Reduced Battery Range

The battery range on my 3-year old Outlander PHEV has reduced by about 1/3rd in the last 6 months to about 18 - 20 miles. This is coincidental with occasional use of public chargers showing 30% of the charge left in the battery when the vehicle was showing the battery exhausted and its range as zero.

Mitsubishi UK say this is normal - "When the battery charge level display shows empty there is still around 28% of charge left. This is probably what the rapid charger measured. This 28% can be thought of as a reserve in case the car runs out of petrol so the car can still be driven."

I have my doubts in that:-
This never happened before and Ecotricity, who run the public chargers, say they have changed nothing. All the time previously, the charger display showed the battery as starting from zero when the dashboard also showed zero range.
It's illogical to leave a "get home" reserve on the battery when 90%+ of the total vehicle range comes from the petrol engine. Even when I've cut it really fine when refueling, the petrol tank still seems to have about 10 litres left.

Our local excellent Mitsubishi garage in Tunbridge Wells have run an overnight battery check and say there is nothing wrong with the battery.

Has anyone else had this issue?

There doesn't seem to be an issue.

The ~30% shown as the starting point on the rapid chargers is correct. It's much less about having a reserve and more about protecting the battery. You'd have noticed a reduction in range recently purely because of the cooler weather, and depending on how your using the car and whether you have an electric heater, the 18-20 miles seems to be in the right ballpark.

Indeed, it is quite normal that 'empty on the gauge' matches 30% in real life. But as a matter of fact, the 30-ish percent is partly a reserve. It allows for some more battery charge consumption before the engine gets a change to contribute. At lower speeds the reserve it tries to maintain will be lower, more like 26%. Either way, you can drive the percentage much lower, by hammering it after the engine has started. Only when charge drops as low as 14% the car will come to a stop, to prevent damage to the battery.

Lance said:

There doesn't seem to be an issue.

The ~30% shown as the starting point on the rapid chargers is correct. It's much less about having a reserve and more about protecting the battery. You'd have noticed a reduction in range recently purely because of the cooler weather, and depending on how your using the car and whether you have an electric heater, the 18-20 miles seems to be in the right ballpark.

Click to expand...

Indeed... We bought our PHEV in late September three years ago - I've never seen a realistic range of more than about 24 miles and range on a cold winter day has always been loser to 16 miles than 20

6 months ago was summary!

Gentlemen
Thank you for your comments. Indeed I’ve had the car for 3 winters now and know the effect of colder weather on range. This reduction became in the summer.
When I bought the car, I was told initially (probably wrongly) that a rapid charge once every 3 months was good for the battery life. So whenever I’m near a motorway service area (infrequently) I have used a public charger.
For almost 3 years now, the charger display always showed the process starting with the battery at 0% corresponding to 0% on the vehicle dashboard.
What no one seems able to explain is why the charger display is now starting at 30%+ when Ecotricity, who run the chargers, say they have changed nothing.
My concern is that I’m missing out on 30% of the battery range

As has been mentioned several times, 'empty' on the gauge under normal circumstances corresponds with approx 30% real SOC. But 'empty' on the gauge is not a fixed thing. With 0 bars on the dash, real SOC can still range from 14% (very extreme conditions) to approx 31%. So, if the rapid charger before reported 0%, than what would that 0% mean? 14% real SOC? 25% SOC? 31% SOC? I cannot have been 0%, as you would not have been able to reach the charger if it had been 0%. Not even on petrol. With all due respect, it is much more likely that you are mistaken and the charger has always reported a number around 30%.

That doesn't mean you haven't lost any capacity. My capacity has dropped to 70% compared to new. But via OBDII the car still reports roughly 30% when empty. Effectively only 70% of the battery is usable. This is the case when the car is new and also when the car is 4 years old. When the battery capacity has deteriorated, usable capacity will still be 70%, but it will be 70% of a reduced total capacity.

My guess? You have noticed reduction in range of about 30% and you have been looking for evidence of this loss. When you saw the number 30 on the display you tied things together that do not go together. Please, don't don't be mad at me ....

I don't use rapids very often, but whenever I have, on plugging in the charger has always said I have approx 30% battery left (assuming battery reading in car has no bars left). This has been reported by many users, so I think you must be mistaken that the charger reported your battery as '0%'. I have read many, many threads on the PHEV over the years, and no-one has ever reported this! So I must agree with anko that you are mistaken.... Doesn't mean of course that you haven't lost some capacity.....!