New PHEV in a few weeks

[ansellrk]

Hello all, just joined this forum because I'm soon to be the owner of a Black Outlander Phev GX4H.

Quite excited by the whole "new car" thing but recognise that this car is different from anything I've ever owned before...so I'm after some quick start "tips" for a newbie.

I've read through numerous posts on charging, saving, braking and fuel economy but what are the MOST important things I need to be aware off when I get in my new car?

Any tips on efficiency for driving in Wales and the mountains?
Any tips of the best method for long drives (I'll regularly be doing over 200 miles a day)
Any tips on the best way to get my music into this machine (SD, USB, Android?)
Anything else?

I'm open to any suggestions.

 

[maby]

We have been having a related discussion in another thread over the last few days! I think the bottom line is that, at 200 miles per day, you are going to be using it effectively as a petrol car and nothing you do is going to make a major difference to fuel economy or environmental impact. Intelligent use of the Save button may produce some small improvements, but fundamentally you are going to get around 40mpg - perhaps a bit more if you are a gentle driver - pretty much irrespective of which buttons you press and when. So, just drive it the way that feels comfortable to you.

 

[ansellrk]

I'm not overly worried by my long distance MPG the company will pay that. It's my local MPG that I'll be monitoring!

The primary reason for the PHEV was the 5% BIK tax rate if I'm honest but it does appear to be a lovely vehicle too!

 

[maby]

I'm not overly worried by my long distance MPG the company will pay that. It's my local MPG that I'll be monitoring!

The primary reason for the PHEV was the 5% BIK tax rate if I'm honest but it does appear to be a lovely vehicle too!

My usage pattern is similar - though the long trips are not on business and get funded out of my pocket. It is certainly a nice car to drive and fuel economy on short trips is very impressive, but the tax concessions were key to us purchasing too.

Up to around 20 miles between charges, there's no need to do anything particularly complicated - just turn it on and drive it. For trips of a couple of hundred miles or more, I would suggest that there is little merit in doing anything complicated (though others here disagree) - you are going to do most of the distance on petrol no matter what you do.

It's the intermediate trips where you can make a difference if you plan ahead. A fully charged battery will not take you much more than 15 miles at motorway speeds but could take you close to 30 miles at low speeds on clear roads. So you can get a useful improvement in fuel consumption on trips between 25 miles and something like 50 or 60 miles by planning to use the Save button while you are on the motorway and run the low speed distance on battery.

 

[napton]

On the music front, I have an SD card with a music selection in the slot behind the screen, and a USB stick with a different selection in the slot in the centre console. Then there's always a choice of 2 playlists if there's nothing on the radio (but having DAB there is more selection there too.).

I play both on random.

 

[levant]

got my PHEV on Friday afternoon 4 September. gx4h model. black. 7000 miles. £ 27500 with front parking sensors fitted.
Nice drive. quiet. Saturday and Sunday driving, Eco mode on. Regen braking on B5. getting 26 miles out of it on EV.
charging from mains at home taking 5.15 hours. MPG saying 86, as longer journeys to Cardiff use petrol. I just let the car do what it meant to do.
pleased so far.

do not know how to go about public charging... do I have to pay? do I need to register? is it cheaper to run on petrol rather than pay for 80% battery charge? I guess I will learn as I drive more and more.
Why the PHEV? home to work is 24.5 miles. parking space is next to my office and I can run the charging cable through the window. very handy indeed.
bye bye Mercedes E class 280 avantgarde. 10 years old with 174k so no regrets.
finance? 5.9% over 3 years.
will install charging pod at home. Mitsubishi arranging it for £ 160
Remote control app working extremely well.

 

[Neverfuel]

got my PHEV on Friday afternoon 4 September. gx4h model. black. 7000 miles. £ 27500 with front parking sensors fitted.
Nice drive. quiet. Saturday and Sunday driving, Eco mode on. Regen braking on B5. getting 26 miles out of it on EV.
charging from mains at home taking 5.15 hours. MPG saying 86, as longer journeys to Cardiff use petrol. I just let the car do what it meant to do.
pleased so far.

do not know how to go about public charging... do I have to pay? do I need to register? is it cheaper to run on petrol rather than pay for 80% battery charge? I guess I will learn as I drive more and more.
Why the PHEV? home to work is 24.5 miles. parking space is next to my office and I can run the charging cable through the window. very handy indeed.
bye bye Mercedes E class 280 avantgarde. 10 years old with 174k so no regrets.
finance? 5.9% over 3 years.
will install charging pod at home. Mitsubishi arranging it for £ 160
Remote control app working extremely well.

Get the Ecotricity card for definite - doesn't cost anything and the charges are currently free. The card takes about 3 days to arrive. You can use it at most motorway services and all IKEA stores. You will have to research other providers on your local route.

