Battery range dropped suddenly (phev, 2016 model)

[tweedie]

Hi,

I have a 2016 HS Phev for nearly 8 years driving sensibly on on 30mph roads and we usually get around 24 miles of electric after overnight standard charge charge. Its only covered less then 50k miles. However, lately, its mile estimate dropped down to around 15-16 for no reason. The heater isn't on and battery status showing its 100% charged. Since its 100%, I assume that there is no electrical drain overnight with lights left on or anything. The temp outside is rather warm for uk wintertime (average around 6-8C). I am assuming that my wall socket isn't faulty otherwise it wouldn't reach 100%.

This morning, I did a FULL charge and it gave an estimate of 16 miles which I thought was really low. drove it sensibly at 30mph, no heater and the lights may be on as it was a bit dark. Only managed to achieve 12.8 miles before using petrol engine kicked in.

Phoned the mitsubishi garage - they saying having the lights on would use up the range..... I am a bit doubtful of that answer to be honest. Surely, having the lights on wouldn't drain that much mileage and isn't the led running on a 12V battery? I insisted on a battery report but they quoting me nearly £300 for 2 hours labour! 2 hours to plug it into a computer.... hmm. They also say, if there was any battery degration there would be all sort of lights/errors coming up on dash board - is that true?

My battery warranty runs out after 8 years and its just coming upto that now so need to act now - would an auto electrician report (a lot cheaper) be sufficient enough to put in a claim for a new battery if the degration is that bad?

Thanks. Any insight would be hopeful

 

[maby]

Hi,

...

This morning, I did a FULL charge and it gave an estimate of 16 miles which I thought was really low. drove it sensibly at 30mph, no heater and the lights may be on as it was a bit dark. Only managed to achieve 12.8 miles before using petrol engine kicked in.

...

Thanks. Any insight would be hopeful

For the last several years of its life, I would have been quite pleased to get 12.8 miles of winter driving out of our 2014 Outlander PHEV!

Martin

 

[tweedie]

For the last several years of its life, I would have been quite pleased to get 12.8 miles of winter driving out of our 2014 Outlander PHEV!

Martin

really? with mild winter (6-8C), no heating on, sticking to 30mph you were getting less then 12.8mph on average?

 

[Haenzel]

Hi,

I have a 2016 HS Phev for nearly 8 years driving sensibly on on 30mph roads and we usually get around 24 miles of electric after overnight standard charge charge. Its only covered less then 50k miles. However, lately, its mile estimate dropped down to around 15-16 for no reason. The heater isn't on and battery status showing its 100% charged. Since its 100%, I assume that there is no electrical drain overnight with lights left on or anything. The temp outside is rather warm for uk wintertime (average around 6-8C). I am assuming that my wall socket isn't faulty otherwise it wouldn't reach 100%.

This morning, I did a FULL charge and it gave an estimate of 16 miles which I thought was really low. drove it sensibly at 30mph, no heater and the lights may be on as it was a bit dark. Only managed to achieve 12.8 miles before using petrol engine kicked in.

Phoned the mitsubishi garage - they saying having the lights on would use up the range..... I am a bit doubtful of that answer to be honest. Surely, having the lights on wouldn't drain that much mileage and isn't the led running on a 12V battery? I insisted on a battery report but they quoting me nearly £300 for 2 hours labour! 2 hours to plug it into a computer.... hmm. They also say, if there was any battery degration there would be all sort of lights/errors coming up on dash board - is that true?

My battery warranty runs out after 8 years and its just coming upto that now so need to act now - would an auto electrician report (a lot cheaper) be sufficient enough to put in a claim for a new battery if the degration is that bad?

Thanks. Any insight would be hopeful

If I set my temp to low (Outside temperature < 10 C) and switch the blower on (airconditioning off) the range will drop significantly.
Turning off the blower will increase the range again.

 

[tweedie]

If I set my temp to low (Outside temperature < 10 C) and switch the blower on (airconditioning off) the range will drop significantly.
Turning off the blower will increase the range again.

yeah, putting the heater/blower on will decrease the range. I didn't have it on at all at all. I live in a flat country so no hills either.

Got my car booked in to check brake calipers as thats a potential cause from what I read in this forum.
Also got an EV specialist booked in to do a battery heath check to see how much of a degradation it is.

 

[ed2353]

Hi,

I have a 2016 HS Phev for nearly 8 years driving sensibly on on 30mph roads and we usually get around 24 miles of electric after overnight standard charge charge. Its only covered less then 50k miles. However, lately, its mile estimate dropped down to around 15-16 for no reason. The heater isn't on and battery status showing its 100% charged. Since its 100%, I assume that there is no electrical drain overnight with lights left on or anything. The temp outside is rather warm for uk wintertime (average around 6-8C). I am assuming that my wall socket isn't faulty otherwise it wouldn't reach 100%.

