Australians down under

[FrogPower]

Hi All,

Angela here from Brisbane.

We bought our PHEV in July last year and are very happy with it. We mainly do 'around town' driving but have down some long haul trips down south as well.
We always keep an eye out for other Outlander PHEV's whilst on the road but haven't come across any as yet.

Anyway, I look forward to joining in the conversations.

Cheers.
_____________________________________
July 2014; PHEV Aspire; White; Tow bar; Mats

 

[FrogPower]

Hi all, if anyone would like an excuse to visit the Sunshine Coast this weekend, then please come along in your PHEV to the Sustainable House Day Event at 12 noon this Sunday (13th Sept). We are trying to get the largest collection of EV's together. There will be a number of Tesla's coming as well as BMW EV's. Currently I may be the only Outlander PHEV there - it would be great if a few more came along too (particularly if we can outnumber the Teslas
The address is 175 Lake Weyba Drive, Noosaville.
http://sustainablehouseday.com/house-profile-view/?house_id=11446
I hope to see some of you there!
Mark

Hi Waitem,

Ahh mate, if I would have known this earlier I would have come as I'm not far away. I only just saw your post now. I try to check the forums every couple of days. How did it all go?

Hi Sawman82
Apologies for the late notice: I had tried to get Gary Cricks (Mitsubishi dealear in Maroochdoore) to contact other local owners, but they didn't do anything - and in the end I had to contact Mitubishi Australia to get some promotional material sorted, so posting to this forum was a last bid to try and get some other Outlander PHEV's to come along. It was a great day. Over 500 people came along!
There was a Nissan Leaf, seven (!) Tesla Model S's, BMW i3 as well as my Outlander. See photo: https://goo.gl/photos/DHSUGqFo8MW4d8obA
A lot of people were very interested. Even had one of the local councillors measuring the inside of my Outlander to see if his surfboards would fit in!
Next time there is an EV meetup on the Sunshine Coast, I will try to give more notice!

Hi Waitem and Sawman82

Yeah, same here. Let us know if any other events like that come up in the SEQ area. It would be great to have a contingent to fly the Outlander PHEV flag.

Cheers

 

[sawman82]

Hi Angela,

Good to hear from another fellow PHEV owner from Brisbane. I have probably made 5 or so sightings over the past year in Brisbane. I have seen Light blue, Dark Blue and White getting around. Every time I see an Outlander my wife and I look for the tell tale EV logo on the side or back. After a year of ownership I am loving the car and it pains me that the general public don't know how good they are. I just love being able to sit in the car with the aircon on and not have the engine idling!

 

[gwatpe]

I only saw black, white, pearl white, titanium grey, and Arctic silver[lt blue] in the MMC brochures. Maybe the dark blue was a rebadge, or a latest model, with the reworked front end. I will soon have LED DRL fitted, so an added distinction to a 2014 Aspire.

 

[sirtumtum]

Hey guys, Brenden from the Gold Coast.
I'm buying an Aspire this week, can anyone recommend a great dealership ?
Thanks in advance

 

[zzcoopej]

Gold Coast.
I'm buying an Aspire this week, can anyone recommend a great dealership ?

I dropped into the Gold Coast Porsche dealership the other day as they have a Cayanne PHEV if you want to quadruple your budget, lol. Doesn't even go as far as the Outlander, however much better 0-100 figure...

Back to topic, do you mean dealership for servicing or something related to purchase? Very cheap PHEV's at the moment on Carsales...

 

[sirtumtum]

Yeah dealership for purchase. The most I've found is the Aspire for $49,999 drive away. 1.9% finance. This seems like a national deal through Mitsubishi. Just wondering if anyone had any sweet hook ups for cheaper Aspire's

 

[zzcoopej]

Yeah dealership for purchase. The most I've found is the Aspire for $49,999 drive away. ....Just wondering if anyone had any sweet hook ups for cheaper Aspire's

I paid $43k including towbar and roofbars for a brand new Aspire 6 months ago, and the deals now should be better.
For example, this "undriven demo" (way to sell new, but 2014 manufactured, cars for a lower price) is $37,880 before negotiation - http://www.carsales.com.au/demo/details/Mitsubishi-Outlander-2014/AGC-AD-17539729/?Cr=16

 

[gwatpe]

Now, armed with an OBD2 WiFi interface and phone app, the mystery of the battery health is not going to be a problem for second hand purchasers.

Would be useful to check out a 2016 Mitsi PHEV to see what the new battery health was for a comparison.

 

[sirtumtum]

Thanks guys, this gives me something to work with.
Also, you're probably sick of people asking this question, yes I've read previous posts.
Just want to confirm, I can go to JayCar and buy the 10A to 15A converter and use this with my stock garage power point and the supplied PHEV charging cable ?

Thanks again.

 

[zzcoopej]

I can go to JayCar and buy the 10A to 15A converter and use this with my stock garage power point and the supplied PHEV charging cable ?

