[VW EU] How to read GPS coordinates (portal has none)

[Chesstimation]

I own an e-Golf and I am wondering how to read out the GPS coordinates. I was able to connect my car using EU Data Act. Also We Connect should work. How can I see the GPS coordinates in HA?

[its-me-prash]

GPS is shipped as a device_tracker entity called "Location", one per vehicle, so it shows up on the standard Home Assistant Map card straight away. The coordinates themselves are attributes on that entity, so in a template you can read them with state_attr('device_tracker.your_car_location', 'latitude') and the same with 'longitude'. There is also an optional Reverse Geocoding setting in the integration options (off by default, since it sends the position to a third party to resolve it) which adds parking_address and parking_city as extra attributes.

One caveat that is likely to matter for your e-Golf: the Location entity is only created once the car actually reports a parking position. On VW EU that position comes from the We Connect vehicle backend, not from the EU Data Act portal. The portal export carries no coordinate field at all, so an entry running on the portal channel alone will not get a Location entity, and waiting longer does not change that. #465 tracks where the VW EU read path stands.

If you do get a Location entity but it never moves, that is normal until the car reports a new position: drive, park somewhere else, and let a poll go through.

[Chesstimation]

Hmm, I can't see any device_tracker for my car. I think the GPS information is not contained in the EU Data Act dataset. But I also added VW Group connect when configuring your integration. Should that suffice or do I need to add something else?

[tisniwoar]

I have the same problem with a Volkswagen Taigo (using We Connect and EU Data Act): no_device tracker entity to be found.
It used to be available with the "Volkswagen Connect" integration, but that integration no longer works since VW changed its authentication and API access mechanisms.

[its-me-prash]

Thanks for adding your case — and to refine what I said earlier, because the honest picture is more specific for VW EU cars like your e-Golf and Taigo.

The missing Location entity isn't something either of you mis-configured. Adding VW Group Connect (the We Connect side) alongside the EU Data Act entry was exactly the right thing to do. The problem is that none of the read channels VW currently leaves open to us hands back a position for these cars:

• The EU Data Act export carries no coordinate field at all — so the portal channel on its own can never produce a Location entity, no matter how long it runs.
• The We Connect vehicle backend is where the position used to come from, but VW has closed the data side of that channel for EU passenger cars — reads there come back refused. That same lockdown after VW changed its auth/API is why the older integration you relied on before stopped working, too.
• The volkswagen.de channel (the supplementary read layer) is the one remaining place a position could still surface — and that's exactly what I'm digging into now: on the cars reporting this, every other endpoint answers, but the position call produces nothing at all. That's tracked in [VW EU] Vehicle GPS location missing — portal coordinate gap #923, and the two of you are more evidence it's the general VW EU picture rather than a one-off.

So this isn't a missing setup step on your end — it's a real gap on VW's side of the read path that I'm actively working to close. What would genuinely help: a Download diagnostics from the entry (Settings → Devices & Services → the entry's three-dot menu) taken while the car is definitely awake and has a recent GPS fix — engine on, ideally right after driving. That capture is what shows me whether the position call is being skipped or answered empty, which is the fork the fix hinges on. I'll keep #923 updated as I get further.

[its-me-prash]

Quick follow-up now that I've traced this all the way down — plus a small correction to what I said above. There is actually no position read at all on the vw.de channel; I implied it "produces nothing", but nothing is even attempted, which is exactly why no position line ever appears.

I cross-checked every comparable open-source project, and the only place a VW EU coordinate has ever lived is the manufacturer app's own parking-position endpoint — which is attestation-walled and has been closed to all third parties since VW's 2026 lockdown (everyone lost the identical endpoint at the same moment). The live EU Data Act 15-minute feed carries no coordinate field either. So it's structural, not a setup step you're missing.

One untested lever remains: whether the vw.de reverse-proxy will pass a position read through the same path that already carries charging and warning-lights. I'm about to test it on my own portal-enrolled car. If it works, live GPS becomes possible for everyone on this channel; if it refuses (likely), position stays out of reach on VW EU until VW opens a path. I'll report back here either way.

[its-me-prash]

Good news for both of you — the lever I mentioned is now testable, and you can help confirm it.

