1st full day with new gh3+ and 570 miles already!

[Eric990j]

Well what a fun 24 hours with my new phev. I changed from a volvo v70 company car which was a comfy sofa and did a good job over the last 3 years and 100k miles. The attraction was the higher driving position and 4 wheel drive at a great tax point, also keen to jump on the electric hybrid thing as I am convinced it's the way ahead especially with the vw diesel thing highlighting many issues.

Well, I was very pleased when I saw the car as I bought it 'blind' with no new models available to look at. Exterior is good but mostly happy with the interior, looks fab and a huge step up from the old model, seats especially.

Today was a run from kent to Leeds and back, I successfully set the charger to come on during the night on the app and heat the car 20 mins before I got in, great except I opened the tailgate in the morning then unplugged the charger to put it away and lost all the heat!

Set off on a full charge, it's very quiet and a great ride on country lanes and the motorway, I kept within the speed limits at most times and averaged 43mpg which I'm pleased with. I charged it once on the way back on a rapid charger.

What's the advice for best driving, and battery use? I put it in save mode when moving over 20 mph and used the battery when in traffic? What does the Eco button actually do, I think it slows the car a bit? Bluetooth connection with iphone6 is dire cutting in and out..... Thanks for the tips from others I will try tomorrow with the wifi off.

Also, what is the terrible rubber burning smell when I tried out the cars charge button, switched it off after 10 minutes it smelled so bad. The dealer will look at it next week.

Eric

 

[user 816]

Well what a fun 24 hours with my new phev. I changed from a volvo v70 company car which was a comfy sofa and did a good job over the last 3 years and 100k miles. The attraction was the higher driving position and 4 wheel drive at a great tax point, also keen to jump on the electric hybrid thing as I am convinced it's the way ahead especially with the vw diesel thing highlighting many issues.

Well, I was very pleased when I saw the car as I bought it 'blind' with no new models available to look at. Exterior is good but mostly happy with the interior, looks fab and a huge step up from the old model, seats especially.

Today was a run from kent to Leeds and back, I successfully set the charger to come on during the night on the app and heat the car 20 mins before I got in, great except I opened the tailgate in the morning then unplugged the charger to put it away and lost all the heat!

Set off on a full charge, it's very quiet and a great ride on country lanes and the motorway, I kept within the speed limits at most times and averaged 43mpg which I'm pleased with. I charged it once on the way back on a rapid charger.

What's the advice for best driving, and battery use? I put it in save mode when moving over 20 mph and used the battery when in traffic? What does the Eco button actually do, I think it slows the car a bit? Bluetooth connection with iphone6 is dire cutting in and out..... Thanks for the tips from others I will try tomorrow with the wifi off.

Also, what is the terrible rubber burning smell when I tried out the cars charge button, switched it off after 10 minutes it smelled so bad. The dealer will look at it next week.

Eric

There is a huge amount of debate on here about energy management strategy, take your pick!

The eco button I believe softens throttle response and limits the climate control system that's all. May give a few percent improvement if you can be bothered to use it.

Don't worry about the rubber burning smell, many get it, I did on mine and my first thought when it 1st happened was ohoh! this is going to end on a recovery truck (it doesnt!)...and it can go on happening a while but it is normal and will fade in time. Something getting hot with fresh paint on or something like that, it will burn off naturally after a few weeks.

 

[robbie]

That's good news you mention you had a full charge after heating, as on previous models there were reports it still drained the battery when plugged in and charged with the built in timer.

 

[anko]

That's good news you mention you had a full charge after heating, as on previous models there were reports it still drained the battery when plugged in and charged with the built in timer.

Even when the timer thingy was solved, it is still questionable whether rich indeed had a full charge. In what way would the new model be different form the old model, that it does no longer need to take at least some power from the battery? There is, as far as I know, no change in specs that could explain this. The only explanation for Eric's he observation that I see is that a driver cannot tell the difference between a full battery and an almost full battery using the gauges in the dashboard.

 

[anko]

Don't worry about the rubber burning smell, many get it, I did on mine and my first thought when it 1st happened was ohoh! this is going to end on a recovery truck (it doesnt!)...and it can go on happening a while but it is normal and will fade in time. Something getting hot with fresh paint on or something like that, it will burn off naturally after a few weeks.

Hate to disappoint you, but I think this is not correct. Mine is 2 years old next week and has more than 40k miles on it. And it still does that, when I charge it while parked (which happens very seldom, only on towing trips). Even though my engine had a fair share of work to do, towing 1500 kg of caravan back and forth to France twice and to Croatia once.

