how to get the Max Distance out of fully charged battery?

[ErnstLudwig]

Hi,
I've got this beatiful car for a few weeks now and i really like it.
But I'm a little confused about how to get the most out of my batteries.

The other day the display said 42kms. I've reset the trip counter and found out that the battery lasted for exactly 42kms.
Little city - most of the time motorway with about 110km/h.
Today the display said 46kms and the battery was empty after 36kms - under more or less the same conditions.

Now i don't want to discuss the reliability of the system's distance prediction.
What i want to know is:
How do i get the farthest with full batteries?
- No A/C, sure.
- After hitting the Eco-Button i had the impression that the energy consumption would rise...
- Tire pressure to 3bar?
- no radio?
- Is there an optimal travel speed on the motorway?
- should i try to let the car roll with B0 or should i keep my foot on the gas and then B5?

What else?

Is there anything like "learn how to drive your PHEV the most energy efficient way" out there?


Best Regards
Ernst

 

[Tyke]

My thoughts on the regenerative braking is that it is better to conserve speed with B0 than to lose that speed to B5; there will always be efficiency losses in the regeneration process.

 

[ufo]

Hi,
I've got this beatiful car for a few weeks now and i really like it.
But I'm a little confused about how to get the most out of my batteries.

The other day the display said 42kms. I've reset the trip counter and found out that the battery lasted for exactly 42kms.
Little city - most of the time motorway with about 110km/h.
Today the display said 46kms and the battery was empty after 36kms - under more or less the same conditions.

Now i don't want to discuss the reliability of the system's distance prediction.
What i want to know is:
How do i get the farthest with full batteries?
- No A/C, sure.

Yes, A/C sucks up a lot of juice. If you are running heating make sure you turn off A/C. If you want to run cooling it is up to you to decide how long/much to run A/C.

- After hitting the Eco-Button i had the impression that the energy consumption would rise...

No, it does save you energy but the amount depends on your driving style. Always try to anticipate the traffic ahead, always slow down with regen braking and try to avoid using friction brakes as much as possible.

- Tire pressure to 3bar?

Yes, increasing tyre pressure helps, I tried and went back to normal after I almost lost one of my kidneys ( :lol: just joking) on Sydney's 3rd world quality roads with PHEV's harsh suspension.

- no radio?

Radio's effect would be very minimal, If you are really concerned about audio system, palying CDs at high wolume would suck up more juice.

- Is there an optimal travel speed on the motorway?

Slower the better, I stick to 100 km/h.

should i try to let the car roll with B0 or should i keep my foot on the gas and then B5?

Yes, let the car roll in B0 as much as you can, use higher level regen only to slow down or stop when you need to. Because you loose alot of energy during regen and than using that regenerated energy back.

What else?

That's about it, sticking to what I said above I always get 50 km or more pure EV range after each full charge in urban driving


Is there anything like "learn how to drive your PHEV the most energy efficient way" out there?


Best Regards
Ernst

 

[ErnstLudwig]

Thanks for the input guys!

Let's see how far i can get.
I'll keep you updated.

 

[ErnstLudwig]

Update: I think I got it how to drive that car.

Yesterday i did another field test and the batteries lasted for 45kms through tough city traffic.

What i did was just giving it a nice push up to 55/60 kms and then let it roll with B0 - as you guys suggested.
When facing lights i started to fiddle with the flappy paddles to halt the car as close to the line an possible.

It was fun - though it also was a challenge - and I'm not sure how long i will stay so focused while driving.
but anyways: I think I've got the idea now.
In the past my attention was focused on the acceleration part. Getting of the lights a quickly as possible, changing to faster lanes, trying to go go go, while breaking was a bit of a fun stopper.
Now i need to leard to get fun out of the rolling and breaking phase.

 

[Stu]

Be mindful of what's behind you when you use B5 because, at least in the UK, the brake lights don't come on and the car will slow a lot faster than conventional ICE braking.

Of course, anyone behind should be concentrating enough to notice without the visual aid of brake lights, but....

