Commutable Electric Range

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kowers1

New member
Joined
Aug 6, 2020
Messages
2
Firstly apologies I know this subject has been covered a lot but I couldn't find any answers that were based on my exact situation.

I have a 28 mile round commute of which 25 miles is motorway. If I drive very frugally, would it be achievable to do this on electric only, even in winter time if I didn't use the heaters [and just wore a hat and jacket instead]

many thanks in advance

Kev
 
You probably won't manage that all on EV, no matter how you drive, although you will manage most of it. Most PHEVs (Mitsubishi, VW, Audi, Kia etc) are designed around the average commute being under 15 miles a day, so this is the EV range. You're just above that so you won't get all of the benefit but you would still be better than most 2 tonne SUVs with a petrol engine.

Keeping your speed down to 60-65mph will help, as will only accelerating gently (ie leave a big gap to the car in front so you're not caught out by changes in traffic speed) etc. If you don't use the aircon and/or heater in winter you'll probably get steamed up windows, so that's not a good idea on any car.
 
You don't say where you are and which motorway(s). Some are stop-start during the rush hour so the PHEV is quite good if you are coasting a lot of the time but if not, trying to be frugal (i.e. driving relatively slow) amongst fast moving HGVs is a very unnerving experience! You will also find it difficult to join the motorway without quite heavy acceleration - burning petrol and/or battery charge.

But why worry about a bit of fuel being used? You will still be saving money on your commute and (as you may have noticed on the forum) the engine will start anyway after 3 months unless you have refuelled with 15 litres, so you might as well get some proper use out of it. :idea:
 
Totally agree - this is not a pure EV, it's a Hybrid. So you are expected to use petrol some of the time. If you can do all your driving without then a pure EV SUV (such as the MG ZS or Kia Nero) might be a better fit. We've seen over the 8 years or so that the Outlander PHEV has been on sale that driving it in pure EV mode all the time can shorten the battery life, because it's not that big and was never meant to be the sole source of power.

If you do occasional journeys of over 250 miles then a PHEV is currently a better fit for most people than a pure EV though, as you can use little or no petrol (even your 28 mile journey you won't be using much) during your normal commute but still have the ability to refuel quickly on longer trips. Obviously as the charging infrastructure continues to develop there will come a point where PHEVs are seen as polluting and old-fashioned. But for now they're not a bad fit for most people.
 
kowers1 said:
Firstly apologies I know this subject has been covered a lot but I couldn't find any answers that were based on my exact situation.

I have a 28 mile round commute of which 25 miles is motorway. If I drive very frugally, would it be achievable to do this on electric only, even in winter time if I didn't use the heaters [and just wore a hat and jacket instead]

many thanks in advance

Kev

I am managing to get around 35-36 miles at present on our 6 week old 2.4 PHEV, I have noticed there is a big difference on the motorway, 50 mph easy 35 miles, 55 mph around 31/32 miles and at 60 nearer 28/29 miles. I would imagine in time these figure will not be as good.

I sometime just hit the charge button on the motorway at around 55/60 mph just to give my batteries a little top up, I certainty would advise freezing yourself in the winter for a two or three of litres of fuel a week.
 
Thanks for all the answers, very useful indeed.

I was planning on using it in petrol mode at weekends [family outings etc] and hoping commute would be electric only. The commute is down the m55, very quiet motorway with never any holdups.

Thanks again
 
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