EV Priority mode in MY2017 - not (always) working

[moroland79]

Hi all,

I have a 2017 model and it has an EV button. But now, when it's cold (3 degrees Celsius), the ICE starts immediately after I power the car - and keeps running for a couple of hundred meters driven.
The A/C is turned on, set to 22C, Auto. Battery is almost full. I have fuelled it up a couple of days ago so it's not because the fuel is too old in it.
I've tried to put the car to ECO mode, no difference. I tried to first put the car to ACC mode (pressing the Power button twice without pressing the break), then switch to EV mode, then press the break and the Power button. Same result. You can't set the EV mode to be default - which is a shame.
Also, when I floor it to the kick-down switch, ICE starts. This is good, although not expected. But I'm confused about the EV mode, because I don't want to burn petrol in winter for short travels (e.g. the grocery store is in 3 kms - easy for a fully charged car). The leaflet that describes the changes since MY2016 says "When EV priority mode is ON, engine does not start even if A/C heater is ON".
I've contacted the dealer of course, waiting for their feedback but I wonder if it is just me or anyone else have the same problem?

 

[SolarBoy]

My version without the button does the same even when pre-heated.

It's to do with pre-warming the engine oil so that if there is full throttle then the engine stands a chance of not grinding itself into powder.

Disappointing isn't it?

 

[Steepndeep]

Very interesting

There are a number of posts in this forum on how to avoid ICE to start on older models, and we have all been waiting for feedback from a 2017 owner. What you describe sounds dissapointing, but maybe not totally unexpected having seen Mitsus thinking on ICE start avoidance.....

Now you should try this, as apparently EV prio can not be on default which is a shame.

Switch heater/AC off before you turn off car. The after starting and having gone through the boot sequence, put the car in EV prio mode. Then start heater.

In my 2016 car the heat off button works directly on the heater without the car having to boot first. So as a precaution for shorter trips I hold the heat off button pressed while simultaneously pressing the start button (two hands) when I start. Then the car always starts with heater off and I have time to press Eco-mode after boot and then start heater and slowly increase heat.

 

[Steepndeep]

@Solarboy

Does it?? I can drive the car in pure EV mode at -10C whithout ICE start. Not comfortable as I have to have heater off but it works.

I can also drive at -5C with heater ON and no ICE start, after having preheated for 30 minutes.

 

[SolarBoy]

@Solarboy

Does it?? I can drive the car in pure EV mode at -10C whithout ICE start. Not comfortable as I have to have heater off but it works.

I can also drive at -5C with heater ON and no ICE start, after having preheated for 30 minutes.

I preheat for 20 mins, and yet the ICE fires up for a while. I'll try it with the heater off when Winter comes around again.

 

[elm70]

Good news is that old tricks for avoid ICE start should work also on 2017 model

Depressing news is that Mitsubishi still can't hear the customers complaining about unwanted ICE start since years

Is it so hard to expect that EV mode and/or Eco mode .. means .. don't start ICE unless battery is close to be flat ?

PS: It sounds that still the best and safest option is to remove the fuel pomp fuse ... even better would be to send the associated CAM error without having to take out the fuse

 

[anko]

@Solarboy

Does it?? I can drive the car in pure EV mode at -10C whithout ICE start. Not comfortable as I have to have heater off but it works.

I can also drive at -5C with heater ON and no ICE start, after having preheated for 30 minutes.

Indeed. The ICE does not start for the sole purpose of preheating the ICE. Leave the heater off, and the ICE will not run. At least not with my car.

 

[moroland79]

I parked the car in front of the garage and did some experiment.
Meanwhile the dealer came back to me with answers:

In general, the ICE will start in EV Priority Mode when:
- You press the throttle pedal to a certain level (my experience is that it's the kick-down switch)
- above 120km/h speed
- when using cruise control if the power demand of the cruise control is more than what the motors can deliver
- when the defroster is on

They told me that the defroster is operated from the 12V system and it needs engine running to have enough power source. And if you left it turned on when switched off the car, next time you turn on the car it will go on and start the ICE.
They told me that if only the heater is turned on, it should not start the ICE.

My experience is, if you turn on the car to READY (break+power button) and press the EV button within a second, the ICE won't start even if the A/C is on. But if you wait, the car starts in normal mode which enables the ICE to start itself even when stationary.
I will do some more experiment and will post my findings. But in general, if you can start the car in EV mode before the ICE starts for some reason, and don't hammer the throttle and don't turn on the defroster, you can drive in full EV mode until the battery goes empty. Hence the name "EV Priority Mode", not "Pure EV Mode". :/

 

[anko]

My experience is, if you turn on the car to READY (break+power button) and press the EV button within a second, the ICE won't start even if the A/C is on. But if you wait, the car starts in normal mode which enables the ICE to start itself even when stationary.

You mean, the button is not sticky :shock: :shock: :shock: OMG.

 

[elm70]

What is consider the defroster in this context ?

