Hi All,

after having a rather stressful run from Aberdeen to Birmingham and back in February where none of the damn public EV chargers worked, I started getting distracted by the BMW (108kWh battery and an 800-volt system) and Volvo (112kWh battery on an 800-volt SPA3 platform) promises of 500 mile range batteries in their new 2026 models. This got me thinking, what's the state-of-play with aftermarket battery upgrades on VAG vehicles? Other than the infotainment system I am super happy with my Enyaq VRS, however the real-world range of 215 (ish) miles is just a little on the light side for the trips I regulalry drive - and when charge-station after charge-station along motorway is out of action, it gets squeaky bum time pretty rapidly.

I guess an aftermarket battery will impact Skoda warranties across all aspects of the car from drivetrain to computer? Has anyone looked into upgrading EV batteries? I have googled (though my google-fu aint the best) and can only really find companies that due Nissan Leaf battery upgrades - so I guess there is non-VAG precedence?

Just curious, appreciate anyone's thoughts! (...except go back to ICE...I am very happy charging my car from my domestic solar for free, until I find petrol in my garden I aint going back...).

ATB,

BFG

@bfg_hightower Do you not use Tesla Superchargers, Tesla non Tesla? & were all chargers down, Stirling Castleview Perk and ride or Osprey Marstons, Tesco Dunblane, , Auchterarder, Broxden Perth Tesla Superchargers, or Public chargers, All the Dundee ones, Tesla and 4 hubs by the Kingsway, or the ones at Forfar?

Edited 6 March6 Mar by Evolution13

1 minute ago, Evolution13 said:

@bfg_hightower Were they all down, Stirling Castleview Perk and ride or Osprey Marstons, Tesco Dunblane, , AuchrerdermBroxden Perth Tesla Superchargers, or Public chargers, All the Dundee ones, Tesla and 4 hubs by the Kingsway, or the ones at Forfar?

You just trolling or is this a genuine question?

A genuine question since twice i week i am Aberdeen to passed Glasgow. There will be battery upgrades sometime in the future for VW Group vehicles, nit anytime soon though.

Just now, Evolution13 said:

A genuine question since twice i week i am Aberdeen to passed Glasgow. There will be battery upgrades sometime in the future for VW Group vehicles, nit anytime soon though.

To be accurate: I didn't try every charger on the way, but every charger the car Sat Nav took me to was either down or wouldn't accept payment (I suspect there was a link to the Cloudflare outage). I tend to try and get 2.5/3 hrs driving done in one, then stop for a meal and a charge, ideally at 50 kW or more minimum. On the way down I stopped in four different charge locations and only the last one worked. From memory: didn't stop in Dundee, yes did try Perth - but I can't seem to use the Tesla chargers and the others (are they ESB?) were down- tried a few Charge Place Scotland ones (I forget the rebranded names) and all GridServes I tried didn't work. Ended up finding an Ionity near Glasgow that worked for my first major charge. On the return trip I stopped every 100 miles or so to try and keep topped up, and had the same experience where only Osprey and Ionity seemed to reliably work. Even the SSE hyperchargers in Dundee wouldn't accept payment or start charging - ended up limping into Westhill at Ionity with 2% battery as our final stop before home.

For Tesla Non Tesla just up load the App and register the payment method they should and do work everytime, unless a vehicle problem. Charge Place Scotland ones now as they transition are getting slow at most locations.

On 06/03/2026 at 15:51, bfg_hightower said:

can only really find companies that due Nissan Leaf battery upgrades - so I guess there is non-VAG precedence?

The leaf has been arround for ages, the battery energy density has improved over the years but they all have the same size and shape so most upgrades are using batteries from scrapped later models. It also has an enthusiastic group of early adopter owners so has a market for battery upgrades. I guess if somebody comes up with a way to upgrade the smaller battery MEB cars then that work around could be used to upgrade an enyaq but the only bigger battery on MEB is the 86kwh battery from an ID7 which wont be a big upgrade even if it physically fits.

Fundamentally I'd say no, not a chance. Even if all VWG MEB platform cars used the same battery (not sure they do) then I don't anyone is going to develop an after market upgrade for it, let alone all the various system updates needed to make it work. The labour cost would also be huge.

The 'next gen' EVs like the Mercedes CLA 350, the BMW and the Volvo are pretty exciting, 400 mile+ ranges with 300kW+ charging really is the next step. I'm sure VW will join soon, maybe it's Porsche and Audi holding the rest back, Taycan and E-tron GT have had faster charging for years, but VW always seems hamstrung because they insist on keeping the best stuff within the premium brands and the PPE platform.

Personally I've only had one issue with fast / public chargers, and it was due to the Cloudflare issue, but if I'd downloaded the BP app ahead of time I might have not suffered. Locally the best chargers aren't in motorway services, but in Hotels just off motorway junctions, they're quieter too.

Maybe, just maybe Dounut Labs claims are mostly true and it'll all become obsolete. We'll have 200kWh batteries which can full charge in 5 mins and will be lighter, smaller and safer than what we have now... That would be nice.