Charging to 80% takes about 22 - 24 mins - about the same time as a toilet/refreshment stop. IKEA do free tea and coffee on weekdays between 9 & 5 in the UK.

Hope this helps.

Enjoy your car.

 

[levant]

Thak you for the helpful info
much appreciated

 

[levant]

just completed ecotricity card application on line

now shopping for charging pod at home. wife not happy with cable running through open window...winter draft is a concer.

narrowed my shopping to:
1- pod point
2- Rolec
cost £ 185

they gave me the option of tethered or socket ones
same price but for socket one i have to spend extra £ 100 on the charging cable
my question is about charging stations on motorways and IKEA. do they come with a cable or do i have to have my own cable?
if they do not come with a cable then i might fit a socket type charging pod and use the extra cable for home a public charging.

Best wishes

 

[Neverfuel]

Ecotricity chargers have a tethered DC cable and use the front most large charging socket on the car.

 

[levant]

Thank you.
Very reassuring
I am going for tethered charging pod.
no need to spend extras on cables

Best wishes

 

[levant]

Done a week of driving. combined electric and Petrol
total 648 miles. refueled with 35 litre of Petrol
Not bad to run that mileage on 35 litres
ROLEC will fit the charging pod at home 32 AMP tethered for £ 195 in 2 weeks' time
Driving style:
not much change from the way I was driving the Merc 280 CDI.
Start on full Battery. once it completely drained, the car will know what to do....
What does the 4WD thing mean? when I press it it say 4WD lock....! ! ! can I run it on 2 wheel drive?
what is the car default? do I need 4WD all the time?

Best wishes

 

[jaapv]

It synchronizes all four wheels for off-road driving. Think of it as a diff lock.

If your normal drive is suburban-motorway-city or something like that it is wise to conserve electricity on the motorway by pressing "save"
Just make sure you arrive at your next charge point with a depleted battery.

If you are going to need electric power ahead, (e.g. mountains, emission reduced zone, etc.) build up charge by using "charge"

 

[levant]

that make sense...many thanks

 

[levant]

my second week is going well.
582 miles of combined driving... time to refuel
at 107.9p a litre at saisburys, filled the tank with 34 litres.
Less milage than last week but I was not able to charge on 2 occasions at work and that is 56 miles worth....

on 100 % petrol ( used all the Battery) I manged 42.1 MPG. on the Merc I was getting 45 MPG. now car is charging so the MPG will adjust.
continue to be very pleased
my daughter in the back seat was so thrilled as she thinks it is amazing, space, comfort and the travelling in style.
she call it the school girl's mothers car..... I AM NOT A MOTHER

 

[levant]

ROLEC charger fitted at home. 32 amp

charges in 3.5 hours as opposed to 5.15 hours from the standard 13 amp socket
no open windows and no draft. nice and professionally done. a meter was fitted to see the consumption, but this meter send signals to somebody to monitor my electricity usage ! ! ! not sure who is that somebody.... is it ROLEC themselves?
of EV charging solutions who fitted it? or may be someone unrelated....
Each charge use 13 KW (or may be 13 W)
Each kw ( or W) cost 12 p as on my sainsburys electricity bill

does this makes sense?

Best wishes

 

[anko]

charges in 3.5 hours as opposed to 5.15 hours from the standard 13 amp socket

Is it wise to get 14.5 amps of power sustained from a 13 amps socket?

Each charge use 13 KW (or may be 13 W)

This really should not be more than 9.5 kWh (kWh = 1000 watts for an hour) or 10 kWh max.

 

[greendwarf]

charges in 3.5 hours as opposed to 5.15 hours from the standard 13 amp socket

Is it wise to get 14.5 amps of power sustained from a 13 amps socket?

I think you've misunderstood - he was only getting 13amps max from the standard 3 pin socket before, like any of us in the UK.

 

[outofyorkshire]

ROLEC charger fitted at home. 32 amp

charges in 3.5 hours as opposed to 5.15 hours from the standard 13 amp socket
no open windows and no draft. nice and professionally done. a meter was fitted to see the consumption, but this meter send signals to somebody to monitor my electricity usage ! ! ! not sure who is that somebody.... is it ROLEC themselves?
of EV charging solutions who fitted it? or may be someone unrelated....
Each charge use 13 KW (or may be 13 W)
Each kw ( or W) cost 12 p as on my sainsburys electricity bill

does this makes sense?

Best wishes

Most full charges only use about 10kwh as the battery will never actually be 'flat'.
An 'empty' battery as indicated by the car still has approx 25% charge .
So a full charge @ 12p per KWh will cost you approx £1.20.....simples

 

[pheverish]

The data supplied by Chargemaster indicates that a full charge is on average between 11.5 and 12.5 kWh