Yes, I use the Jaycar 15A converter with my PHEV. I have been charging my PHEV 3-4 times a week for the past 6 months from a 10A double powerpoint (only using one of the 2 outlets) with the standard EVSE supplied with the PHEV.
You should only be worried if your household wiring is very old, however no more worried than plugging in a heater and leaving it on full for 4hours. If you have a circuit breaker on the powerpoint circuit things are likely to be ok, however if you have a fuse then your wiring may be quite old and it is worth getting an electrician to look at it.

 

[gwatpe]

I would still have a dedicated 15A GPO installed at the optimum location. The cord is very short and MMC suggest hanging it with a cord. This is even more important with the use of a converter plug, as sometimes the contacts are not as tight on the pins and it would be relatively easy to have the charging stop.

 

[TRT]

As sawman82 said in September the AUS PHEV charger is rated at 10A, and will not draw more than that. I also have a meter on my charger that shows max draw of all charges during last 9 months was 9.47A. So a dedicated 10 amp powerpoint would be perfectly safe, providing your wiring is compliant with electrical standards.

I installed 15A dedicated point before I purchased PHEV. Turned out not to be necessary, although it probably gives me some future proofing if a higher rated charger becomes available in future.

TRT

 

[zzcoopej]

As sawman82 said in September the AUS PHEV charger is rated at 10A, and will not draw more than that.

Just to be clear, it is the PHEV supplied EVSE (cord and box) which limits the charge to 10A, not the onboard charger per se, which is rated at 15A (3.6kVA on page 12-7 in the specs).

eg When I plugged the PHEV into the free Chargepoint at the Macadamia Castle near Byron last month, I got 2.033kWh in 37m30secs = 3.253kW per hour = 13.5Amps @ 240V. So the PHEV charger is being derated to 10A by the EVSE (cord and box) supplied with each PHEV. If you wanted to at home you could charge a bit faster by using a different EVSE etc. Little point IMHO when it easily does a full charge overnight, unless you do multiple daytrips and need a slightly faster turnaround.

 

[sawman82]

At the end of the day it depends on your circumstances. I can understand that if you are renting or moving soon then you may not want to install a new power point. 10A is all you need to supply the charger with. However if using an extension cable I would recommend going with a 1.5mm2 15A rated flexible cable. Reason being is you really need to de-rate cables depending on installation conditions or how they are run. If while charging your PHEV a 10A extension cable become covered by a piece of cloth, other cables etc etc, the cable will no longer be suitable for 10A. Back in the early days using the JCar adapter and 10A extension cable I often monitored it for heat and it was quite hot at times.

If you are going to be at the same place for a while I would recommend installing a 15A double GPO. That way you can use the other outlet while charging the PHEV and also allow for possible future 15A chargers for the PHEV or other electric cars.

 

[sawman82]

Yeah dealership for purchase. The most I've found is the Aspire for $49,999 drive away. ....Just wondering if anyone had any sweet hook ups for cheaper Aspire's

I paid $43k including towbar and roofbars for a brand new Aspire 6 months ago, and the deals now should be better.
For example, this "undriven demo" (way to sell new, but 2014 manufactured, cars for a lower price) is $37,880 before negotiation - http://www.carsales.com.au/demo/details/Mitsubishi-Outlander-2014/AGC-AD-17539729/?Cr=16

Man, $43k is ridiculously cheap for a new Aspire. Almost worth buying a second! The one for $37k doesn't look to be an Aspire though. I definitely recommend the Aspire model.

 

[zzcoopej]

Man, $43k is ridiculously cheap for a new Aspire. Almost worth buying a second!

Especially when you put it up against the competition, considering we are on track for savings of approx $10k in the first 100,000km of driving (electricity cost vs fuel cost of our old car). What competition is out there for this premium car with ACC, FCM etc for $33k? Still many Aussies just don't get the PHEV, they are still stuck on smelly turbodiesels.

 

[gwatpe]

There are a lot of mixed messages floating around that are critical of using the PHEV as a hybrid vehicle compared to economy of a turbo diesel for longer drives, and that EV only driving is the way the PHEV is an economy winner.

I am saving approx $1200 per 20000km of driving, on petrol savings alone. Petrol is still needed for around 50% of my driving needs at the moment.

 

[FrogPower]

Just to let you know there is currently a University of NSW survey doing the rounds seeking opinions about EV's and PHEV's.
I received the following information via email as part of a geographers email group.
Thought you might be interested......

What do you think about electric cars?
You are invited to participate in a survey being conducted as part of a Master of Philosophy research project at UNSW. This research focuses on social attitudes to electric vehicles.
We are seeking your views in a short questionnaire.
We are aiming to gain as many views as possible for this exciting new research and would appreciate you forwarding this link to friends and family especially in Sydney and Melbourne.
Click here https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/UNSW_electric_cars_social_attitudes5PFRHWZ
All responses to our survey will remain anonymous.
If you would like further information about this research please contact Gail Broadbent by email at [email protected]

 

[zzcoopej]

Master of Philosophy

Thanks for sharing. I agree, the takeup of EV is just a matter of philosophy, all the real questions have already been addressed.