I don't believe that drwho implied that the Battery Capacity increases with driving.
He merely stated that when he first received his car that he only got 55kms on a full charge, in other Threads drwho did state that by driving more trips, that he started to get 85kms, which was higher than the 64kms stated by Mitsubishi.
I also have stated that my range has averaged 95/100 kms per 100% Charge. I also drive my car from 100% to 0% to get a true range, once or twice a month, generally tho I will drive my car till the Battery Level gets down to 20 to 25% or 10 to 15 of driving range left on the Battery because I drive a minimum of 14 kms per day, everyday. I charge overnight on 110vac sometimes on 240vac depending on how early in the morning I leave my house.
My goal after getting my PHEVs (3rd one is 2024 GT) has always been and will continue to be to drive my car as much as I can in EV only Mode.
I owe drwho a debt of gratitude for suggesting to me to consider changing my start up sequence.
I used to Press the EV Button then Start with Bake Pedal depressed and the ICE used to start up when I turned on the interior Heater. I hated this.
Yesterday I did the sequence as he had suggested, namely
1) Press the start button, no Brake pedal
2) Press EV Button
3) Press Brake Pedal and Start Button
I then, I ...
4) Select ECO Mode
5) Shift to Drive
6) pedal down to Regen B0
Since the outside temperature was 4'C last night, I turned on the Cab Heater and to my happy surprise, the ICE never kicked in.
So thank you drwho.
For those members reading this wondering why I and others go thru all this nonsense when starting our car and why not just let the car do it's thing.
Please try understand that I do this because I want to drive my car in EV Mode for as far and as long as I can because the price of gasoline is very expensive and I can drive in EV for 1/4 of the cost of using Gasoline.
Members that choose to let the car do it's thing or to drive the Car as a Hybrid, so be it, you are free to do as you wish.
Those that say that the Engine needs to run, I say.
The engine will kick in soon enough in a few weeks when the temp drops to below -0'C and may continue to run right thru the Winter weather where we get temps lower than -30'C and at times -40'C.
In closing (for now) I want say that I do appreciate all the knowledgeable information that is posted in this Forum and I trust that many Members will learn a thing or two but in the end it is up to each Member to decide to Drive their vehicle in the manner that they choose to.
Andre
I am awfully sorrry for responding to your post in my way of understanding.
I am a new owner of OUtlander PHEV for 2 months only. And my personal tendency on the new thing is that I dig out all the hidden theoratical background, such as, why do they do that, why it happenes like this, etc. Even in a short time, I've learned much of technical and theorical background of HEV and PHEV, by doing a concentrated search.
When I write a single sentence, I already spend a few hours to find the theoretical knowledge on each phynomina. Practically, I'd rather to find the reason why it happens. If you like your car the way it is, it's not a problem at all. However, my find on the technical or theoretical knowledge would help you understand why the car responds with such result, instead of just drive and see. I never think about to be critic on EV distance what you get. I just expressed how the EV distance became longer, in the manner of theoretical consideration. I strongly believe the Engineers capability to design the software is far beyond from regular people's knowledge in general. So, I would like to keep the car as designed. Also I strongly believe that if we are backed up with the knowledge with depth, we can alter anything according to the knowledge, disregarding the engineers design. I found the odd design of CHAdeMO in this car. I found the reason why they designed the charging port like this. I have an evidence which is the result of self pride in the car business and the result of lazyness of recoverying their mistake.
I still wonder of your choice of EV selection manually. The reason why I wonder is not because of not believing in you, but because I cannot find any technical background of this situation. According to the mechanism I've learned so far about HEV and PHEV, those cars are moving by the Electric motor all the time(100% while driving), disregarding our selection. When the battery gets low, ICE does just charge the battery. Disregarding we choose EV or not, the car has power from motor and motor uses electricity from battery. Selection EV cannot prevent ICE running when the battery goes low instantly or will be low in the future according to the computer calcualtion. According to your expression, EV selection eliminates the ICE using and you want to extend the use of motor power. However, it is only available when the battery has a certain level of energy. If the battery level is high enough then car is running EV mode automatically without displaying anything. Selecting EV in front, the computer has to calculate battery level first because EV need a certain level of charge. Maybe running the generator could be the first sequence to check the battery level, instead charging itself. I am just guessing. EV selection has different purpose, not keeping use of motor for longer EV distance, not like your expection. So, the use of EV mode is when you drive a certain road where you want to keep quite, with the condition of enough battery level. Usually, we SAVE(Hold) battery level before we encounter this spot, and then, we approach the quite driving area, we select EV. The car will not kick the ICE until battery level goes down to minimum. If the battery level is high enough, the car moves without kicking ICE without selection of EV, unless other 12v system requires high drain of power before we notice. This is the situation I can imagine when and how to use EV mode in PHEV. Since the car is always in EV mode. Don't think that ICE moves the car.
Only the exception of using motor alone is that when we intentionally put the car in Parallel mode. In parallel mode, the car use ICE and Electric motor at the same time. Still controlled by the computer precisely. But even in this case, still Electric motor produces torque to move the car. According to my paperthick knowledge, your way of starting the car to prevent ICE kicking is related with software, which controls the level of battery charge. Purpose of the charging battery is not only for the motor running but also for the 12V system running. If the ICE kicks when starting, computer is trying to charge the battery for calculating the forthcoming use of energy. EV selection requires a certain level of charge, the computer software already programmed for calculating future use of battery, such as EV(not limited to this but veriety range of battery use), and not limited instant use of energy. This is safety concept for battery protection. If the 12V system and Motor requires the maximum drain in the future, the computer must prepare from the beginning, considering charging speed cannot take over the battery drain speed, in unknown circumstances. So the computer is considering all possible worst seanario, and does the safety circuit preparation. If without selecting EV in front and the battery is full, still ICE is kicking, it looks like glitch of software, based on my rearch or high use of HVAC. or outside temp. I prefer start the as per user manual. Any selection will be followed for not interupping computer software regular flow.
Maybe I am wrong now, but I am approaching to the happenings in such a way and still there is a chance to correct it if I find another theoratical knowledge. So the knowledge expends wider.
Somehow, I push you guys to take my way of approaching, by explanation of the theorical background, it is not the right way to talk with you. Knowing the background knowledge is up to you, now. Wheather you want to know the core or not, the car is moving forward without any problem. If you are uncomfortable, I gurantee no more posting in this way.
Good luck to you.
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