Hi  I've been searching to see if it is possible for me to check the State of Health of my Hybrid's EV Battery and seemingly getting nowhere.  There are plenty of Dongles out there as well as Android Apps (I use a Samsung Phone & Tablet) but I cannot see any of them specifically supporting my car model.

Has anyone achieved this at home or are we obliged to take to our Dealer?  -  TIA

 

Does the MyAudi app not suit your model?

Well no.  Of course the app tells me % charge and charging progress, but I'm talking about SOH (State of Health).  I hope I'm ok posting this link, which explains things in more detail........................

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2dn5gxxgz1o    and which has prompted my post.

My Hybrid seems ok and is currently getting 30 - 33 miles on a max charge, which given temperature outside now, which is about what I've been getting since purchase (2nd hand) in Aug '23.  But in next year or maybe in '27, I shall be wanting to trade it in and whilst Hybrids in particular and full EVs are selling well, these batteries don't last forever!  The Audi warranty expires after 8 years so trading in my car with a less than a perfect HV Battery at say 5 to 7 years will doubtless impact the sale value considerably, given the cost of replacement.

So I'm asking about SOH, the condition of individual battery cells along with performance and software data etc etc, which the MyAudi app does not provide.  Anyone please? 

Edited October 19, 2025Oct 19 by rozel

I know nothing about the MyAudi application, but you had not mentioned it so I had to ask. I use an opensource app for my own non Audi car and after six years the SOH is 92%, which is more or less what one would expect.

Your expectation of a perfect battery when you sell the car is unrealistic. Every battery degrades from the moment it is first used. I don't know at what SOH Audi guarantees the battery for, it will be well below 100%, probably 85% at a guess, but even then it will last for many years afterwards albeit with gradually decreasing range. Treat the battery with care and it will outlast the rest of the car.

1.  I thought a TFSI e owner would be familiar with the MyAudi app

2. You state you know nothing about 1. so why mention it? I wasn't asking any question about it

3. You are a Moderator and don't own an Audi - sheesh!

4.  You don't seem helpful enough to at least say what Opensource App you use

5.  I never gave any expectation of a perfect battery when selling except to say SOH was important

6. I didn't require a lecture on battery use or indeed anything you've said

7.  Please read posts properly before replying - I made my request for information perfectly clear: -

I'll ask again for some other member to respond: -

I've been searching to see if it is possible for me to check the State of Health of my Hybrid's EV Battery and seemingly getting nowhere.  There are plenty of Dongles out there as well as Android Apps (I use a Samsung Phone & Tablet) but I cannot see any of them specifically supporting my car model.

Has anyone achieved this at home or are we obliged to take to our Dealer?

 

I'd imagine the way to check would be plugging it to vcds or obd11 if it's not in the cars Infotainment system. 

For info Cliff has owned audis and it's not a crime to own an electric/hybrid car that isn't an Audi and be a moderator. 

Also I think manufacturers have to guarantee the battery for X amount of years which varies from manufacturer. And this was to try and reassure consumers regarding buying second hand EVs. 

Last year/year before there was a panorama(?) program or similar (may have been Chanel 5) on TV that compared a 9 year old nissan leaf against a new mg zs to compare and show how the batteries degrade over time, which was an interesting watch. You might be able to find some similar reviews on YouTube. 

Thank you for your reply.  I'm extremely surprised that Hydrid or EV Audi Owners haven't been posting similar questions to mine.  Audi guarantee my battery for 8 years - it's currently 4yrs 7 mths old.  It is a fantastic car and for the first time in a long history of owning Audis I am considering paying the Balloon Payment when my PCP deal ends in August 2027.  However the price I'll get (trade-in or other) will doubtless focus on the state of the High Voltage Battery.  I'd like to what OBDII Dongle & Software will allow me to monitor it's condition.  Surely there's an Audi Owner out there that can help me?  I've searched the internet et etc 'til I'm blue in the face and getting nowhere, hence coming on here.

My final time in asking

Paul.

For clarification:

1/ What made you assume I was an owner of your model?

2/ You did not mention what you had tried so why was it unreasonable to ask if the MyAudi was suitable?

3/ You would know what car I owned if you had bothered to read my signature line. That I have an electric car as well as an Audi A3 has given me a few insights that many electric car owners are without.

4/ I did not mention the OVMS application because it is not applicable to your car. However it has showed me how little degradation lithium batteries suffer if cared for sensibly.

