months since you posted on the e-tron forum, tbh you will get more useful replies there than here.

https://www.e-tronforum.com/threads/surge-protection.1654/

Scrapit

sounds like anyone charging at home should have surge protector. Surprised this isn't advised at the time of selling.

Grumpy_chap

I don't have an electric car, but interested for the future.

I think Audi trying to wash their hands of this is simply wrong - it would have to be very clear that the power supply needs external surge protection.  It is clear that a car is of sufficient value to warrant the expense of the surge protection.

As I understand it, you buy an electric car and are usually offered a wall-box (anything from "free" to £500ish), which is installed by a company arranged by the car manufacturer.  So, the onus is on the "package" provider to provide a complete installation suitable for the intended purpose.  I am surprised that the wall box does not include the surge protection as standard but, if it does not, then the requirements for surge protection needs to be clearly stated in the installation instructions.  If the electrician doing the installation fails to install as per the requirements, then the electrician is liable.  If the instructions don't say surge protection is required, then the car manufacturer is liable.  In either outcome, the "package" was provided by the car dealer, so they should pick up the tab.  I am sure, when selling the "package", the dealer emphasises the benefit of using their electrician because of experience correctly installing car charging points.

The other possibility is that there is no fast-charge point and the OP is using an extension lead from 3-pin plug (possibly for a hybrid like the A3 e-tron).  Does the car manual say to use surge protection?  Many people I know use surge protect plugs for even charging an ipad and RCD plugs for even just the lawn mower.  I can't imagine having a plug-in car and not using both.  Ultimately, that would depend on the instructions in the hand book - if that does not say use surge protect plug, then the liability is back to the manufacturer.