Sticky "ECO" mode button

[greendwarf]

I'd echo the comments about steep climbs. I've recently been needing to go up one of the mountains in Sarf Lundun but have to stop half-way up more than once because of the heavy traffic & lights at the peak of Lavender Hill. Unless I am very careful and pull away smoothly the ICE cuts in to assist even with lots of SoC and double digit temp outside

 

[anko]

I understand what you are saying, gwatpe. But would you not agree that this is all not related to the ECO button and temperature? (As greendwarf kinda confirmed).

As I said, I use ECO all the time. And still I often see the left yellow power scale go to 3/4 when I turn on the heater. Because of this and because of what I have read I am more or less convinced that ECO does not impact power consumption by the heater, as suggested by Wiredgoose.

So, all ECO does is reduce power consumption by the air conditioning and change throttle response. But Wiredgoose was talking about temperature and cranking up the heater, which is not impacted, so the noticable effect is reduced to throttle response. And if ECO mode is able to prevent the engine from starting by changing the throttle response, than so could the driver. If there are hills that are steep enough to make the engine start and you as a driver cannot prevent that, than the ECO mode cannot prevent it either. That was my line of thinking.

And even when I am mistaken and ECO does impact power consumption by the heater, or if Wiredgoose actually meant that he turns on the air conditioning on colder days, instead of just the heater, or both, than the effect of reducing the A/C related power consumption would still be rather limited. To limited to have the effect of an on/off switch as suggested by Wiredgoose when he wrote "the engine cuts in very often and putting the car in ECO prevents this".

Too bad, we don't know yet what temperatures Wiredgoose is talking about.

 

[anko]

Unless I am very careful and pull away smoothly the ICE cuts in to assist even with lots of SoC and double digit temp outside

For sure. But is this 'issue' gone when you use ECO mode? I assume not.

Bit off track: Does the engine kick in even before you start rolling? Or only after you have gained some speed, say 15 - 20 mph?

 

[greendwarf]

Unless I am very careful and pull away smoothly the ICE cuts in to assist even with lots of SoC and double digit temp outside

For sure. But is this 'issue' gone when you use ECO mode? I assume not.

Bit off track: Does the engine kick in even before you start rolling? Or only after you have gained some speed, say 15 - 20 mph?

I always drive with ECO on (unless I forget :lol: ) so this is a left foot issue. The engine starts, more or less, as I begin to move. It's probably, after almost 50 years driving manual geared cars, just an automatic tendency to still "over-rev" when performing a hill start (I've always been VERY good at NOT rolling back ) i.e. pressing the accelerator further than necessary in the PHEV, which the car interprets as needing the ICE. If I concentrate (no distracting passengers etc.) when doing a hill start,on being very gentle, then I can move away without the ICE.

 

[gwatpe]

I have not used the ECO button much at all. The go pedal in my PHEV has a very good {biological computer} control system actuator. Aircon snowflake is normally set to OFF, and if ON, don't care if a bit more energy is used, as the passengers usually verbally dictate the operation is needed, or the windscreen has fogged up, and I really need to see where the road is.

If the PHEV would remember a driver preference, for ECO or other button presses, would still be a useful MMC project in a firmware update. Fan switch operation is remembered, so we know the PHEV can store driver preferences for next time.

 

[PeterGalbavy]

It also appears to lower the strength of the aircon unit in an effort to save energy.