Do I need to charge every day?

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Forum

Help Support Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

SwannyBC

New member
Joined
Oct 13, 2020
Messages
4
Hi. We are considering buying an Outlander PHEV, but I’m wondering about how often we would have to charge the battery to keep using electric mode. If a full charge gives you 40km and you only drive a fraction of that a day, would you be able to go a few days without charging, or does the charge go down even when the vehicle is not being used?
My partner and I do residential house cleaning and drive about 10-15km a day, so a PHEV with a low electric range seems ideal for us. The problem is, we live in the downtown core of Vancouver, BC in an older apartment building with no charging station. We park on the street, so would be using public chargers. In Vancouver, many of these chargers are free, but you are charged to park at a cost of $3.50 per hour (there are also a couple of curbside chargers with free street parking but the parking spaces are open to anyone and almost always are filled). Our current ICE vehicle uses maybe $40-50 of gas a month (more when we take a long trip). So, if we have to pay $3.50 a day to charge a PHEV then our vehicle costs will be far higher than our current ICE, never mind the added inconvenience of having to spend 1.5 hours each day charging our car so we can use the electric motor. On the other hand, having to only charge every 3-4 days makes more sense for a PHEV. Just trying to get my head around whether this is a wise decision for us given our situation. We’ve thought about a regular hybrid too, of course. We like the Outlander for the EV part but also the bigger size and awd, but maybe a Prius or RAV4 hybrid is better.
 
You should certainly be able to go without charging for 2/3 days. And with the PHEV you can run the battery down low without the range anxiety that you'd get with a pure EV. Technically, the charge does still reduce when the car isn't being used (to keep the electronics running, including the WiFi), but the effect is negligible. Even after standing for a few weeks, the loss of charge/range doesn't show up on the dash.

But if you've no way to charge at home or at work, be aware that charging from empty to full can take up to 5 hours (unless you have access to a 'fast' charger), so you'd need to charge for an hour each day to give you the 10-15 km you're looking for - though this could be an hour every day or 5 hours every few days, your choice!
 
The longest I left my car without charging was five weeks, the charge had dropped one bar, but that may have been the car parking people repositioning it a few times plus the WiFi pushing a near-exhausted top bar over the edge. On other occasions I did not see any drop.
 
I'm in a similar position to the OP here, in that I rarely get to charge my PHEV, and still find it a very economical vehicle to operate, with fuel costs about $0.10/km. Forget the other hybrids, buy the PHEV, and enjoy the room , comfort, power, and superb traction in all weather conditions. You won't regret it.
 
Back
Top