Engine not driving the wheels directly

[napton]

Has anyone had the problem where the engine doesn't drive the wheels directly?

Normally when the speed gets up to around 50mph, the engine starts driving the wheels directly instead of just charging the battery. But ours has stopped doing that, at least according to the display.

The car is still running okay, but the engine is revving more and the fuel consumption has gone up.

Any ideas on how or what we should check or do?

TIA

Ray

 

[PHEV07]

Has anyone had the problem where the engine doesn't drive the wheels directly?

Normally when the speed gets up to around 50mph, the engine starts driving the wheels directly instead of just charging the battery. But ours has stopped doing that, at least according to the display.

The car is still running okay, but the engine is revving more and the fuel consumption has gone up.

Any ideas on how or what we should check or do?

TIA

Ray

What is the year of your vehicle plz?

 

[napton]

What is the year of your vehicle plz?

2015

 

[littlescrote]

Is it very cold?

 

[napton]

Is it very cold?

It was in Scotland and England last couple of days, so it's been cold, but mostly above 0 C

 

[littlescrote]

I've seen mine stay in parallel mode more in cold weather than when it's warmer. Not sure why. Perhaps as it has better control of the engine speed to maintain a lower charge rate as the battery cannot take full charge rate when cold.

 

[greendwarf]

I've seen mine stay in parallel mode more in cold weather than when it's warmer. Not sure why. Perhaps as it has better control of the engine speed to maintain a lower charge rate as the battery cannot take full charge rate when cold.

Even if daytime temp is above freezing the battery will be still down below that after standing all night and once moving the "chill factor" from the slip stream will prevent it warming up unless there is a flow of energy from the ICE, which drops off once the wheels are being driven directly. In my view every apparent quirk of the car seems to be linked to protecting the battery!

 

[littlescrote]

Even if daytime temp is above freezing the battery will be still down below that after standing all night and once moving the "chill factor" from the slip stream will prevent it warming up unless there is a flow of energy from the ICE, which drops off once the wheels are being driven directly. In my view every apparent quirk of the car seems to be linked to protecting the battery!

There is no "moving chill factor" from inanimate objects that don't sweat. If the ambient air is warmer than the battery, having more airflow will speed up the warming.

It's good that the battery is being protected, is it not? It would just be nice to perhaps understand when and why, but it's not essential, is it? Not many women concern themselves with such things and fill these forums. Just drive the thing.

 

[greendwarf]

There is no "moving chill factor" from inanimate objects that don't sweat. If the ambient air is warmer than the battery, having more airflow will speed up the warming.

It's good that the battery is being protected, is it not? It would just be nice to perhaps understand when and why, but it's not essential, is it? Not many women concern themselves with such things and fill these forums. Just drive the thing.

I agree about battery protection but mu point about the "moving chill factor is that as the battery warms the flow of external cold air will cool it faster than it is being heated UNLESS the ICE is being deployed to counteract the effect - simple O-level physics!

 

[tyleriv]

As I understand it, moving air will increase the rate of heat transfer between the air and the object (e.g. your car radiator). By the same analogy, trapping air (such as fibreglass insulation) will reduce air movement, thus reducing rate of heat transfer. However, the object will not be colder than the air temperature unless it was colder to begin with and then the air will warm the object. In the case above, the "moving chill factor" is actually a "moving warm factor" where the air is warmer than the battery. Outside any other factors such as evaporation (Swamp Cooler), self heating and so on, the object will reach the air temperature faster with moving air.

It would be nice if the ICE were to divert its excess heat to the battery to warm the battery on cold days increasing its effectiveness. I understand that the heat pump has the ability to cool the battery in the summer to prevent overheating. Wouldn't it be advantageous if the reverse were true so that the heat pump & ICE could warm the battery in cold temperatures thus increasing the battery effectiveness and protecting the battery in extreme cold.

I appreciate direct drive mode once the battery is no longer able to drive the electric motors due to charge depletion. By driving the front wheels directly from the ICE, the losses in converting mechanical energy from the ICE to electrical energy for the motors and/or chemical energy in the battery and then back to mechanical energy for the wheels is eliminated. If direct drive no longer operates, then you have lost the efficiency of direct energy transfer. This would explain the decrease in your fuel economy.

The principle advantage of a PHEV is to make use of the efficiency & capability of electric motors, recovery of lost energy from momentum changes and the use of electrical energy from more effective generating stations to power the electric motors using the battery as a storage system. What is effective - we can each define that personally such as overall thermodynamic efficiency of power use, source of power such as solar, hydro, nuclear, coal. CH4, convenience, comfort, financial economy and so on.

 

[littlescrote]

If heat transfer and battery heating/cooling is interesting to you, the Tesla heat pump is an incredible piece of engineering that this video explains

 

[PHEV07]

If heat transfer and battery heating/cooling is interesting to you, the Tesla heat pump is an incredible piece of engineering that this video explains

What an excellent video.

This video should be posted in it's own Thread so that may be found easier

If you can do the hours, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[greendwarf]

As I understand it, moving air will increase the rate of heat transfer between the air and the object (e.g. your car radiator). By the same analogy, trapping air (such as fibreglass insulation) will reduce air movement, thus reducing rate of heat transfer. However, the object will not be colder than the air temperature unless it was colder to begin with and then the air will warm the object. In the case above, the "moving chill factor" is actually a "moving warm factor" where the air is warmer than the battery. Outside any other factors such as evaporation (Swamp Cooler), self heating and so on, the object will reach the air temperature faster with moving air.

It would be nice if the ICE were to divert its excess heat to the battery to warm the battery on cold days increasing its effectiveness. I understand that the heat pump has the ability to cool the battery in the summer to prevent overheating. Wouldn't it be advantageous if the reverse were true so that the heat pump & ICE could warm the battery in cold temperatures thus increasing the battery effectiveness and protecting the battery in extreme cold.

I appreciate direct drive mode once the battery is no longer able to drive the electric motors due to charge depletion. By driving the front wheels directly from the ICE, the losses in converting mechanical energy from the ICE to electrical energy for the motors and/or chemical energy in the battery and then back to mechanical energy for the wheels is eliminated. If direct drive no longer operates, then you have lost the efficiency of direct energy transfer. This would explain the decrease in your fuel economy.

The principle advantage of a PHEV is to make use of the efficiency & capability of electric motors, recovery of lost energy from momentum changes and the use of electrical energy from more effective generating stations to power the electric motors using the battery as a storage system. What is effective - we can each define that personally such as overall thermodynamic efficiency of power use, source of power such as solar, hydro, nuclear, coal. CH4, convenience, comfort, financial economy and so on.

The ICE heats the battery by passing the generated electricity through it on its way to the wheels. Once the wheels are being directly driven at higher speeds the energy flow to the battery is reduced significantly, so preventing the direct drive helps keep up battery temperature when ambient is too low for prime efficiency from (and perhaps damage to) the battery - simples!

 

[PHEV07]

The ICE heats the battery by passing the generated electricity through it on its way to the wheels. Once the wheels are being directly driven at higher speeds the energy flow to the battery is reduced significantly, so preventing the direct drive helps keep up battery temperature when ambient is too low for prime efficiency from (and perhaps damage to) the battery - simples!

I believe that this was the case on 2022 and older Mitsubishi PHEVs. No longer tge case for the 2023 to 2025.

Let us home Mitsubishi Motors fires all their Engineers that made a mess of the latest cars and hires smarter ones when they manufacture the 2026 model.

I am not holding my breath however.