PHEV EV only box on eBay uk

[Tipper]

Spotted this on eBay, near me too.

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mitsubishi-Outlander-PHEV-Tuning-Box-EV-only-driving-/122101560313?nav=SEARCH

 

[jaapv]

Yes - nothing new there, the VTech box is well known on the forum. A nice bargain for the first member to bid.

 

[greendwarf]

Yes - nothing new there, the VTech box is well known on the forum. A nice bargain for the first member to bid.

Not necessarily - the listing doesn't specify the ECU year and presumably the reserve is closer to the "Buy Now" price of £199 :mrgreen:

 

[vs2]

Be careful! I went through three PHEV Boxes before I got sent one that finally worked. Intermittent 'Eeprom failure' was the problem. Spent many hours trying to solve the problem, then seller admitted the problem was on their end and hardware related. New software on their site has a new 'format' function which resets the box, but this did not work for me. (well it worked for about a week then eeprom failure again)

 

[jla1234]

Has anyone tested the claimed 8% extended range, etc. are they really worth the money?

 

[meman124]

Yes, i have installed a PHEV Box on my wife's 2016 PHEV.

Didn't tell her when i did..

First reaction: what did you do to my car?

Later: She loves it. It now drives full EV (up to 130 kmh or batteries empty) which is wonderfull for short commutes. No more engine switching on.

My wife claims that she gets ca 20% better fuel consumption. (?)
Extra EV range ca 10%.

Depends alot on your driving style and where you drive your PHEV i guess.

Got it from: http://www.emobe.eu

Meman

 

[anko]

Her drivingstyle must be pretty bad.

 

[meman124]

Not at all.

 

[anko]

I am pretty sure this box will not give you more range (or better fuel economy) than a decent driving style does.

 

[jaapv]

Agree.But it does make things easier.

 

[anko]

Yep!

 

[ClasseClas]

I am pretty sure this box will not give you more range (or better fuel economy) than a decent driving style does.

I have a different experience. I noted 9% less fuel consumption when driving long range, 1100kms + 1100kms, during hunting season. I drive each leg in one go during the same day, only pit stops for refueling incl food/coffe. I have fuel up data from the same pumps and it seems that the weather conditions were similar re winds last year and the year before. With these long range drives my driving pattern is similar. I'd guess it is about 50% cruise control and 50% manual drive. I was a bit surprised over the reduction of ICE fuel consumption after installation of the PHEV box.

 

[anko]

Well, maybe your driving style is not as descent as you think it is ...

Keep in mind, ALL the box does is remap the throttle response to dampen the input you give with your left foor (or is it right foot for you guys?). What I am saying is I strongly beieve you can achieve the same by being more easy on the throttle ... Whether you want to be or not or whether it is easy or not ... that is a different question.

I am very happy with the box. But for different reasons. With the box it is much easier to drive on the border of EV / non EV without accidentally crossing it. But if that helps economy? I doubt it.

 

[ClasseClas]

Yes, it could be so, but I believe that the car works differently in ICE mode with the box.

This is what vtechtuning wrote in a post some time ago:

Why Outlander PHEV gasoline consumption is lower with PHEV Box?

I have following observation: beside of fuel savings that come from stopping ICE from heating or reducing this behaviour, I see, that during typical long journey noticeable fuel savings (10% or so) are visible. As this is kinda of side effect for me (nice side effect, huh), I tried to find, why PHEV Box causes gasoline savings. It seems that there are two sources of this effect, but I cannot find real proportions:
1. PHEV Box causes car to run with parallel mode even with full throttle starting from 68 km/h (orange arrow, ICE powers wheels directly), there is no need to do two energy conversions typical for serial mode (blue arrow) – from ICE to electrical energy, and then – from electrical energy to mechanical energy at EV motors. These conversions are not 100% efficient (we can assume they are 90% efficient or so). Such two conversions cause serial mode to be about 20% less efficient than parallel mode for same traction power demand.
2. Car bases on sophisticated, predictive algorythm of charging via ICE, dynamic changes of current sunk from battery force it to start ICE more frequently. Driving with PHEV Box reduces noticeably need for quick, short ICE starts, and car looks more for charging in parallel mode (kind of self-learning intelligence is visible in behaviour of the car). Less ICE starts and focusing on parallel side-charging must be a source of fuel savings.

Besides the throttle reprogramming I noted number 1. above when driving long range.

 

[anko]

If number 1. were true, full power would no longer be full power, as full power does require serial mode at speeds below 120 km/h. Nothing can change that. So, full power would actually be reduced power. And reduced power can also be achieved by being gentle on the throttle.

To clarify, I have noticed the same: it takes much more conviction to persuade the car to go into serial mode. And this is nice when driving solo and when fuel economy is the primary objective. But this is also the reason why I typically deactivate the box (by running Normal mode instead of ECO mode) while towing: in many cases I simply don't have enough power, without using the kick down function.

 

[jaapv]

My box does not do #1. I can get exactly the same response from the car with the box switched off, but with more difficulty.
I think VTech is comparing driving styles here.