 

[maby]

Update: I think I got it how to drive that car.

Yesterday i did another field test and the batteries lasted for 45kms through tough city traffic.

What i did was just giving it a nice push up to 55/60 kms and then let it roll with B0 - as you guys suggested.
When facing lights i started to fiddle with the flappy paddles to halt the car as close to the line an possible.

It was fun - though it also was a challenge - and I'm not sure how long i will stay so focused while driving.
but anyways: I think I've got the idea now.
In the past my attention was focused on the acceleration part. Getting of the lights a quickly as possible, changing to faster lanes, trying to go go go, while breaking was a bit of a fun stopper.
Now i need to leard to get fun out of the rolling and breaking phase.

Make the challenge to never actually stop! In my youth, I used to work in the East End of London and live in the north. I knew the phasing of all the traffic lights so well that there were a few occasions (admittedly late at night) when I left the Mile End Road and made it all the way to Enfield without ever actually coming to a halt - that really does take some practice!

 

[ufo]

Be mindful of what's behind you when you use B5 because, at least in the UK, the brake lights don't come on and the car will slow a lot faster than conventional ICE braking.

Of course, anyone behind should be concentrating enough to notice without the visual aid of brake lights, but....

Brake lights don't come on in AU spec models either. But I think making an issue out of brake lights not coming on when regen. brake is used is total nonsense. A manual car would decelerate a lot quicker than B5 regen braking by dropping down to lower gears quickly. Yes an automatic car might not depending on design and/or cleverness of the software running the auto gearbox but who cares. It is the sole responsibility of the driver behind to watch the entire traffic in front not just the very near vehicle in front regardless of brake lights are working or not. There are so many idiots driving out there not paying enough attention to the vehicle and traffic in front and/or busy doing other things such as talking on the phone, searching something on car's info/entertainment system, drinking coffee, list goes on and on with ladies applying make up......... Proof is that I was rear-ended 3 times in a month with perfectly working brake lights last year. I never watch the brake lights of the vehicle in front; always watch the entire traffic in front if I can (sometimes a big 4WD or truck covers entire field of vision) and pay attention to the distance between myself and the vehicle in front.

 

[TerryB]

Be mindful of what's behind you when you use B5 because, at least in the UK, the brake lights don't come on and the car will slow a lot faster than conventional ICE braking.

Of course, anyone behind should be concentrating enough to notice without the visual aid of brake lights, but....

Brake lights don't come on in AU spec models either. But I think making an issue out of brake lights not coming on when regen. brake is used is total nonsense. A manual car would decelerate a lot quicker than B5 regen braking by dropping down to lower gears quickly. Yes an automatic car might not depending on design and/or cleverness of the software running the auto gearbox but who cares. It is the sole responsibility of the driver behind to watch the entire traffic in front not just the very near vehicle in front regardless of brake lights are working or not. There are so many idiots driving out there not paying enough attention to the vehicle and traffic in front and/or busy doing other things such as talking on the phone, searching something on car's info/entertainment system, drinking coffee, list goes on and on with ladies applying make up......... Proof is that I was rear-ended 3 times in a month with perfectly working brake lights last year. I never watch the brake lights of the vehicle in front; always watch the entire traffic in front if I can (sometimes a big 4WD or truck covers entire field of vision) and pay attention to the distance between myself and the vehicle in front.

Could not agree more!

 

[gwatpe]

Even though this is not specifically on topic, I can confirm that on AUS shipped PHEV, the brake lights are activated in ACC when coming up on a vehicle in front that is slowing. This uses essentially the same REGEN stuff as B1-B5.

 

[Stu]

Be mindful of what's behind you when you use B5 because, at least in the UK, the brake lights don't come on and the car will slow a lot faster than conventional ICE braking.

Of course, anyone behind should be concentrating enough to notice without the visual aid of brake lights, but....

