How empty can it go?

[littlescrote]

- After the car consumes all battery power down to 1 bar, it will then drive an additional 30-40 miles or so before it refuses to use the ICE.

That's further than it will go on the battery from 'full' to 'empty'! Surely a typo?

Not a typo. After it drains the battery and decides to use the ICE again, it will run another 30-40 miles behaving fairly normally, with the exception that you cannot enter Charge or Save modes and the display in the instrument panel will be constantly telling you to refuel it.

I'm confused. Firstly you said it will go that far without using the ICE (impossible), and now you're saying it's using the ICE. :?:

 

[greendwarf]

To fair, he did say "before it refuses to use the ICE" which implies it has been using the ICE up to that point. :idea:

 

[STS134]

To fair, he did say "before it refuses to use the ICE" which implies it has been using the ICE up to that point. :idea:

Exactly. At the beginning of the test, the batteries were "fully depleted", i.e. they were at the level at which the car will fire the ICE to keep moving in Normal mode. However, I had Save mode enabled. I reset the trip meter to zero as soon as the refuel warning came up. At some point, the gasoline level gets so low that the computer will NOT let you select Save or Charge mode (and will auto cancel it if it's set)...but it will continue using the ICE normally in Normal mode. You can continue driving around like this for another 35-40 miles or so, before the gasoline level gets so low that the computer refuses to even fire the ICE and forces it to consume battery power, even though the battery is already below the threshold at which it would normally kick in the ICE to charge it. That is the point at which I consider the tank "empty" because I don't think the computer will fire the ICE again to charge the batteries, no matter how low they get, until you refuel.

 

[Dirtyshirt72]

I can concur with that said above. As I live within 2 miles of fuelling station, and most of my recent journeys are more than 10miles (managed a total of 19 miles on sunday, what a treat), I gain nothing by waiting to fill it.
Sunday was the first time I managed to put more than 38L in the tank. 39L, at temp of about 9 degrees C (pumps calib at 15 deg C.)
So safe to say the warning comes on when there is at least 7 litres left in the tank.
Next time (probably about 3 weeks away) I fill it, I will make sure battery is full first, then bottom out completely.
MPG has not been great in recent weather either. My version needs ICE to heat, so defrosting in the morning uses quite a bit of fuel I think. As temps rise, I look forward to seeing a marked improvement on my short commutes.

Weather has been steady so I decided to try this out.
The Fuel up warning came on when I had driven 260 miles. With a full battery each time I did 2x 30 mile trips. Double flash started halfway into the 2nd 30 mile trip).Put 42 Litres in this morning, and am returning almost 36mpg. Mornings are still cold here,(daily temp still 1-10 deg Celsius) and some demist is required (and my version needs ICE to demist) . By my estimation, once 2nd fuel flash starts I have just under 5 litres left.
Big problem is once "fuel up" warning starts, you have no access to either guessometer or tripmeter, even with the engine off, and the ignition in standby. Full battery range for me is according to guessometer 29 miles.
Main thing I know now is there is no need to panic once fuel up warning starts. Not while we are still in a 5km covid restriction anyway....

 

[TorontoPHEV]

I was in at the dealership the other day and was discussing this with one of the tech's. He indicated that the PHEV fuel tank has ~3 litres of fuel that are completely inaccessible due to the design and that the car should have ~7-8 litres of fuel left when the indicator bar drops completely to 0. My expectation is that the maximum fill from a pump is likely in the 41-42 litre range if you've completely drained it.