Trex
Well-known member
Hi all.
First post but been reading discussions for over a year to learn all I can about this great car and thanks everyone who has contributed.
Having been a owner of a Phev, what we call a Outlander Phev Aspire here in Australia (top of the range model) for nearly a year(early April 2014), I thought I would let people know my thoughts on the charge mode from my findings in my car (cannot speak for everyone's Phev).
Probably 90% of our driving is Ev mode but on those long distance trips outside the Hv battery range I use the charge mode for better fuel consumption, which no one here on this forum has seemed to bring up, so it may only be my car that does this.
From experimenting I have found that even at 115 kph indicated (110 kph gps ) on the freeway with the car in parallel mode I get 8lts/100ks in save mode against 7.5lts/100ks in charge mode. I know this is not a lot of difference but this is at its worst ie charge mode, ev mode, charge mode, ev mode etc, at higher speed . By making sure that I have Hv battery range left for the slower parts of the trip ,through towns etc, I can get this down to about 6.5lts/100ks which I think is excellent for a car this size.
Our previous car, a Toyota Prius, would get approx 5lts/100ks on the same trip but was not near as quiet and comfortable and could not do the all of our local driving in ev mode at a substantial cost saving if charged at off peak or using solar panels.
About the only downside I see in using the charge mode on my car would be it could be considered a rapid charge and if done too often may cause the Hv battery to age quicker than normal but in our case we do not travel longer distances frequently. As an aside, my car is definitely sluggish with the Hv battery empty around the city or town (in serial mode ) so I will save at least a some battery charge for driving when away from home.
Has anyone else tried this technique and found something similar? Or is it just my Phev ?
Regards Trex.
First post but been reading discussions for over a year to learn all I can about this great car and thanks everyone who has contributed.
Having been a owner of a Phev, what we call a Outlander Phev Aspire here in Australia (top of the range model) for nearly a year(early April 2014), I thought I would let people know my thoughts on the charge mode from my findings in my car (cannot speak for everyone's Phev).
Probably 90% of our driving is Ev mode but on those long distance trips outside the Hv battery range I use the charge mode for better fuel consumption, which no one here on this forum has seemed to bring up, so it may only be my car that does this.
From experimenting I have found that even at 115 kph indicated (110 kph gps ) on the freeway with the car in parallel mode I get 8lts/100ks in save mode against 7.5lts/100ks in charge mode. I know this is not a lot of difference but this is at its worst ie charge mode, ev mode, charge mode, ev mode etc, at higher speed . By making sure that I have Hv battery range left for the slower parts of the trip ,through towns etc, I can get this down to about 6.5lts/100ks which I think is excellent for a car this size.
Our previous car, a Toyota Prius, would get approx 5lts/100ks on the same trip but was not near as quiet and comfortable and could not do the all of our local driving in ev mode at a substantial cost saving if charged at off peak or using solar panels.
About the only downside I see in using the charge mode on my car would be it could be considered a rapid charge and if done too often may cause the Hv battery to age quicker than normal but in our case we do not travel longer distances frequently. As an aside, my car is definitely sluggish with the Hv battery empty around the city or town (in serial mode ) so I will save at least a some battery charge for driving when away from home.
Has anyone else tried this technique and found something similar? Or is it just my Phev ?
Regards Trex.