This morning, I did a FULL charge and it gave an estimate of 16 miles which I thought was really low. drove it sensibly at 30mph, no heater and the lights may be on as it was a bit dark. Only managed to achieve 12.8 miles before using petrol engine kicked in.

Phoned the mitsubishi garage - they saying having the lights on would use up the range..... I am a bit doubtful of that answer to be honest. Surely, having the lights on wouldn't drain that much mileage and isn't the led running on a 12V battery? I insisted on a battery report but they quoting me nearly £300 for 2 hours labour! 2 hours to plug it into a computer.... hmm. They also say, if there was any battery degration there would be all sort of lights/errors coming up on dash board - is that true?

My battery warranty runs out after 8 years and its just coming upto that now so need to act now - would an auto electrician report (a lot cheaper) be sufficient enough to put in a claim for a new battery if the degration is that bad?

Thanks. Any insight would be hopeful

I also have 2016 HS PHEV. Mine has ~60K miles. I also typically get 13-16 miles on a full charge at this time of year and 20-25 in the summer.
I use the PH Watchdog app with an OBD2 plugged into the Diagnostic Port under the Dashboard.
Back in 2019 it indicated a capacity of 83%, but that had declined to 81% in 2021, 79% in 2022, 77% in 2023 and is currently 75%.
Since the warranty sets a level of 70%, I doubt whether mine will sink the low by 1st September, when my warranty runs out.
Unless you have a particular cell failing, which might cause a sudden loss in capacity, I suspect your car will have a similar capacity to mine.
Incidentally, the Watchdog App also checks all the individual cells. My lowest is 4.029V, my highest is 4.033V.
The App also indicates that an overnight charge using the 13A charger gives me only 95% of a full charge, even though the car says Charge Complete!
Hope that helps.

 

[tweedie]

I also have 2016 HS PHEV. Mine has ~60K miles. I also typically get 13-16 miles on a full charge at this time of year and 20-25 in the summer.
I use the PH Watchdog app with an OBD2 plugged into the Diagnostic Port under the Dashboard.
Back in 2019 it indicated a capacity of 83%, but that had declined to 81% in 2021, 79% in 2022, 77% in 2023 and is currently 75%.
Since the warranty sets a level of 70%, I doubt whether mine will sink the low by 1st September, when my warranty runs out.
Unless you have a particular cell failing, which might cause a sudden loss in capacity, I suspect your car will have a similar capacity to mine.
Incidentally, the Watchdog App also checks all the individual cells. My lowest is 4.029V, my highest is 4.033V.
The App also indicates that an overnight charge using the 13A charger gives me only 95% of a full charge, even though the car says Charge Complete!
Hope that helps.

thanks for the detailed stats. It does sound very similar to me as I got a 2016HS as well, and I am considering getting one of those OBD2 device to do a battery check.

I am stumped why such a bigger difference between summer and winter (mild winter) when its the same road I am travelling, same speed, neither AC/heater is switched on so in theory I should get exactly the same miles. I guess the outside temp does play a role in the electric mileage achieved.

Maybe I am incorrect to assume the % degradation of battery shouldn't be compared between summer and winter which kinda make sense now. In summer getting 24 miles, in winter getting 12 miles - so I thought its 50% lost. hmm

 

[nrayanov]

Stuck brake caliper is the most usual reason for "sudden EV range drops".

 

[maby]

Air gets more viscous as the temperature drops, rubber tyres become stiffer as do lubricants in the transmission. All put together, added to the reduced battery efficiency, results in significantly poorer fuel economy. It happens with a petrol car too, but they are fundamentally less efficient and the drop in fuel economy is less noticeable.

Martin

 

[littlescrote]

Your dealer is an idiot and has no understanding of basic physics. Even with old style incandescent headlight bulbs using approximately 100W, that is an insignificant amount of power compared to propulsion. If you drove nowhere, a 10kWh battery with a 100W drain would last 10,000/100 = 100 hours.

 

[LowOnCash]

Hi,

I have a 2016 HS Phev for nearly 8 years driving sensibly on on 30mph roads and we usually get around 24 miles of electric after overnight standard charge charge. Its only covered less then 50k miles. However, lately, its mile estimate dropped down to around 15-16 for no reason. The heater isn't on and battery status showing its 100% charged. Since its 100%, I assume that there is no electrical drain overnight with lights left on or anything. The temp outside is rather warm for uk wintertime (average around 6-8C). I am assuming that my wall socket isn't faulty otherwise it wouldn't reach 100%.

This morning, I did a FULL charge and it gave an estimate of 16 miles which I thought was really low. drove it sensibly at 30mph, no heater and the lights may be on as it was a bit dark. Only managed to achieve 12.8 miles before using petrol engine kicked in.

