Noob Questions

[Jpy313]

hi, picked up my company PHEV last week and have a couple of questions as the guy who took delivery and got the tour from the mitsubishi man isnt the sharpest tool and didnt take anything in. Apologies in advance if these have been asked but i have had a search round before posting:


whats the best mode to drive in for long journeys? 300 miles+

does the battery ever get past 20 miles when fully charged?

Not sure how to use the "B" modes effectively - any guidlines on when these should be engaged and at what speeds?

when is it best to use charge and save modes?

thanks.

 

[anko]

The best approach for all is: read what has already been written about these question

 

[MartinH]

I help you:

for long trips, start with full battery, try to use the battery in taffic or slow parts of your jurney, use the "save" button for this, complete the jurney with empty battery, speed will have huge impact on consumption.
The battery can get you 50km, I have managed 47km myself, ACC off, drive jently, ant not faster than 80km/h.

B is set on 2 when you start, we have agreed on this forum that change it to 0, and use it to regen when "braking"

Chage you should only use if you need to have extra Power, when pulling trailer etc, and battery is flat and you are approaching steep hills, this is to charge the battery to help the ICE up the hill. Charge the battery with the ICE is Always a loss.

Save you use for longer trips where you know you will have slower traffic at the end of your jurney, to be able to drive on battery in the slower part of the jurney.

 

[Jpy313]

thanks very much for the help.

one more question, if i drive on "B0" will i still be charging the battery on braking?

i dont have access to a charge point at the moment (no card for public charge and parking is too far from house to charge via plug) so is there a strategy to maximise battery life whilst driving?

thanks again

 

[maby]

thanks very much for the help.

one more question, if i drive on "B0" will i still be charging the battery on braking?

i dont have access to a charge point at the moment (no card for public charge and parking is too far from house to charge via plug) so is there a strategy to maximise battery life whilst driving?

thanks again

The "B" setting only determines how much regenerative braking will be applied when you take your feet off both pedals. If you put the car in B0 and press the brake lightly, you will pick up some charge - the point is that it is difficult to judge the point at which the friction brakes start to bite. Don't overthink the B settings - the amount of charge you will recoup is small unless you are descending a long hill and they can be a distraction that could increase your risk of having an accident. I went through a phase soon after receiving the car when I was actively trying to control the speed with the paddles and I had a couple of events where I left active braking rather late and had to slam on the anchors to avoid tail-ending the car in front! These days, I leave it in the standard "D" setting unless I'm descending a long hill - and even then, I use the higher B numbers more to reduce wear on my disks than to recoup charge.

 

[Jpy313]

great thanks for the tips, im new to the whole EV thing and generally hopeless with cars anyway, i ll leave it at B0 then

when would be best to drive in charge mode to get round my lack of charging options currently? i do 2 300 mile trips per week and 3 daily 30 mile each way trips (mostly on A roads).

 

[geoffshep69]

great thanks for the tips, im new to the whole EV thing and generally hopeless with cars anyway, i ll leave it at B0 then

when would be best to drive in charge mode to get round my lack of charging options currently? i do 2 300 mile trips per week and 3 daily 30 mile each way trips (mostly on A roads).

The default setting each time you start up is “D”, which is equivalent to B2, so if you choose to do nothing then you will be operating in B2 mode continually.

B2 is broadly equivalent to engine braking in a normal car, whereas B0 is equivalent to ‘coasting’ in a normal car, so I’d suggest that if you are not planning to use the paddles then its better to leave it in the default setting of “D” (i.e. B2), rather than changing it to B0 each trip.

 

[Phever]

unless you sort out a way of charging, messing with the paddles, using charge and save buttons will make next to no difference.

and i'm afraid that if you do a lot of the type of journey you mentioned, you might have the wrong vehicle!

 

[Jpy313]

i will get some sort of charging sorted out but its just a case of the company dragging their feet at the min, will prob have to utilise public charging though which is fine as the company will pick up the bill.

i agree about the suitability of the car, i have to do 2 stops for fuel, but this job is only a couple of months then i guess i ll reap the benefit.

 

[greendwarf]

Use of Charge, unless for extra power as already mentioned, is about your attitude to reducing pollution in built up areas. So if you are doing a long stretch at higher speed but know you will be driving slowly in town or traffic queues then it might be worth using it give you some battery for this (after all you don't want to be breathing in your own exhaust fumes in a traffic jam ) but you won't save any money if that's your aim. :?

 

[jkerz]

great thanks for the tips, im new to the whole EV thing and generally hopeless with cars anyway, i ll leave it at B0 then

when would be best to drive in charge mode to get round my lack of charging options currently? i do 2 300 mile trips per week and 3 daily 30 mile each way trips (mostly on A roads).

The default setting each time you start up is “D”, which is equivalent to B2, so if you choose to do nothing then you will be operating in B2 mode continually.

B2 is broadly equivalent to engine braking in a normal car, whereas B0 is equivalent to ‘coasting’ in a normal car, so I’d suggest that if you are not planning to use the paddles then its better to leave it in the default setting of “D” (i.e. B2), rather than changing it to B0 each trip.

I actively use the paddles in an effort to save and regen battery, although I am resigned to the fact it probably has little influence on actually recharging the battery. As soon as I start up, I go to B0 for driving. I aim to coast in B0 as much as possible, and use the paddles actively as an alternative to braking. This requires a little bit of learning about how soon to start cycling up the various B-levels so as to not rear end anyone, so I tend to let off the gas early to coast and start cycling up to B5 as I approach a stop, requiring the active brake only to provide the final stop at the last few metres. Obviously not to be used for sharp braking situations, but I find it a little bit like a video game and find driving this way more fun!

