Recent content by nils944

I follow Tesla Björn's advice of ABC - Always Be Charging. There is a hidden top buffer so you can't (without some trickery) charge to true 100% anyway. I always plug in the car and after 6 years the GOM range in ideal temperatures is still 50km. This allows me to maximize the distance driven in...

For what it's worth, we used to own a Prius and it was more fuel efficient in town than it was on the highway/motorway - in that sense just like the PHEV.

The original charger I got with my car died and I replaced with an aftermarket charger that has worked very well. It's a generic charger that I bought online here in Sweden from evconnect.se, but it's no doubt made in China and sold in many a country. There are some videos on youtube of people...

This adresses a need (or at least a want) of many PHEV owners. Would be great to be able to buy a kit for such a mod, especially if it came with a bypass switch.

I have a boat/trailer combo similar to yours and have no problems launching the boat or hauling it out. I always block the back tires to reduce the risk of the car sliding down the ramp (with a couple of 2x4 lumber cut-offs). On haul-out the engine will start because, presumably, the battery...

Whether or not you need winter tyres/tires for your PHEV (or any other car for that matter) depends on what the winter weather is like where you live. I'm guessing you don't need winter tyres for large parts of continental Europe and can get away with chains for the odd treck in the Alps. Here...

Good question, I would also like to know what the parameters are that trigger the ICE to start in cases where there is enough battery capacity to drive otherwise. Potentially the parameters are different depending on the country? I've been able to avoid ICE starts down to say -10 Celsius by...

The handbrake/rear brake recall was dealt with on the last service in May, but I'll keep an eye on the rear brakes. My understanding is that there is a clutch which is engaged when the car goes into parallel mode, so this was my first thought when I noticed the smell. The smell was not like...

I'm sceptical that the cause is road muck given the roads were covered with snow and ice. Also, if it was road muck I should have noticed the smell earlier during the trip when filling up with petrol. (The car, not me :D )

I was somewhat surprised of a burning clutch smell from my Phev yesterday. My question is, should I be concerned and take it to a dealer? (I won't take it in unless it reoccurs, my post is mainly to tap the forum's collective wisdom on why it occurred.) Conditions: - I noticed the smell when...

If there was a BEV of similar size, towing capacity and price I would have bought it. So I'm amuzing myself by trying to operate it as a BEV. Everyone needs a hobby. Also, it does seem needless to polute the air if it can be relatively easily avoided. @steel188, you implied the ICE being "the...

I also have been trying to avoid ICE-starts, and was generally successful by simply keeping the climate control system off. I'm on the west coast of Sweden with relatively mild winters, generally hovering around freezing (zero Celsius). I recently installed the Phev Box that is made/sold by a...

The original charger I got also died. I opened it up in case it was just a severed wire but it was badly corroded inside (former owner had left it outside, in a salt water puddle by the looks of it). I purchased a generic charger which has worked well and was much cheaper than getting a new one...

Sounds like a fun project, but for the logging roads I would agree that you're probably better off getting a body-on-frame vehicle lile an old Suburban or pick-up.

Personally I would go for the newer (2014) model. There is of course a risk with the battery, but in general the batteries seem to be lasting longer than many feared (yeah, whatever that means...). Even with significant battery degradation you could likely do most of your commute in EV mode. One...