Hi All,
This has developed from a couple of other postings so I thought I'd create a separate posting to discuss just this.
When making a journey that is longer that you can manage on battery alone the general advice is to use EV to the motorway, save mode on the motorway, and then battery once you leave the motorway. However, I feel that this is too simplistic and unless the total urban part of your journey was about 30 miles would not give the best economy.
Example 1)
100 mile journey - 20 miles to the motorway - 60 miles on the motorway - 20 miles from the motorway to destination
I would use EV mode to get to the motorway, engage charge mode once on the motorway ONLY until the battery reached 66% and then engage save mode for the remainder of the motorway, and again use purely battery mode once leaving the motorway for the final 20 miles of urban driving. Just using save mode on the motorway would leave you with 10 miles battery range to complete a 20 mile urban journey causing the car to run in series hybrid mode which is its least efficient mode.
Example 2)
60 mile journey - 10 miles to the motorway - 40 miles on the motorway - 10 miles from motorway to destination
Just using save mode on the motorway would result in completing the journey with 10 miles EV range remaining which is clearly sub-optimal. I would use EV mode on the motorway when the speed is reduced (heavy traffic/roadworks etc) or when descending inclines when minimal power can be used to maintain speed with the intention of ONLY having sufficient battery left when leaving the motorway to complete the urban part. The objective is to prevent the engine running when little power is required which is the engines least efficient mode (especially when coupled with series hybrid mode at speeds below about 42mph).
Example 3)
An urban journey that is in excess of the EV range
I'm still working this out the best technique but the principle I'm trying to apply is to ensure the car is in EV mode when minimal power is required (cruising at 30-40mph for example) and when more power is required such as accelerating away from lights upto 40mph select charge mode. Charge mode should NOT be used when minimal power is needed (i.e. do NOT just leave charge mode selected even when cruising at 30mph or stopped in traffic). Again, ending the journey with an empty battery.
The idea is to make the engine work a little harder when it HAS to be running anyway in order to have battery available to turn the engine off when little power is required. While charging from the engine is reasonably inefficient, running the engine during low power output is even LESS efficient.
Let me know your thoughts please.
Kind regards,
Mark
This has developed from a couple of other postings so I thought I'd create a separate posting to discuss just this.
When making a journey that is longer that you can manage on battery alone the general advice is to use EV to the motorway, save mode on the motorway, and then battery once you leave the motorway. However, I feel that this is too simplistic and unless the total urban part of your journey was about 30 miles would not give the best economy.
Example 1)
100 mile journey - 20 miles to the motorway - 60 miles on the motorway - 20 miles from the motorway to destination
I would use EV mode to get to the motorway, engage charge mode once on the motorway ONLY until the battery reached 66% and then engage save mode for the remainder of the motorway, and again use purely battery mode once leaving the motorway for the final 20 miles of urban driving. Just using save mode on the motorway would leave you with 10 miles battery range to complete a 20 mile urban journey causing the car to run in series hybrid mode which is its least efficient mode.
Example 2)
60 mile journey - 10 miles to the motorway - 40 miles on the motorway - 10 miles from motorway to destination
Just using save mode on the motorway would result in completing the journey with 10 miles EV range remaining which is clearly sub-optimal. I would use EV mode on the motorway when the speed is reduced (heavy traffic/roadworks etc) or when descending inclines when minimal power can be used to maintain speed with the intention of ONLY having sufficient battery left when leaving the motorway to complete the urban part. The objective is to prevent the engine running when little power is required which is the engines least efficient mode (especially when coupled with series hybrid mode at speeds below about 42mph).
Example 3)
An urban journey that is in excess of the EV range
I'm still working this out the best technique but the principle I'm trying to apply is to ensure the car is in EV mode when minimal power is required (cruising at 30-40mph for example) and when more power is required such as accelerating away from lights upto 40mph select charge mode. Charge mode should NOT be used when minimal power is needed (i.e. do NOT just leave charge mode selected even when cruising at 30mph or stopped in traffic). Again, ending the journey with an empty battery.
The idea is to make the engine work a little harder when it HAS to be running anyway in order to have battery available to turn the engine off when little power is required. While charging from the engine is reasonably inefficient, running the engine during low power output is even LESS efficient.
Let me know your thoughts please.
Kind regards,
Mark