Phoned the mitsubishi garage - they saying having the lights on would use up the range..... I am a bit doubtful of that answer to be honest. Surely, having the lights on wouldn't drain that much mileage and isn't the led running on a 12V battery? I insisted on a battery report but they quoting me nearly £300 for 2 hours labour! 2 hours to plug it into a computer.... hmm. They also say, if there was any battery degration there would be all sort of lights/errors coming up on dash board - is that true?

My battery warranty runs out after 8 years and its just coming upto that now so need to act now - would an auto electrician report (a lot cheaper) be sufficient enough to put in a claim for a new battery if the degration is that bad?

Thanks. Any insight would be hopeful

What temperature was it - if it was around freezing you could see up to 30-40% reduction in capacity. Of course there is always the change something happened to some cells. It would still charge to 100$ SOC since it looks at the highest voltage of any cell.

Mike

 

[Jim4eco]

I'm in similar situation as the author. My 8 year warranty expires in March, but i too have noticed that after a full 'charge complete' cycle, it is only registering 18 miles, but this drops to 16 miles within about 200 yards of driving. This has only started happening in the last two weeks approx. Current ambient temp outside around 6 degC. My vehicle only just past the 31500 mile mark today. Glad to have read this forum post...means i will adopt a different attitude when bringing this to the attention of the main dealer. Will do a few 'actual' mileage tests during the day with no heater or extra lights on etc to get a better idea before we chat.

 

[Jim4eco]

I also have 2016 HS PHEV. Mine has ~60K miles. I also typically get 13-16 miles on a full charge at this time of year and 20-25 in the summer.
I use the PH Watchdog app with an OBD2 plugged into the Diagnostic Port under the Dashboard.
Back in 2019 it indicated a capacity of 83%, but that had declined to 81% in 2021, 79% in 2022, 77% in 2023 and is currently 75%.
Since the warranty sets a level of 70%, I doubt whether mine will sink the low by 1st September, when my warranty runs out.
Unless you have a particular cell failing, which might cause a sudden loss in capacity, I suspect your car will have a similar capacity to mine.
Incidentally, the Watchdog App also checks all the individual cells. My lowest is 4.029V, my highest is 4.033V.
The App also indicates that an overnight charge using the 13A charger gives me only 95% of a full charge, even though the car says Charge Complete!
Hope that helps.

Can you indicate which OBD2 reader you are using and can the PH watchdog app be run on an android phone? Thanks for any help offered.

 

[ed2353]

Can you indicate which OBD2 reader you are using and can the PH watchdog app be run on an android phone? Thanks for any help offered.

I use the free version of PHev Watchdog on my Android phone. I found the the app was fussy about which OBD it worked with. My OBD2 is labelled HHOBD

 

[Jim4eco]

I use the free version of PHev Watchdog on my Android phone. I found the the app was fussy about which OBD it worked with. My OBD2 is labelled HHOBDView attachment 1021

Thanks for the pointer. I ended up ordering a Vgate iCar2 which i believe works well with the watchdog App. Time will tell.

 

[Gosmo]

Vgate iCar2 is what you need, nothing more. WatchDog is great!
What you can ask the dealer is for a DBCAM, it's a procedure that the dealers can do, or someone with MUT3 app, which is the Mitsubishi diagnostic software.
On the other hand, you can check this link and try some small tweaks
https://www.richi.uk/p/mitsubishi-outlander-phev-faq.html

 

[tweedie]

Order the vgate icar pro from Amazon. Plugged it in. Kinda regret it cos there is a lotta info!

Not sure what I am looking at! How much degradation has the battery got?

Is there some dummies guide to that phev watchdog I can read?

 

[tweedie]

Stuck brake caliper is the most usual reason for "sudden EV range drops".

Thanks for that. Car booked for Monday. Noticed passenger side front disc is a lot hotter then the driver side

 

[tweedie]

What temperature was it - if it was around freezing you could see up to 30-40% reduction in capacity. Of course there is always the change something happened to some cells. It would still charge to 100$ SOC since it looks at the highest voltage of any cell.

Mike

Very mild winter here. Average about 6-8c during day. About 2-3c during night. No frost/ice/snow

 

[tweedie]

I'm in similar situation as the author. My 8 year warranty expires in March, but i too have noticed that after a full 'charge complete' cycle, it is only registering 18 miles, but this drops to 16 miles within about 200 yards of driving. This has only started happening in the last two weeks approx. Current ambient temp outside around 6 degC. My vehicle only just past the 31500 mile mark today. Glad to have read this forum post...means i will adopt a different attitude when bringing this to the attention of the main dealer. Will do a few 'actual' mileage tests during the day with no heater or extra lights on etc to get a better idea before we chat.

That's real spooky. My drop of mileage started to happen about 20th Dec, and my car will be 8 year old on 1st march!