Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Forum

Hi. New member - happy to be redirected if this is covered elsewhere. Is there a configuration other than a mod-chip that can force the PHEV to only drive in EV mode until absolutely necessary? I have a 4 mile school run not exceeding 30mph morning and night and had expected to do this in EV only charging every couple of days. I know all the stuff about heating and fuel cycling. Thanks!

You should be able to do that trip anyway on 95% if not 100% EV. First thing to do is turn the heater controls off (use pre-heat whilst it's on charge if you need the car defrosting before you set off). If you're cold, use the seat heaters rather than trying to heat the whole interior. If the outside and inside temperatures differ by about 10C the engine will start unless you set the heater controls at minimum. Optionally use ECO mode to make it less likely the engine will start on acceleration.

I've only had mine for 10 days, but have found that my daily 5 mile commute (mix of 60mph rural road then 30mph town driving) is entirely on EV mode, unless I accelerate hard at a particular uphill junction - with the car simply in Drive, heater off and ECO on.

I really don't mind using petrol - as long as it's using less that the 12mpg my 3.0 litre Subaru did, I'm happy. So I am pleasantly surprised at how little the PHEV wants to fire up the petrol engine on my commute. On a faster, longer journey the petrol engine is on a lot of the time, as expected but overall it's still much better than my Subaru. It's those low speed, short distance journeys where it makes most of the savings.

Richr said all ... so disable cabin heating (this implies to switch off the air ventilation, or set the temperature to the lowest value : 15.0) ... and be gentle on the accelerator pedal ... as long your dash show your power inside the green space (up to 60kw) the ICE will not be used unless battery is low.

About a mod chip ... there is one which help a bit on the cabin heating, and should avoid accidental over usage of accelerator pedal .. there is a Vtech mod available : more info are here: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2191

Remove the fuel pump fuse and ignore the warnings

trade it in for a Tesla..

I got side effects on it

For some reason, short after I did this, the following it happens:
- Sometime the error does not pop up ... and the car try to start the ICE every time I use too much acceleration
- Twice happen to me, that after this experiment the car did believe the fuel in the tank was too old, and it did try all the time to start the ICE

I was removing only 1 fuse ... maybe I need to remove 2 fuses ...

Anyhow ... yes .. without the fuse the car accelerate in pure EV mode very nicely
But ... just being careful on not pressing too much on accelerator does work just fine ... after weeks and months of usage I'm quite good on using max 50 or 55kw of power ... I can make a mistake now , once every two months or less ...

My Lady Boss would like to trade the Outlander PHEV for a Land Rover PHEV

Ignoring that the Land Rover just costs the double ... would be the UK car a better EV?

My point - a PHEV is a dual-system concept. By necessity that involves engineering choices and compromises that do not apply to pure EV or even EV+extender cars.
The thing to do is to use and enjoy the car within the boundaries of those compromises. If you need- or want more, there are other vehicles out there that offer different compromises. If you want pure EV, you want an EV car. If you want a motorway cruiser, there are sleek Diesels, if you want performance, there are sports cars, etc.
The Mitsubishi is a bit of a jack of all trades, and surprisingly good at it.

I so fully agree with this. I did months of research into what I would replace my Subaru with (and I've been extremely loyal to the Subaru Legacy for a very long time having owned five). If you only do city driving and can charge every day then a pure EV may well be a better choice. If you do a lot of motorway miles, then the Outlander PHEV is a poor choice - the diesel one will cost you less in the long run.

But the majority of people do under 15 miles a day of mainly town driving, with the occasional longer trip at weekends - and it's this market that the Outlander PHEV is aimed at. There are plenty of other PHEVs that may perform better, but don't have the boot space, 4WD or ground clearance of the Outlander.

Given JLR's reliability, I wouldn't count on it. The Range Rover electrical troubleshooting manual alone runs to over 1,000 pages. Chatting to a colleague at Christmas he pointed out that during the 14 years I'd owned a Lexus GS300 he'd gone through three Discoveries, one of which ruined its own engine thanks to the bearings shifting and blocking the oilways, another which blew out its hydraulic suspension pipes on the way to trade-in.

(edited: they were Discos, not Freelanders)