The read window electric grid for de-ice and de-moist the back window ?
I would never assumed that this does consume lot of power .. never seen on my PHEV that ICE starts when I press this bottom on the console

Else is defrost : use AC and heating on the same time ? That happen when pressing the de-ice de-moist the front window ?
In this case, we are back to car heating well know ICE kick in in the cold (based on some delta temperature)

Anyhow ... it is looking to me that Mitsubishi engineering did strike again on making complicated and "painful" something that could be very very simple

PS: Also the 120km/h limit .. is a dummy one for start ICE .. the rule should be that ICE start when power requested is above 60kw ... why put into the equation the speed ?

 

[moroland79]

My experience is, if you turn on the car to READY (break+power button) and press the EV button within a second, the ICE won't start even if the A/C is on. But if you wait, the car starts in normal mode which enables the ICE to start itself even when stationary.

You mean, the button is not sticky :shock: :shock: :shock: OMG.

It's not. :/ I've tried to press it for more than 10 seconds (e.g. you can de-activate LDW this way) but nothing happened. The car always starts in Normal mode. Which is a disappointment.
My dealer said they will ask Mitsu if it's possible to set it as default.

 

[elm70]

My experience is, if you turn on the car to READY (break+power button) and press the EV button within a second, the ICE won't start even if the A/C is on. But if you wait, the car starts in normal mode which enables the ICE to start itself even when stationary.

:roll:

I missed this point ...

So the ICE start because the EV mode was not in :?:

Yes .. if you start the car, even stationary and air system is set up for 22deg .. and cabin is cold enough .. it sounds normal that the PHEV will kick in the ICE ... same behaviour as on old PHEV

At least ... now they allow 1 second for switch EV mode .... .. something not possible on old PHEV .. it was not possible to switch ECO mode in time for prevent ICE to start (assuming temperature was cold, but not much)

That's the advanced/advancing Japanese engineering

 

[moroland79]

What is consider the defroster in this context ?

No, not the rear window grid. It's the front de-moist. https://cl.ly/0W0n2e3E111m

 

[moroland79]

At least ... now they allow 1 second for switch EV mode ....

I think there is no time limit or 1 second thing, you need to be quick enough and press it before the A/C starts and requires power. But I'm not sure, will play with this.
I can make a video too if you guys are interested.

 

[Lance]

So, the easiest way to stop the ICE starting is to ensure that the climate control is turned off when you park the car the previous time. That way you don't need to worry about being quick with the EV button.

 

[anko]

So, the easiest way to stop the ICE starting is to ensure that the climate control is turned off when you park the car the previous time. That way you don't need to worry about being quick with the EV button.

Either you need to worry about it at the end of the previous trip, or you need to worry about it at the start of the next trip. Bottom line: you need to worry about it.

When you just turn it off (without turning it down first), you may not be able to start it without the ICE starting up, not even at a low setting, because it does remember the high setting from the previous trip. Need to worry about that too. Knowing that the EV Prio mode in the new model does not solve this, I am not as jealous as I used to be :?

 

[elm70]

Thanks for the info moroland79

I guess the "defrost" information from your dealer that ICE can started because of it, it is wrong ... it is not applicable for my old PHEV so I believe is neither applicable on the new PHEV

The ICE kick in happen when the requested temperature for the cabin is too high compared to car temperature, the delta that trigger the ICE is difference based on the Mode: Normal , ECO .. and I expect that EV mode may prevent this .. but unfortunately the car starts always in Normal mode and no EV .. and it does remember the last selected temperature for the car and if AC was set on or not ...

As most of us with the PHEV, we got used to switch off and even set to 15deg the temperate before switch off the car

In my case ... I got used to have the car always with clima/ventilation off in winter time ... I do use instead pre-heating which allow +7 to +14deg cabin temperature after 10 or 20min of pre-heat (10min pre-heat cost me around 4km of EV range) .. driving with cabin of 10deg does not feel cold at all for short trip especially thank to heated seat

In case of long trips ... then it is a different story ... no point to spend hours in a "cold" car, and the ICE will kick in anyhow into a long trip

 

[trickyh]

Blimey - Just get over it. The Phev has an aux IC engine and sometimes it "kicks in" due to certain parameters. ..

If it bothers you guys so much, then shouldn't you have bought Tesla's? :roll:

 

[anko]

Blimey - Just get over it. The Phev has an aux IC engine and sometimes it "kicks in" due to certain parameters. ..

If it bothers you guys so much, then shouldn't you have bought Tesla's? :roll:

If it kicks in for good reason that's all fine. But if it kicks in for no good reason, than that is a different story.

I have been in situations where the ice kicked in when I had to move my (fully charged) car over a distance of just 14 meters to free the charging bay I had been using. Only because I forgot to kill the heater when I left it there. To get rid of this, I need to buy a Tesla?

 

[ian4x4]

Can someone please explain simply what the 'EV Priority' Button does and how does it differ from earlier PHEVs.

I had thought that it was developed to give controlled 'EV only' running which was necessary in some states in the USA, and therefore stopped any petrol emissions.

Is this a feature worth having, or is it only worth having because of coming 'pollution taxes' in cities?