5/ You specifically wrote "trading in my car with a less than a perfect HV Battery at say 5 to 7 years will doubtless impact the sale value considerably". That clearly indicated your expectation of perfection which I tried to correct.

6/ See above.

7/ Which part of the earlier post have you assumed I did not read?

As a moderator of this forum part of my role is to control angry outbursts such as yours. Bear that in mind if you choose to respond further.

Interesting thread here: https://forums.ross-tech.com/index.php?threads/17037/

This is scanned by VCDS. Even if you didn't want to invest in VCDS (roughly £220 from Gendan) plus your own laptop, then go to Audi and ask them to measure it, especially before you pay the balloon payment. Battery degradation is entirely normal. Audi should be able to give you the parameters - as that's how the 8-year guarantee works.

My wife has a BMW i3 REx (hybrid version), so there's a way to measure battery health without software using hidden menu, but I have ISTA so can dig deeper.

 

@spartacus 68

Thank you Richard, most helpful.  I've written to Gendan to ask for some information before purchase but certainly from what I can tell this may be what I need.  Pity it only appears to work on a PC - I own a PC but this is indoors, I normally use either an Android Phone or Tablet.  But I should be able to borrow a laptop if I decide to go ahead.  

Can I assume that the extremely cheaper ones for sale (which seem identical) will not provide an interface such as you can download after you purchase the Gendan Device from ross-tech?

Thank you again

Beware of USB dongles on Ebay or elsewhere. VCDS was dealer level software. I know VAG group are changing things because they don't like individuals doing the work themselves. Some independent garages are now having to invest in things like ODIS on newer models for even fairly basic things as part of servicing.

So with genuine VCDS, and a three VIN licence. You can use that across different three cars. This has lifetime updates to the software, and you have access to VCDS forum worldwide if you're stuck. They are very knowledgeable, and as you'd expect they need you to post a scan of the car before they pass comment.

Get an old laptop to run it, its not memory hungry. 

There are some YouTube tutorials, but if you're tech savvy then you'll pick it up. You can run a check on the car at any time. It will pick up on logged faults, when they occurred. And clear DTC faults. If they reocurr, then there's and underlying fault to resolve usually mechanical or electric. You can also view live data, etc.

Bear in mind Audi currently charge £180ish to scan your car.

One thing to note. Audi won't entertain diagnostic reports from yourself as part of any query. They will as you'd expect scan the car themselves if there was a claim on the mild hybrid battery for example.

This is the same for BMW which offered 8 year warranty on high voltage battery. In the event claim was unsuccessful. You'd pay for their time.

I think you're on good position as you've been financing car, and before ypu purchase outright, will they check battery health?

Edited October 23, 2025Oct 23 by spartacus 68

@spartacus 68

Thank you Richard once more - that explains things a lot for me and is so helpful.  As I said I'm currently in communication with Gendan  who have told me: -

"The 3-VIN HEX-V2 interface you asked about will be compatible with the car – to a point.  The 4th generation Audi A3 (2020-on – such as yours) was one of the first to be affected by VAG’s diagnostic firewall – SFD:  https://www.gendan.co.uk/help/6-VCDS:-SFD-Diagnostic-Firewall/   At the moment, VCDS doesn’t support online SFD unlocking, you’ll be quite limited in what you can do on that car."

Seems there may be an "Unlocking Facility" coming soon which will allow me to do what I want to do, so as there's no rush right now, I'll wait and check again sometime next year.  But "small steps".

Thanks once more for your assistance - much appreciated 🙂

Another diagnostic tool is obdeleven. Works on android tablet/phone using Bluetooth connection to the dongle that fits into the car. The pro version can access SFD on A3 cars up to 2023 and does all the things vcds does such as clearing DTC and coding. Can be used on any vag car with no limit on vin. The support is not the same standard as vcds but is generally helpful with queries. If you are only an occasional user less money and no requirement for a laptop. I use it on my 2023 a3 tfsi and fitted a reversing camera and it unlocked the SFD. Also use it on 2019 gti and 2016 seat leon. As Richard says it is still necessary to access odis for some coding parameters on later cars but many independant vag specialists use it so not always necessary to use main dealers. Hope this is helpful in your search for a solution.