On main there's a new opt-in test cohort option (HACS → VW Group Connect → Redownload → main, then the integration's Configure screen). If you use the volkswagen.de channel, tick it and the integration will try the parking-position read on your e-Golf / Taigo through the same proxy that already serves charging and warning-lights. If VW's proxy passes it, that's live GPS on this channel for VW EU; if it refuses, nothing breaks and it stops after a few tries.

Either way it shows a dismissible notice asking you to attach a redacted diagnostics file on issue #923 — VIN, GPS, tokens and e-mail are stripped automatically, so it's safe to post. Your two cars are different platforms from the others already testing, which is exactly what makes this useful — the more platforms, the faster location is settled for everyone. Off by default, opt out anytime.

[tisniwoar]

Looks promising, I now have a device_tracker entity I will be on a motorcycle trip tomorrow, so I won't be able to test until Wednesday. I'll get back to you!

[tisniwoar]

Redownloaded your latest version 3.0.3 and reconfigured the Volkswagen.de read channel and EU Data Act portal read channel. Attached the diagnostics file after returning home with engine running, and a diagnostics file 10 minutes later (after stopping the engine and locking the car). The device_tracker entity remains "Unknown"..... However, when reconfiguring the integration I see that the Volkswagen.de read channel and EU Data Act portal read channel are disabled again. Is this normal? [config_entry-vag_connect-01KZKARFJH5FMTD3FK4VZK489Z (engine stopped, car locked).json](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/31023079/config_entry-vag_connect-01KZKARFJH5FMTD3FK4VZK489Z.engine.stopped.car.locked.json) [config_entry-vag_connect-01KZKARFJH5FMTD3FK4VZK489Z.json](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/31023082/config_entry-vag_connect-01KZKARFJH5FMTD3FK4VZK489Z.json)

[its-me-prash]

Thanks @tisniwoar — and thanks for capturing both the engine-on and engine-off diagnostics. Two things:

1. On the GPS itself: I've folded your captures into the [VW EU] Vehicle GPS location missing — portal coordinate gap #923 cohort analysis. So far no car on the volkswagen.de channel has returned a position, so the lever's looking negative — but your captures are on v3.0.3, and I just shipped v3.0.5 which adds a probe_outcomes block to the diagnostics that shows why the probe came back empty (a 403/404/412 refusal vs an empty 200 vs never firing). Could you update to 3.0.5, let it poll a few times, and re-share a Download-diagnostics? That'll tell us if there's any lever left here. (Best on MEB/ID cars.)

2. On "channels show disabled after reconfigure": that's expected, not data loss. Those vw.de / EU-Data-Act checkboxes are transient "add/refresh this channel" opt-ins that default to off — they're not a live on/off display. A channel that's actually active gets its own separate "remove …" toggle. I'll look at relabeling them ("Add/refresh…") to stop the confusion.

[tisniwoar]

Voila (engine turned off after driving):

config_entry-vag_connect-01KZKARFJH5FMTD3FK4VZK489Z Version 3.0.5.json

[its-me-prash]

Thanks @tisniwoar — and I have a definitive answer now. Your diagnostics show the test cohort wasn't enabled, so the position probe didn't run for your car; but across the cohort cars that did run it (details in #923), the volkswagen.de position endpoint consistently returns HTTP 401 — the proxy isn't authorized to serve GPS to a third-party session.

So the device_tracker staying "Unknown" isn't something enabling the cohort would fix: VW EU GPS over this channel is confirmed unavailable. No further testing needed on your end — appreciate you trying. If VW ever exposes position through the official EU Data Act access, I'll wire it straight away.

[its-me-prash]

Quick v4.4.0 update for anyone landing here: the conclusion above still holds for the web channels — the volkswagen.de position endpoint 401s and the EU-Data-Act feed carries no coordinates. But v4.4.0 adds one new, opt-in route to a parking position for VW-EU cars: the companion phone-app channel (#968 / #923) can walk the We Connect app's own share sheet to read the parked coordinates. It's read-only, off by default, and needs the separate companion agent app, so it's not a drop-in fix — but it's the first path that actually returns a VW-EU parking position. Thanks @Chesstimation and @tisniwoar for the testing that mapped the dead ends. If the official EU Data Act access ever exposes position, I'll wire that straight away.