Motorway economy

[Grigou]

Thanks for the info Yoran and Grigou

Good to know that my "old" PHEV is not already abused from the engine side

Definitely for long motorway trip ... I'm going to use my toy car, the BMW E93 335i

PS: Yes the 10L/100km @ 140kmh .. was not a precise figure ... but quite close to it ... I did reset the average consumption for have a more precise reading (I still have to find, assuming there is an instant consumption, like BMW has) ... and at time I was driving with empty battery.

No instant consumption available unfortunately. Resetting the average is a good way to measure it if you can keep the same speed during at least 10 km, on a flat road, and without a strong wind. Not so easy...

 

[anko]

When the battery is empty i get 8l per 100km at 120-130. (2015 model) Not great, luckily it has tax advantages

Not great? I would be very excited when I got 8 l/100 km @ 120 - 130 km/h. Can we switch cars?

In other words, I find that hard to believe .....

 

[elm70]

When the battery is empty i get 8l per 100km at 120-130. (2015 model) Not great, luckily it has tax advantages

Not great? I would be very excited when I got 8 l/100 km @ 120 - 130 km/h. Can we switch cars?

In other words, I find that hard to believe .....

Ok the car is like a big brick .. but in theory they did work on aerodynamic for optimize the efficiency

On my ex BMW 320D .. I was around (maybe even less) 5L/100km at 120 - 130 km/h .. so 8L/100km it sounds a "lot" to me.

Now .. this car is tricky since it may also use the engine for charge battery while cruising on the motorway .. so ... hard to really know .. it would be needed a long trip on motorway for check it properly ... and here people report even 6.5L ...

Anyhow ... it is clear to me that this car is nice to cruise on motorway, due to comfort and the ACC, but .. it is not really "green" when it is used on motorways especially for long distance and and speed above 120km/h .. also for make it worst, only 45L of tank make frequent stop too ... so, it is really bad for long trips

For me ... it is a compromise car ... with some odd Japanese decisions

As well it is the only 4x4 with enough electrical capacity to bring me to work and back every day ... in my book 4x4 is not for offroad .. but for handle the snow in winter

 

[anko]

... and here people report even 6.5L ...

Mitsubishi Marketing department claims 5.8 l / 100 km combined, so including low speed sections when the PHEV should excel. I would be rather sceptic about real world reports claiming 6.5 on the motorway on an empty battery ...

BTW: I think you need much more than 10 km to get a good average reading for fuel consumption. The hysteresis cycle (the constant switching between EV and parallel hybrid mode) is too long to get reliable results over 10 km. Or you have to closely watch when the engine starts and stops and measure from one start (or stop) to another, so you do not include half cycles in your measurement.

 

[Grigou]

... and here people report even 6.5L ...

Mitsubishi Marketing department claims 5.8 l / 100 km combined, so including low speed sections when the PHEV should excel. I would be rather sceptic about real world reports claiming 6.5 on the motorway on an empty battery ...

BTW: I think you need much more than 10 km to get a good average reading for fuel consumption. The hysteresis cycle (the constant switching between EV and parallel hybrid mode) is too long to get reliable results over 10 km. Or you have to closely watch when the engine starts and stops and measure from one start (or stop) to another, so you do not include half cycles in your measurement.

You're right anko. I tried it at 120 kph and it was impossible because even after 10 km the average consumption was not enough stable ...

But at 140 kph or even 130 kph (GPS) there is no more hysteresis cycle, AFAIK.
And if it exists, the EV mode is very short and the "engine" mode lasts more than 10 km

 

[anko]

But at 140 kph or even 130 kph (GPS) there is no more hysteresis cycle, AFAIK.

There is

In parallel hybrid mode (with charge not enabled), the electric power needed to eliminate e-drag in both motors and the generator is taken from the battery. When the SOC has dropped approx. 1.5%, the engine will temporarily work harder to recover the 1.5% using the generator.

So, it is a somewhat different kind of cycle.

 

[Yoran]

When the battery is empty i get 8l per 100km at 120-130. (2015 model) Not great, luckily it has tax advantages

Not great? I would be very excited when I got 8 l/100 km @ 120 - 130 km/h. Can we switch cars?

In other words, I find that hard to believe .....

Hmm i come from a ford focus that did 4.5l per 100. Also did a test drive in a subaru outback that i couldnt afford but would have bought if it offered same tax advantage. The outback did 6.5 per 100

 

[anko]

When the battery is empty i get 8l per 100km at 120-130. (2015 model) Not great, luckily it has tax advantages

Not great? I would be very excited when I got 8 l/100 km @ 120 - 130 km/h. Can we switch cars?

In other words, I find that hard to believe .....

Hmm i come from a ford focus that did 4.5l per 100. Also did a test drive in a subaru outback that i couldnt afford but would have bought if it offered same tax advantage. The outback did 6.5 per 100

And what if they did? We were discussing Outlander PHEVs, weren't we?

 

[SolarBoy]

At motorway speeds is the Outlander is more economical than my mk1 1.8i Focus?

 

[emm3t]

I did a 450km run, starting with a full battery. I filled up with petrol at the beginning and then again when I got to my destination.

The total for the journey was 6.8l/100km (not using the trip computer, but the real value from the fill-ups). Average speed was around 120km/hr.

I was quite happy with that (four passengers and a full boot).

Of course, you need to take into account the first 30km on battery, but even so...

I've done this journey many times before and I found out that if you use the adaptive cruise-control then you are going to go more towards the 8.5 - 9.5 l/100km. This appears to be the big killer for fuel consumption for some reason...

 

[anko]

Of course, you need to take into account the first 30km on battery, but even so...

In your case this adds 0.5 liter / 100 km. But with an average speed of 120 km/h? Must be a very special kind of fuel, if you ask me.

 

[emm3t]

Hi anko,

If you think that unleaded 95 is special kind of fuel, then it must be :lol:

Here is a screenshot from Fuelio.

The trick is just to:

1) Don't use adaptive cruise control
2) Don't go over 120km/hr if you can help it (unless you go down a short hill, in which case it's good to build up some momentum). The speed limiter is set to 125km/hr in my case.
3) Leave the regenerative braking on B0 unless you go down a long steep hill
4) Don't touch the charge/save buttons and let the engine management system do its job
5) Leave the system on Eco
6) Don't worry too much about the A/C - it doesn't make a huge amount of difference on long journeys (and the passengers complain otherwise)
7) Enjoy the ride...

 

[anko]

Must be the climate, then

BTW: "not going over 120" and "average speed was around 120" don't work very well together

 

[Grigou]

Must be the climate, then

BTW: "not going over 120" and "average speed was around 120" don't work very well together

Same opinion here...

At permanent speed of 120 kph (125 for the speedometer) on a flat road (often difficult to obtain during more than 10 km, excepting in Netherland ) my estimation is between 8 and 8.5 L/100 km. It's neither a bad value, nor a good one ...

And at 130 kph, it's more than 10 L/100 km ! (between 10 and 11, I don't know precisely).