I believe the cause is not paint but the location of the exhaust. Th pipe runs right behind the right front wheel (as the battery prevents it from being put in the middle) and picks up dirt from the street which is then being burned off.

 

[user 816]

Don't worry about the rubber burning smell, many get it, I did on mine and my first thought when it 1st happened was ohoh! this is going to end on a recovery truck (it doesnt!)...and it can go on happening a while but it is normal and will fade in time. Something getting hot with fresh paint on or something like that, it will burn off naturally after a few weeks.

Hate to disappoint you, but I think this is not correct. Mine is 2 years old next week and has more than 40k miles on it. And it still does that, when I charge it while parked (which happens very seldom, only on towing trips). Even though my engine had a fair share of work to do, towing 1500 kg of caravan back and forth to France twice and to Croatia once.

I believe the cause is not paint but the location of the exhaust. Th pipe runs right behind the right front wheel (as the battery prevents it from being put in the middle) and picks up dirt from the street which is then being burned off.

That's a pity. Mine is 10 months and 20K and has been fine for a long time now. Maybe you drive over and pick up more stuff than mine?

I always thought the smell was like hot electrical insulation or hose pipe and my first fear was some electrical connection was melting due to high current from charge mode or the engine working so hard got a rubber cooling pipe too hot. Maybe we are talking different things.

 

[anko]

After months and months of discussions on the Dutch forum, I am pretty sure we are talking about the same thing: people were complaining about a "burning rubber or wires" smell and Mitsu came back, first with a "coating on the exhaust" story and then with the "right front wheel" story

Typically, when the engine runs during normal driving it is not there or I do not notice it. I only notice it when the engine is running while driving very slow or when stationary. Typically, this happens only when I am on route with my caravan. At higher speeds, the smell is for the guy behind you. I think.

 

[robbie]

That's good news you mention you had a full charge after heating, as on previous models there were reports it still drained the battery when plugged in and charged with the built in timer.

Even when the timer thingy was solved, it is still questionable whether rich indeed had a full charge. In what way would the new model be different form the old model, that it does no longer need to take at least some power from the battery? There is, as far as I know, no change in specs that could explain this. The only explanation for Eric's he observation that I see is that a driver cannot tell the difference between a full battery and an almost full battery using the gauges in the dashboard.

From what I gathered it was a software issue as the timer prevented the heater using the mains power if it was outside the programmed charge times. Just presuming that they would have addressed this in the newly released models. Wasn't aware it had already been fixed in the previous models so that's good news.

 

[anko]

Hang on. There is (or could be) two different 'issues'.

- The car may not use grid power for heating when set to a charge timer
- When the car does use grid power for heating, it is not enough and the battery will drain a little bit anyway

Whether the first issue really existed and whether it is not solved, I do not know.
The second issue (if you want to call it that) can hardly be solved, as it would required a more powerful OnBoardCharge (and more powerful charge points in many cases) or a less powerful heater. So, not something a SW update could fix.

I was referring to the second aspect.

 

[Oscarman]

I have a 2016 model. If I use the remote timer to preheat it takes charge from the Drive battery, and I see a reduction in SOC (Heater timed for 20 minutes. To counteract this you need to have charger connected and timed to replace charge taken by preheat.

 

[Eric990j]

thank you for all your advice. The Bluetooth on the phone worked fine today as I followed the advice In another thread and switched off the wifi on the phone. This was not nessisary in previous cars so something is not right, but at least it's a work around.

 

[anko]

You are right. Something is wrong. But did these other cars have a wifi access point, similar to your REMOTE network?

It is more related to being connected to the REMOTE wifi specifically than to wifi in general, I think. I have a Wifi OBDII dongle in my car that my phone connects to and then you don't have issues.

 

[Barnfather]

Does the wifi/bluetooth issue also exist on the GX4h (ie with the MMC) on the 2016 car?

 

[robbie]

Hang on. There is (or could be) two different 'issues'.

- The car may not use grid power for heating when set to a charge timer
- When the car does use grid power for heating, it is not enough and the battery will drain a little bit anyway

Whether the first issue really existed and whether it is not solved, I do not know.
The second issue (if you want to call it that) can hardly be solved, as it would required a more powerful OnBoardCharge (and more powerful charge points in many cases) or a less powerful heater. So, not something a SW update could fix.

I was referring to the second aspect.