Brake lights don't come on in AU spec models either. But I think making an issue out of brake lights not coming on when regen. brake is used is total nonsense. A manual car would decelerate a lot quicker than B5 regen braking by dropping down to lower gears quickly. Yes an automatic car might not depending on design and/or cleverness of the software running the auto gearbox but who cares. It is the sole responsibility of the driver behind to watch the entire traffic in front not just the very near vehicle in front regardless of brake lights are working or not. There are so many idiots driving out there not paying enough attention to the vehicle and traffic in front and/or busy doing other things such as talking on the phone, searching something on car's info/entertainment system, drinking coffee, list goes on and on with ladies applying make up......... Proof is that I was rear-ended 3 times in a month with perfectly working brake lights last year. I never watch the brake lights of the vehicle in front; always watch the entire traffic in front if I can (sometimes a big 4WD or truck covers entire field of vision) and pay attention to the distance between myself and the vehicle in front.

Don't talk to me about women drivers. Driving to work this morning on the motorway, I looked over to my left and there was this woman in a BMW doing at least 65 mph with her face up next to her rear view mirror putting on her mascara.

I looked away for a couple seconds and then the next thing I knew was she was careering all over my lane.

It scared me so badly that I dropped my electric shaver in my coffee, it spilled all over my newspaper and I just barely managed to keep my mobile phone to my ear with my shoulder.

 

[maddogsetc]

Don't talk to me about women drivers. Driving to work this morning on the motorway, I looked over to my left and there was this woman in a BMW doing at least 65 mph with her face up next to her rear view mirror putting on her mascara.

I looked away for a couple seconds and then the next thing I knew was she was careering all over my lane.

It scared me so badly that I dropped my electric shaver in my coffee, it spilled all over my newspaper and I just barely managed to keep my mobile phone to my ear with my shoulder.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[greendwarf]

Be mindful of what's behind you when you use B5 because, at least in the UK, the brake lights don't come on and the car will slow a lot faster than conventional ICE braking.

Of course, anyone behind should be concentrating enough to notice without the visual aid of brake lights, but....

Brake lights don't come on in AU spec models either. But I think making an issue out of brake lights not coming on when regen. brake is used is total nonsense. A manual car would decelerate a lot quicker than B5 regen braking by dropping down to lower gears quickly. Yes an automatic car might not depending on design and/or cleverness of the software running the auto gearbox but who cares. It is the sole responsibility of the driver behind to watch the entire traffic in front not just the very near vehicle in front regardless of brake lights are working or not. There are so many idiots driving out there not paying enough attention to the vehicle and traffic in front and/or busy doing other things such as talking on the phone, searching something on car's info/entertainment system, drinking coffee, list goes on and on with ladies applying make up......... Proof is that I was rear-ended 3 times in a month with perfectly working brake lights last year. I never watch the brake lights of the vehicle in front; always watch the entire traffic in front if I can (sometimes a big 4WD or truck covers entire field of vision) and pay attention to the distance between myself and the vehicle in front.

Don't talk to me about women drivers. Driving to work this morning on the motorway, I looked over to my left and there was this woman in a BMW doing at least 65 mph with her face up next to her rear view mirror putting on her mascara.

I looked away for a couple seconds and then the next thing I knew was she was careering all over my lane.

It scared me so badly that I dropped my electric shaver in my coffee, it spilled all over my newspaper and I just barely managed to keep my mobile phone to my ear with my shoulder.

I agree - it's this sort of behaviour that keeps disturbing my sleep when I'm using the car on snooze control :lol:

 

[ufo]

Don't talk to me about women drivers. Driving to work this morning on the motorway, I looked over to my left and there was this woman in a BMW doing at least 65 mph with her face up next to her rear view mirror putting on her mascara.

I looked away for a couple seconds and then the next thing I knew was she was careering all over my lane.

It scared me so badly that I dropped my electric shaver in my coffee, it spilled all over my newspaper and I just barely managed to keep my mobile phone to my ear with my shoulder.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
I did not mean to generalize based on any gender, race, religion or whatever. Ladies applying make up was something that came to my mind at that moment but I must confess that I see so many of them lately, may be a coincidence or a trend :?: . There are horrible drivers from any part of any society. Your joke definitely made me laugh outloud.