Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Forum

New owner of a 17 plate 4h with approx 8300 mikes on the clock. I've read lots of the posts and there is some really helpful information, but have a question. Commute to work is about 30 miles round trip in traffic and dual carriageway. We look to be getting about 20 miles on EV in Eco mode, then onto petrol. Charging at work is not an option.

Once on petrol, should we run in eco mode on charge ?

HI, and welcome. As far as I know, eco mode reduces the power available to the air con, and re-maps the throttle to moderate the power during acceleration. But I think this only applies when running on the drive battery in EV mode. Not quite sure if it will have the same effect in "Save" or "Charge" modes. Someone will be along presently to enlighten us, I'm sure!

Thanks for the reply. Not sure what the save mode is, not found that one yet

They sure are a complicated bit of kit !

I’d suggest that you simply set off, drive, and enjoy it.
The Mitsubishi team has designed the control system to be as economical as possible, even its “raw” state. You can apply the refinements later, as you discover them. I don’t think they make a huge difference, anyway. There’s no need to rush and make it complicated.

twosout nails it! The reason for the Charge button is that if you're taking the car up a very long, very steep hill (particularly when towing) the ICE alone will not suffice to maintain speed and battery assistance will be required. If you start from a state of charge that's already low, there's a danger that the battery will discharge further, to the point that could damage it - to prevent this, the car automatically drops into 'turtle' mode (that's the shape of the warning light that appears) and slow you to a crawl. Since there's no way for the car to 'know' in advance that you're planning to tow a caravan over the Alps, you can use the Charge button to achieve a high state of battery charge before you hit the bottom of the slope.

Other than those special circumstances, use of Charge means burning extra petrol to generate electricity and store it in the battery for later use - since there are significant inefficiencies at each stage of this process, this isn't particularly cost-effective. You can read lengthy and erudite discussions on this forum about other circumstances in which Charge may be advantageous - but since the gains are marginal when/if it works, and the costs are significant (in unnecessary fuel consumption) when it doesn't, I choose to leave it well alone.

I must admit to not keeping up with the model changes, so perhaps you don't have a "Save" button. On my 2014 4H, it's next to the "Charge" button. It will attempt to keep the drive battery at the same level it was at when you push the button. Useful if you want to keep some battery to use later, maybe when you come off a trunk road/M-way into town.

That's not really true. The car runs in what is effectively Charge mode roughly 50% of the time when the battery is showing empty or when the Save button is pressed. So saying that the default mode of the car 50% of the time is somehow worse than another mode is meaningless - the PHEV either charges in Save or low battery, or it stops.

Does Eco mode only remap the throttle, or does it turn down AC or heating output too?

Going back to the OP, drawing high power from the battery is generally accepted to be bad for degradation. So high speed on a dual carriageway would usually fit into that category. To help preserve your battery health, it might be better to run Save when the car would be drawing high power from the battery and using EV at slower speeds. That said, it is most fuel-efficient to arrive at your next charge with an empty battery. And don't forget that pre-heat is your friend on a cold morning,as it means you can effectively use mains power to warm your car rather than the ICE.

True, but Charge forces the ICE to run all the time, until the battery reaches a sufficient level (~80% indicated charge). Unless there's something you need that extra charge level for, it's consuming unnecessary petrol.

Yes don't use Charge mode at all if you can help it. It burns through fuel. It simple uses the engine to charge the batteries. The ONLY use for it is if you are going to drive into an EV only zone (which don't yet exist in the UK) so that you can run the car on batteries if they are fully depleted. Charge mode for any other purpose is like burning £10 notes.

If you don't use Charge mode then the battery will get charged by the regen when braking but this is not a huge amount and the car will generally use it again when it can.

For best MPG use the batteries for flat road driving up to 40mph say. One dual carriage way/motorways use either automatic car controlled hybrid mode or Save mode and use just the engine. Aim to get home just as the battery runs out of charge.

CJ