Paul - my understanding of SFD and SFD2 which is on all new VAG cars post 2020 is to protect the car from unauthorised access. VAG no doubt see a financial return on over the air software updates, rather than a customer having to visit a dealer. Satellite navigation map updates for example. The trouble is the manufacturer needs to lock down access to the car otherwise someone could intercept it and the usual security concerns. VCDS can still scan the car and clear DTCs, but there will be certain modules that are not acceptable. This means programming and adaptation is off the table without a generated access token. You can get a token probably from an authorised user of ODIS.

Back to your predicament. I think paying Audi to scan the battery and give you the health information you require is a good trade off before transferring the balloon payment. 

If you have doubts, step away and hand the car back and start the process again with another car.

More details here: https://www.audi.co.uk/en/electric/faqs/battery/

Edited October 25, 2025Oct 25 by spartacus 68

20 hours ago, joe6 said:

Another diagnostic tool is obdeleven. Works on android tablet/phone using Bluetooth connection to the dongle that fits into the car. The pro version can access SFD on A3 cars up to 2023 and does all the things vcds does such as clearing DTC and coding. Can be used on any vag car with no limit on vin. The support is not the same standard as vcds but is generally helpful with queries. If you are only an occasional user less money and no requirement for a laptop. I use it on my 2023 a3 tfsi and fitted a reversing camera and it unlocked the SFD. Also use it on 2019 gti and 2016 seat leon. As Richard says it is still necessary to access odis for some coding parameters on later cars but many independant vag specialists use it so not always necessary to use main dealers. Hope this is helpful in your search for a solution.

Thanks - that sounds very hopeful.  What Software do you use with the OBD11 ?

15 hours ago, spartacus 68 said:

Back to your predicament. I think paying Audi to scan the battery and give you the health information you require is a good trade off before transferring the balloon payment. 

If you have doubts, step away and hand the car back and start the process again with another car.

More details here: https://www.audi.co.uk/en/electric/faqs/battery/

Thanks - you make valid points and that link is very helpful

1 hour ago, rozel said:

Thanks - that sounds very hopeful.  What Software do you use with the OBD11 ?

Have been reading some more and now understand OBD Eleven 🙂

OBDeleven runs on android and the software is downloaded from the site to your laptop/phone. If you go for the Pro version and use two step access you can access all SFD protected modules but not SFD 2 which I believe is fitted to the post 2023 versions of the A3. OBDeleven has vag approval to access SFD  modules.

@joe6  Thank you for staying with me 🙂

I have been looking carefully at getting an OBD Eleven 3 Pro, which comes with a 12 month Pro Plan and either 100 or 200 one-click-app credits.  However whilst this indeed should allow me to view SFD 1 modules, I am unable to establish what information it would provide on my High Voltage Battery - I only want to learn about this, although I am sure it will provide me with loads of stuff that would be beneficial to me but not essential.  

Have you any idea what it would provide? - I don't seem to find this answer on OBD Eleven's website or how to speak with an agent  -  Thanks

1 hour ago, rozel said:

@joe6  Thank you for staying with me 🙂

I have been looking carefully at getting an OBD Eleven 3 Pro, which comes with a 12 month Pro Plan and either 100 or 200 one-click-app credits.  However whilst this indeed should allow me to view SFD 1 modules, I am unable to establish what information it would provide on my High Voltage Battery - I only want to learn about this, although I am sure it will provide me with loads of stuff that would be beneficial to me but not essential.  

Have you any idea what it would provide? - I don't seem to find this answer on OBD Eleven's website or how to speak with an agent  -  Thanks

I have checked the options for the A3 2021 tfsi e on my account and it would appear to only offer state of charge and not a health check. I have not been  able to get a response from members on the obd website to the health check. Sorry but my suggestion may not provide what you are looking for. Surprised that not more people are asking for health check info. Supposed it is early days for most customers to be considering buying used ev type vehicles although the battery state is a major talking point for those looking for one.

9 minutes ago, joe6 said:

I have checked the options for the A3 2021 tfsi e on my account and it would appear to only offer state of charge and not a health check. I have not been  able to get a response from members on the obd website to the health check. Sorry but my suggestion may not provide what you are looking for. Surprised that not more people are asking for health check info. Supposed it is early days for most customers to be considering buying used ev type vehicles although the battery state is a major talking point for those looking for one.

Thanks - I've managed to raise my question through the OBD Eleven's online chat messaging system - just when and if they get back to me, I don't know.  I'll post here should I learn anything