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VW ID.3 Electrical System Failure

Quick summary: the message 'Electrical system not working properly' necessitated a visit to the workshop. In this case, the cause was a failed battery module. The car is just over 5 years old, and battery modules have an 8-year or 160,000-kilometer warranty, so it was replaced free of charge.

The Process

On December 25, 2025, this message appeared, requesting that I visit a repair shop. This time of year is, of course, not ideal for getting an appointment, and the earliest I could get was on Thursday, January 8, 2026. Until then, the car continued to run. The only noticeable issue was that when the battery was over 80 percent charged at the wallbox, it only charged very slowly, at 1 kW. The charge level of 87 percent in the photo was reached before the error message appeared.
At the repair shop, they first checked whether the wiring was intact or if, for example, a marten had damaged it. Everything was ok there, so the car needed to be examined more closely, and I was given a rental car for the weekend.
On Monday afternoon, January 12, I got the car back again. A battery module had been replaced. This was done under warranty, so it was free of charge for me, as was the rental car. When I asked how much it would have cost without the warranty, I was told it would be around €4,000.

The rental car

I got a T-Cross, petrol engine, with a manual transmission. Clutching and shifting again, like some caveman ;). It felt strange at first, but after the car stalled once at a traffic light (because starting in fourth gear obviously doesn't work), I was back in my old driving habits.
The real nightmare was refueling before returning the car. After a few years of driving electric cars, you completely forget how awful that terrible sludge stinks. Breathing in those petrol fumes surely isn't healthy.

Last change January 13. 2026

No responsibility is taken for the correctness of this information. The articles on this site about electromobility and different electric car models are based on personal experience and on current news. They are not sponsored or supported by the car manufacturers.

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