Charge mode is still the king in my Phev.

[DazzyB]

Wow. If that result is reproducible, it would be great! Thanks for the feedback.

I'll certainly be trying to reproduce it
It's a test I can do very regularly and try to get an average that will remove the variances caused by slightly different traffic conditions, temperatures, etc.

 

[gwatpe]

I have finally had the opportunity to test the method of "Trex", using EV mode "NORMAL" mode at under 120kph, and CHARGE mode, to reduce petrol consumption. I first drained the battery and waited for the ICE to kick in at 100kph on the HUME highway between Melbourne and Sydney. [Dual carriageway.] As soon as the ICE started I pressed CHARGE button, and also pressed the reset on the petrol trip computer in the MMCS. I was also monitoring the petrol consumption instant L/100km on the OBD. The PHEV recorded a constant 10.7L/100km on the flat terrain. [By comparison the PHEV reported 12.1L/100km from the OBD port.] I drove for about 55km in CHARGE mode and the PHEV recharged to 8bars on the battery, with 18km of battery range gained. I turned CHARGE mode OFF, and continued on EV. repeated for a few more cycles, and the PHEV returned 6.7L/100km. The OBD2 returned 7.4L/100km, so there is some calibration in the PHEV computer. The calculated petrol consumed from the OBD2 accumulated data almost exactly matches the petrol data from the bowser, so have no explanation for the lower PHEV value as yet.

The few opportunities I have to make use of this procedure does not make it suitable for my typical drives so manipulating SAVE mode will just have to do for me.

 

[anko]

But how did your test results compare to driving in Save mode with high SOC or driving in Normal mode?

 

[DazzyB]

Wow. If that result is reproducible, it would be great! Thanks for the feedback.

It's reproducable. Same journey, same strategy this morning and 73mpg again.

As an aside, I did the same journey the other day starting with almost zero SOC and using charge on the motorway to build up SOC for the slower sections. Overall result was 28mpg!! That's how not to use the PHEV ;-)

 

[maby]

Wow. If that result is reproducible, it would be great! Thanks for the feedback.

It's reproducable. Same journey, same strategy this morning and 73mpg again.

As an aside, I did the same journey the other day starting with almost zero SOC and using charge on the motorway to build up SOC for the slower sections. Overall result was 28mpg!! That's how not to use the PHEV ;-)

What is the actual profile of your journey? Your previous post seemed to indicate that it combines motorway and urban roads, but does not make clear the mix. To get 73mpg, I would assume that it is not very long overall.

 

[DazzyB]

What is the actual profile of your journey? Your previous post seemed to indicate that it combines motorway and urban roads, but does not make clear the mix. To get 73mpg, I would assume that it is not very long overall.

Hi Maby,
All the detail was in my OP but it's a few pages back now so here it is again:

"I thought I'd contribute to this thread as I am a new owner and have started to try out different strategies on my daily commute. Notwithstanding any major traffic hold-ups, the drive is pretty consistent in terms of speed, timings, load conditions, etc.

This morning I set off with full charge and a predicted EV range of 32 miles (51.5km). My route consists of:
9.5 miles suburban
28 miles motorway
5.5 miles suburban
13 miles motorway
2 miles suburban
Total 58 miles (93km)

The long motorway section is over the Pennine range so climb followed by decent. On the motorway sections I used cruise control to maintain a steady 60mph apart from a few overtaking bursts.
I didn't use the charge or save buttons at all but did make use of some braking regen on steeper downhill sections.

It was a cold, wet, dark morning so heater, wipers and headlights were on almost continuously.

So, the PHEV ran in EV mode for 22 miles (35km) before running out of charge and starting the ICE. This is low compared to the starting range (32miles) but over half of this was on the motorway at 60mph with a significant section of that being quite a steep climb.

By the time I came off the 2nd section of motorway, EV range was showing 1 mile and I didn't notice the ICE come on for the last 2 mile suburban section.
Journey time was 86 minutes, average speed 40.5mph (65kph)

The displayed MPG at the end of the journey was 61mpg (4.63l/100km)."

 

[maby]

What is the actual profile of your journey? Your previous post seemed to indicate that it combines motorway and urban roads, but does not make clear the mix. To get 73mpg, I would assume that it is not very long overall.

Hi Maby,
All the detail was in my OP but it's a few pages back now so here it is again:

"I thought I'd contribute to this thread as I am a new owner and have started to try out different strategies on my daily commute. Notwithstanding any major traffic hold-ups, the drive is pretty consistent in terms of speed, timings, load conditions, etc.

This morning I set off with full charge and a predicted EV range of 32 miles (51.5km). My route consists of:
9.5 miles suburban
28 miles motorway
5.5 miles suburban
13 miles motorway
2 miles suburban
Total 58 miles (93km)

The long motorway section is over the Pennine range so climb followed by decent. On the motorway sections I used cruise control to maintain a steady 60mph apart from a few overtaking bursts.
I didn't use the charge or save buttons at all but did make use of some braking regen on steeper downhill sections.

It was a cold, wet, dark morning so heater, wipers and headlights were on almost continuously.

So, the PHEV ran in EV mode for 22 miles (35km) before running out of charge and starting the ICE. This is low compared to the starting range (32miles) but over half of this was on the motorway at 60mph with a significant section of that being quite a steep climb.

By the time I came off the 2nd section of motorway, EV range was showing 1 mile and I didn't notice the ICE come on for the last 2 mile suburban section.
Journey time was 86 minutes, average speed 40.5mph (65kph)

The displayed MPG at the end of the journey was 61mpg (4.63l/100km)."

Ah, sorry - I missed that, but it makes perfect sense now. If you count the 22 miles of EV as infinite MPG, then that leaves 36 miles on petrol - probably running at approximately 40mpg which is the standard figure for a PHEV cruising at around 60mph. Hence you will have burned slightly less than a gallon to cover your 58 miles - 61mpg!

 

[gwatpe]

I have just completed another long range test of mixed charge mode and normal mode as per the Trex method. This was 260km. I compared this with an additional 415km test in SAVE mode. This was all highway speeds on flat terrain on a section of road across the Hay plains from WaggaWagga in NSW, to Pinarroo in SA, a distance of around 680km. I was able to also test the brim to brim fuel consumption twice, and compare this with the PHEV reported trip L/100km, [BTW this came out at within 0.1L/100km]. I have not been able to replicate the short range economy gains, I had reported in an earlier post that had looked so promising and that had started this thread. My suspicions are that the battery is still playing into the equation for the shorter trips. Don't get me wrong here, as this may be a way of reducing petrol consumption on the shorter trips. I have compared with just using SAVE mode with the battery at 50% on the meter and the difference only amounted to 0.1L/100km in 8.2L/100km. Not enough of a gain for all the controlled button pressing needed. I will be posting some detailed pics of the recorded data in another thread.