The first issue was apparently a bug/issue that Mitsubishi and recognised from other reports on this forum - The charge timer would cut off mains completely for all car functions including mains heating, rather than just not charging. Like you mention, I hadn't heard any reports about this being addressed yet apart from the OP reporting driving away with full charge after charging on the timer and pre-heating, which was encouraging as I plan to use the charge timer on economy 7 overnight, and pre-heat the car after this while connected to the mains.

The second issue you're right, the heater power is still greater than what mains AC can supply even at 16 amps. From what i remember the maximum the car can pull from AC is 3.3KW, and the heating element requires 4KW, so the remaining 700W is supplied by the battery. This should still only have a small effect, as 20 minutes heating this would consume 700W * 0.33h = 210Wh, and in practice the heating element wouldn't remain constantly on for that 20 minutes, just like your iron would turn on and off. However there would be other smaller components requiring power in the car during heating so 210Wh could be a reasonable estimate. From the fully charged battery with 12KWh energy, this should still leave it (12-0.210)/12= over 98% charged. If the outlander was charging in the periods where the heating element was off this could be topped up further, but i'm not sure how the car is programmed to behave especially with the charge timer set.

 

[anko]

..., and in practice the heating element wouldn't remain constantly on for that 20 minutes, just like your iron would turn on and off. However there would be other smaller components requiring power in the car during heating so 210Wh could be a reasonable estimate. From the fully charged battery with 12KWh energy, this should still leave it (12-0.210)/12= over 98% charged. If the outlander was charging in the periods where the heating element was off this could be topped up further, but i'm not sure how the car is programmed to behave especially with the charge timer set.

I don't think this is true. Unlike normal heater operation during driving, there seems to be no thermostat involved. The thing just blasts away, and the end result (temperature wise) depends on outside temp and length of heating period.

I have just now looked back at the power charts for my charge point of last winter (when I did 30 minutes of pre heating), and power consumption was between 3.36 and 3.48 kW during the full 30 minutes.

 

[Eric990j]

Hi. No good point, the other cars did not have a wifi app. Simple to switch wifi off and it works now

 

[robbie]

..., and in practice the heating element wouldn't remain constantly on for that 20 minutes, just like your iron would turn on and off. However there would be other smaller components requiring power in the car during heating so 210Wh could be a reasonable estimate. From the fully charged battery with 12KWh energy, this should still leave it (12-0.210)/12= over 98% charged. If the outlander was charging in the periods where the heating element was off this could be topped up further, but i'm not sure how the car is programmed to behave especially with the charge timer set.

I don't think this is true. Unlike normal heater operation during driving, there seems to be no thermostat involved. The thing just blasts away, and the end result (temperature wise) depends on outside temp and length of heating period.

I have just now looked back at the power charts for my charge point of last winter (when I did 30 minutes of pre heating), and power consumption was between 3.36 and 3.48 kW during the full 30 minutes.

Thanks for checking that. Good to know the heating element actually consumes less than 4KW and potentially could be powered almost fully by a 16A AC charger.

 

[PeterGalbavy]

Most of the original question answered above, so this is just my take;

The burning smell on mine went away after a while so I have assumed it was just coatings / lubricants burning off and the reason it took longer was that I used the ICE less as most of my driving is on EV.

The Eco button is only useful when I want to use the air-con to demist but want to use less battery. The change to the accelerator profile is pointless. No other noticeable effect.

I use the Save button when doing a longer trip and hitting a stretch of dual carriageway / motorway where there is a good likelihood of doing 40mph+ for a while. I tend to turn it off for smaller roads even if the speed limit is higher. I use the Charge button when doing longer motorway stretches at 70mph and the battery SOC is less than half the indicated levelk (not < 50%, but < 70% as the bars only go down to 27% min) - this is simply to have the EV range once I get toward my more urban destination, not because it is in anyway economical to do so.

 

[lg1726]

this is simply to have the EV range once I get toward my more urban destination, not because it is in anyway economical to do so.

I think that's a really great point. Some of us drive and press buttons/select modes depending upon our specific requirements, which may or may not be the most economical way. My 2 month old PHEV is at c1400miles, >1000 is all EV done in urban/suburban scenarios, but a long haul return trip up the A9 accounts for the most of the rest. On the outward journey I hit Save when out of town and got to my destination with 19 miles EV range. On the return did nothing until I got onto the stretch motorway with 40-50 miles of motorway ahead and an EV range of 5miles, arrived out of town with 16 miles EV range. The difference in mpg on each leg was very minimal!