 

[maby]

I don't think that anyone has come up with convincing evidence that "active" use of the paddles makes any measurable difference to fuel economy. There does seem to be some evidence that running in B0 on long distance cruising can be beneficial and using the higher B settings descending a long hill can reduce brake wear and recoup a useful amount of charge - apart from that, it seems really to be a question of taste.

 

[Claymore]

I don't think that anyone has come up with convincing evidence that "active" use of the paddles makes any measurable difference to fuel economy. There does seem to be some evidence that running in B0 on long distance cruising can be beneficial and using the higher B settings descending a long hill can reduce brake wear and recoup a useful amount of charge - apart from that, it seems really to be a question of taste.

Why should anybody bother to come up with 'convincing evidence' that it works when it is clear to many who use it (including me) that it does.

In fact if you read what you have said (above) I believe that you have actually made the case for the opposite.

Coasting works, regen works and it matters not one jot whether its reclaiming excess energy downhill, on the flat or even going up a hill.

If active use of the paddles makes no difference then neither would travelling around with the parking brake engaged.

JimB

 

[jaapv]

I don't think that anyone has come up with convincing evidence that "active" use of the paddles makes any measurable difference to fuel economy. There does seem to be some evidence that running in B0 on long distance cruising can be beneficial and using the higher B settings descending a long hill can reduce brake wear and recoup a useful amount of charge - apart from that, it seems really to be a question of taste.

Why should anybody bother to come up with 'convincing evidence' that it works when it is clear to many who use it (including me) that it does.

In fact if you read what you have said (above) I believe that you have actually made the case for the opposite.

Coasting works, regen works and it matters not one jot whether its reclaiming excess energy downhill, on the flat or even going up a hill.

If active use of the paddles makes no difference then neither would travelling around with the parking brake engaged.

JimB

Well, paddles or no paddles, an engaged parking brake is no apt comparison. There may be gains, but with me the difference is marginal and not worth the bother. My main use is controlling the speed downhill. YMMV.

 

[greendwarf]

it might also depend on whether you come from a manual or auto past - I need something to do with my hands :lol:

 

[ChrisMiller]

Basic mechanics tells us that coasting can't be a good strategy. Maintaining a constant speed will always use less energy than alternately speeding up and slowing down (unless Mitsi have invented a perpetual motion machine).

 

[Carnut]

Basic mechanics tells us that coasting can't be a good strategy. Maintaining a constant speed will always use less energy than alternately speeding up and slowing down (unless Mitsi have invented a perpetual motion machine).

I am of the 'coasting mind set & I can assure you I get more miles per charge by so doing.
Also I was going up and down the 'B' grades constantly until I realized that a heavy right foot on the brake pedal produces more regen that anything other than R5. BUT it only really works well from high speed. BUT of course it uses up brake pad! so everyone must make up their own mind.
Being a grammatical pedant as I am why MitsI it is a common misnomer calling it Mitsibushi.
Like peeps that call the Reliant Robin the Robin Reliant. Manufacturer comes name first. One would not call it 'Focus Ford' :lol:

 

[ChrisMiller]

If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations — then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation — well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation. - Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, The Nature of the Physical World (1915), chapter 4

 

[Claymore]

Basic mechanics tells us that coasting can't be a good strategy. Maintaining a constant speed will always use less energy than alternately speeding up and slowing down (unless Mitsi have invented a perpetual motion machine).

You appear to be assuming that all of this coasting is being done on level roads when, in my case at least, it's nearly always downhill or on any type of gradient bleeding off speed for one reason or another (approaching standing traffic, reducing speed on motorway off ramps....the list is long).

I have a 2 mile or more downhill stretch that I use quite regularly and the gradient is such that if I start the coasting descent in EV and B0 at around 65mph the car will be doing 70 for some time on the flat 2 miles on with the guesso showing the same range as at the top unless, as is common, I actually have to use regen to avoid hitting slower traffic, in which case the remaining range is often higher.

I remain confident that this type of use of coasting is positively productive.

Naturally, alternatively speeding up and slowing down is not likely to be so but I'd be surprised if anyone was actually doing that.

JimB

 

[maby]

I don't think that anyone has come up with convincing evidence that "active" use of the paddles makes any measurable difference to fuel economy. There does seem to be some evidence that running in B0 on long distance cruising can be beneficial and using the higher B settings descending a long hill can reduce brake wear and recoup a useful amount of charge - apart from that, it seems really to be a question of taste.

Why should anybody bother to come up with 'convincing evidence' that it works when it is clear to many who use it (including me) that it does.

In fact if you read what you have said (above) I believe that you have actually made the case for the opposite.

Coasting works, regen works and it matters not one jot whether its reclaiming excess energy downhill, on the flat or even going up a hill.

If active use of the paddles makes no difference then neither would travelling around with the parking brake engaged.

JimB

I said "active use" - I would not count winding the B level up and down for occasional long hill descents as "active use". Yes, there is some reason to believe that dropping to B0 can improve fuel consumption and pushing it up to B5 when descending a long hill will certainly reduce wear on your brake pads and disks. Actively adjusting the B level in normal traffic conditions does not seem to make any measurable difference to fuel consumption - set it to whatever feels right for you and leave it there.