Battery range

[anko]

OR are you really saying that, in fact, when in Save, what actually happens is that the car is first in Charge mode, builds up some "spare" battery and then goes to EV. In other words there is no such thing as Save mode merely short periods of switching between Charge and EV?

100% yes! Sorry for not being able to put it this clear myself

There is always a pattern of engine ON and engine OFF. When ON, SOC increases. When OFF, SOC decreases. This pattern always occurs, but ...
- In Normal mode, it is controlled by the car and SOC hovers around a percentage controlled by the car, with 1.5% between low and high mark
- In Save mode, it is again controlled by the car and SOC hovers around a percentage set by you (when you hit Save), but still there will be 1.5% between the low and the high mark
- In Charge mode, it is totally controlled by you.

So, three different ways of controlling the pattern, but it is always the same type of engine ON. At least, as long as we are looking at parallel mode.

Engine ON is affected by SOC though. While SOC gets higher, the maximum charge current accepted by the battery is reduced. In the extreme, this explains why regen does not work with a near full battery. The other way around, when SOC gets lower, the battery is willing to accept a higher charge current. The engine will need to burn petrol at a higher rate to produce this bigger charge current. So, instantaneous fuel consumption goes up! But it takes a shorter amount of time to up SOC by 1.5%. So, percentage EV goes up. Total number of revs per mile goes down. Overal fuel economy goes up.

 

[maby]

My battery range is showing 30 miles.

Is my PHEV faulty?

No - just optimistic!

 

[SolarBoy]

My battery range is showing 30 miles.

Is my PHEV faulty?

No - just optimistic!

Hmm, dropped to 17 or so as soon as I put heat on

 

[Carnut]

Turn a/c off as soon as you turn heating on and guesstimate will return to previous reading

 

[maby]

...

Next weekend, please do the same experiment but let it drop to < 50% SOC. Because I am pretty sure it will drop into EV mode more often than. And will give you an even better milage. At least it will result in less wear to the engine.

I tried it yesterday during my return journey over the same route and under similar conditions, but could see no definitive difference. I let it discharge to about 40% and get well warmed up. I also didn't take any serious measurements until I had completed the 20-odd mile gentle climb I referred to some time ago. Temperature was about 7C - so perhaps three degrees warmer than Saturday morning - might be expected to improve fuel consumption slightly. Traffic was reasonably light and I was able to leave it on cruise control at 60mph almost all the time.

The car still ran primarily in front-wheel-drive petrol with some battery charge indicated. It switched to EV occasionally - usually on downhill stretches - but the periods of EV seemed to be in the region of 30 seconds with periods of petrol operation lasting multiple minutes. Around the midpoint, I was getting 43mpg give-or-take not-very-much - very similar to the figure I was getting on the outgoing journey. There is a stretch of roadworks about 10 miles long with a 50mph speed limit at the north end of the M3 - the average picked up to about 48mpg along there. Strange thing is that when I came out of the roadworks and got back up to 60mph, the average dropped back to less than 40 for quite a long time.

So I'm afraid I really don't see any evidence for measurable differences in fuel consumption relative to SOC driving in real-life conditions.

 

[GolfjunkyC60]

Cheers guys and girls, i have not had access over the weekend so i will wade through the replies today.
Greg

 

[Carnut]

I had an interesting happening last night.
Can anyone explain? Has anyone else had this happen?
Last use of the day, about 16.40, range showing 18 miles. Started up at 09.00 range showed 20Miles Eh? Wot? :?:
Obviously it was not on charge nor even connected to the mains. No abnormal change in temperature, car lives on the drive.
All answer on a postcard :lol:

 

[Claymore]

When you arrived back on the drive the drive battery was under load. After switching off the battery voltage will 'recover' slightly and produce a higher reading when you next switch on.

However, it's all still as accurate as trying to pin the tail on the donkey, blindfolded.

:?

JimB

 

[Carnut]

Serious question. Does 'coasting' (Regen 0) the last 100yards, still cause battery to be still 'under load'?

 

[Claymore]

As Anko never tires of typing - in B0 the car consumes some charge from the drive battery in order to overcome the internal resistance of the electric drive motors.

In any event I have no idea what length of time might pass before evidence of voltage recovery might reveal itself, assuming the phenomena even exists.

JimB