Any news on Ground Tourer or future models?

[Sailordoc]

So, my 2015 PHEV is coming up to 2 years old, has done nearly 35000 miles and battery is already down to 88% of original capacity according to EVBatMon. I've not been impressed with it off road, and am aware that Mitsubishi appear to have forgotten all they knew about SUV design when they designed this car (See threads passim ad nauseam regarding cross-axle problems, inability to supply enough power to an axle to get moving when other axle spinning, no active front differential etc, etc). I'm not after low range gearbox and locking diff territory, just the ability to cope with the terrain my old Freelander 2 coped with.

However, I have been impressed by the fuel efficiency, space and general comfort of the vehicle. I have seen the video of the Ground Tourer concept released at the Paris motor show last year, and it looks very interesting. More specifically, it has much better battery range of around 70 miles, an active front differential and 2 separate electric motors on the rear axle, which should go some considerable way to tackling the the problems listed above. However, concepts often never see the transition to production.

I reckon I've only got another 3 years of life left in my current car before the battery has become a problem, although if I'm lucky it will be longer. I can't tell yet as I only got EVBatMon a few months ago and therefore only have 1 real data point. Thus, I don't know how quickly the battery will degrade from now, but having lost 12% of battery capacity in just under 2 years is clearly a concern. What I'm unsure about is what options Mitsubishi will have for me in say 3 years time. I certainly wouldn't buy another Outlander given it's appalling implementation of 4WD. Has anyone heard whether the Ground Tourer is going to go ahead? If so, please God let the exterior look less like it's been beaten senseless with the ugly stick! Or indeed whether there will be other plug in hybrids with better 4WD design? If not, I suspect I'm going to have to go back to Land Rover next time.

 

[Sailordoc]

I'm guessing nobody has heard anything then! :lol:

 

[jaapv]

So, my 2015 PHEV is coming up to 2 years old, has done nearly 35000 miles and battery is already down to 88% of original capacity according to EVBatMon. I've not been impressed with it off road, and am aware that Mitsubishi appear to have forgotten all they knew about SUV design when they designed this car (See threads passim ad nauseam regarding cross-axle problems, inability to supply enough power to an axle to get moving when other axle spinning, no active front differential etc, etc). I'm not after low range gearbox and locking diff territory, just the ability to cope with the terrain my old Freelander 2 coped with.

However, I have been impressed by the fuel efficiency, space and general comfort of the vehicle. I have seen the video of the Ground Tourer concept released at the Paris motor show last year, and it looks very interesting. More specifically, it has much better battery range of around 70 miles, an active front differential and 2 separate electric motors on the rear axle, which should go some considerable way to tackling the the problems listed above. However, concepts often never see the transition to production.

I reckon I've only got another 3 years of life left in my current car before the battery has become a problem, although if I'm lucky it will be longer. I can't tell yet as I only got EVBatMon a few months ago and therefore only have 1 real data point. Thus, I don't know how quickly the battery will degrade from now, but having lost 12% of battery capacity in just under 2 years is clearly a concern. What I'm unsure about is what options Mitsubishi will have for me in say 3 years time. I certainly wouldn't buy another Outlander given it's appalling implementation of 4WD. Has anyone heard whether the Ground Tourer is going to go ahead? If so, please God let the exterior look less like it's been beaten senseless with the ugly stick! Or indeed whether there will be other plug in hybrids with better 4WD design? If not, I suspect I'm going to have to go back to Land Rover next time.

I very much doubt that you have lost 12% of your battery capacity, as the cars get delivered new about 7-8% under nominal capacity.

 

[tweedie]

I'll be shocked and worried if I lost 12% in two years, but if you really lost that much, then I guess after nearly 8 years you could get a new set of batteries from Mitisubishi under warranty as you would have lost 50% by then - surely should be replaced at that amount of lost.

I can't say I have heard of this new version of outlander with 70 miles range - would be fab if that is true!

Btw, have you been using those fast charge Chemio (or whatever its called) as I believe those type of chargers can diminish the battery lift according to the manual.

 

[Sailordoc]

I very much doubt that you have lost 12% of your battery capacity, as the cars get delivered new about 7-8% under nominal capacity.

Here is the info from EVBatMon:



On the bright side, I see Mitsubishi are now guaranteeing that if the battery falls below 70% within 8 years they will repair or replace, although not stated whether this applies to existing cars on the previous warranty:

http://www.mitsubishi-cars.co.uk/outlander/battery-warranty.aspx

 

[jaapv]

If you had taken a reading at 0 km, the battery capacity would have registered at a value of 37 Ah or thereabouts, not the nominal value of 40 Ah.
Battery capacity should be measured at 20º C BTW.

 

[Sailordoc]

If you had taken a reading at 0 km, the battery capacity would have registered at a value of 37 Ah or thereabouts, not the nominal value of 40 Ah.
Battery capacity should be measured at 20º C BTW.

EVBatMon assumes 38 ah as the maximum, not 40 ah, which I believe is to account for the average drop from nominal value before delivery. Thus the figures above are correct in terms of percentage lost at the time the readings were taken. If this should actually be 37ah, and there is evidence to support the supposition, perhaps you should let the app's developer know so that the app can be updated. Of course, as EVBatMon did not exist in 2015 when I bought the car I have no way of knowing what my capacity at 0 miles actually was

Interesting point about testing at 20C - This implies you can only test your battery capacity in the Summer in the U.K. The last reading was a couple of months ago. I will test again with EVBatMon when I can to see if the capacity has increased now that temperatures are warmer. That may be a while as I'm a bit restricted following a knee op.

I've also emailed Mitsubishi UK to ask them what the battery warranty actually is for my 2015 PHEV.

 

[Sailordoc]

My battery worries may be eased!

There is now an 8 year / 100,000 mile warranty on the traction battery in the UK, including a guarantee that if the traction battery falls below 70% capacity in 8 years / 100,000 miles a free repair or replacement will be carried out.

The warranty info can be seen at http://www.mitsubishi-cars.co.uk/outlander/battery-warranty.aspx

I emailed Mitsubishi UK to clarify whether the new warranty terms applied to existing PHEVs and received a reply stating that the battery warranty applies to all PHEVs, which is welcome news. Naturally, I've archived that email in case I ever need it! I'll stick a new thread up with this info in case it is useful to people (I certainly didn't know this).