30% charge showing at charger even though my car says 0 miles

[Dominicky]

Hello! I just bought a 2019 PHEV GT with 30k miles. I tried charging in one of the electrify america 50kw chargers and it's showing 30% even though my car is saying 0 miles.

I tried charging up to 80% per charger, and I only got around 12 miles of estimated range. If I think about the math, that sounds correct since I only charged 50% (80 minus 30). But does it mean I only have a max of around 16 miles? Is this normal?

 

[maby]

It will depend on the weather and your driving style. I never got better than 28 miles from our Outlander even when it was new, and that required gentle driving on flat roads without heating or air-conditioning. I was not willing to allow EV range to dictate my comfort and driving style - in the winter months, 15 miles was about as good as I could hope for.

Martin

 

[kpetrov]

Hello! I just bought a 2019 PHEV GT with 30k miles. I tried charging in one of the electrify america 50kw chargers and it's showing 30% even though my car is saying 0 miles.

The vehicle is reporting usable battery percentage thus 0%
The fast charger is showing actual battery charge with the bottom 30% reserved.

 

[Dominicky]

The vehicle is reporting usable battery percentage thus 0%
The fast charger is showing actual battery charge with the bottom 30% reserved.

So when does the reserve kick in?

 

[Johny451]

So when does the reserve kick in?

When it starts the petrol motor. There is no 12v starter motor in the PHEV. The generator under the bonnet is used to start the petrol motor so there needs to be some battery left to do this a few times.

 

[Stevepl11]

So when does the reserve kick in?

I wouldn't say it "Kicks In". It's just sitting there at the bottom of the barrel waiting for you to use what's slopping around on top of it.

If you choose the Save option from the get-go on a full charge the car will use electric only until it gets down a bit then start working as a hybrid while trying to keep about 80% or something like that. Somewhere near the fast charger limit. Charge mode is similar but keeps the engine operating until it gets the battery up to that level. But if you just get in and go or choose EV mode
Then:
That 30% is there so the car will operate as a hybrid, once the EV only range is exausted.

Bear in mind the car is now 4-5 years old and there will be significantly reduced battery capacity. If it hasn't been done already, DBCAM (Drive Battery Capacity Measurement) procedure could improve your range. Mine increased from about 75% to 85% of the common delivered capacity (38AH)

 

[kpetrov]

So when does the reserve kick in?

Beside what the two other users before me said the low end battery buffer will be used if one need more power then the engine can provide, lets say climbing a mountain and the battery is already reported flat. At some point the AC and heating are shut off further use of the buffer will bring the vehicle in "turtle mode". If the car runs out of fuel the buffer will go down to 13%. That's all for models up to 2022. Don't know for newer generation.

 

[Ecological]

So when does the reserve kick in?

My name is ecological. The question is speculative, and the answer...it depends. On a new battery with 32 miles still intact, you are looking at 50 miles or more before the reserve kicks in. There will always be reserve. The question is how much. So if your battery health is poor eg when fully charged only shows 14 miles, then the reserve will kick in at about 40 miles wihtout charge on the trip. If your battery health is top notch, you can extend this up to about 70 miles of driving without charge. It is also temperature dependent. It performs better at 14 to 18 degrees centigrade. Anything below that, you can easily half the figures. Anything above, eg if you put blower or air con [climate control or otherwise] then you are losing about 25%. THIS IS ASSUMING YOU DIRVE ECOLOGICALLY. No sudden accelerations, no sudden braking, and definately no speeding. Anything above 50 miles per hour would be "speeding". I have managed to obtain these conditions driving between 20mph to no more than 50mph. Average speed in whole journey would be about 35mph.