Effect of cold temperature on range

[Flatcoat]

In the last few days ambient temperature where I am has risen from daytime 3C to 11C. This morning, I managed a 30 mile trip solely on EV. Apart from the fact that this is a new personal record the interesting point is that the ICE didn't even kick in for heating. At the end of last week, driving into work at -3C, the ICE was running permanently.

My question is whether there is a minimum temperature at which the ICE will automatically start? It's all academic really, as the only way to stop the ICE from running was/is to switch off the climate control, and I'm not sufficiently hardcore to even consider this as an option. What I lose over the winter, I'll gain over the rest of the year.

Flatcoat

 

[CJ1045]

It seems to Kick in when you get an Ice Warning on the dash

CJ

 

[maddogsetc]

I think it's much earlier than that - mine seems to start when the ambient is below about 8°C.

 

[dukeinlondon]

I think it's much earlier than that - mine seems to start when the ambient is below about 8°C.

Same here. It is also dependent on the selected cabin temperature. Just tonight, reducing from 22 to 20 stopped the engine. Outside temperature was 10C.

 

[jaapv]

10 degrees is the cutoff.

 

[WattCar]

For the first time since I've had the car the ICE started on boot -up with a full battery earlier this week. Outside temp 9c. Drove 5 miles with the ICE cutting in and out. When I returned to the car an hour later the temp was 11c and I drove home all on EV.

This confirms what jaapv says (not that I doubted him for a second). However, I do wonder if the 10c figure (and not lower) is to camouflage the true EV range in colder weather?

 

[jdsx]

10 degrees is the cutoff.

Mine runs without ICE at 8-9C quite happily, if I don't have the heating on Perhaps Mitsubishi make them hardier for Scotland :lol: Still waiting for this unusually mild autumn to get a bit colder before trying it any lower.... :shock:

 

[maby]

For the first time since I've had the car the ICE started on boot -up with a full battery earlier this week. Outside temp 9c. Drove 5 miles with the ICE cutting in and out. When I returned to the car an hour later the temp was 11c and I drove home all on EV.

This confirms what jaapv says (not that I doubted him for a second). However, I do wonder if the 10c figure (and not lower) is to camouflage the true EV range in colder weather?

I think that terminology like "camouflage" is unfair and implies some sort of dishonesty on the part of Mitsubishi! I've said before, and I'll say again - the Outlander is a hybrid, not a pure EV - it will burn petrol. The design objective will simply have been to produce a fuel efficient car that is comfortable and adequately performant, not a car that will run a thousand miles between trips to the petrol pump.

 

[WattCar]

Of course they are not dishonest- who could suggest that?! They (and all the others) merely massage and stretch the figures for marketing purposes.

On the 10c cut-off I tried turning the heater off and the ICE still cut-in. However, from the posts above it may be that the 10c varies between cars.

 

[DrSlackBladder]

Another piece of data on the ICE cut in temp.......just been out for a short trip at lunchtime, outside temp read 9C, heating was off, ICE cut in as soon as I powered up, I hit ECO immediately, ICE cut out. I hit ECO again immediately, ICE didn't cut back in, did my journey without ICE cutting in at all.

 

[WattCar]

Thats a good tip- thanks. I'll try it.

 

[maby]

Of course they are not dishonest- who could suggest that?! They (and all the others) merely massage and stretch the figures for marketing purposes.

On the 10c cut-off I tried turning the heater off and the ICE still cut-in. However, from the posts above it may be that the 10c varies between cars.

Having done a bit of work in process control programming, I doubt that there are any rigid temperatures programmed into the car. There are many different factors to be taken into account in determining the optimum propulsion strategy and I would expect that the designers have made use of some form of fuzzy logic. It will be possible to come up with some generalisations for the behaviour of the engine, but a single car could behave quite differently from one day to the next based on small variations in the environment that are not immediately obvious to the driver. My usage of the car is pretty predictable but I've seen the petrol engine kick in at temperatures as high as 10C one day and stay off at 8C another day.

 

[greendwarf]

It seems to Kick in when you get an Ice Warning on the dash

CJ

Yesterday morning car reported 0c - confirmed by large frozen raindrops on bonnet - ice warning on dash but car started and drove on EV until I turned on the demister with heating to clear the screen :mrgreen: