ICE running - does pressing CHRG do anything?

[ThudnBlundr]

I was under the impression that once the ICE was running, the car would be powering the generator and charging the battery - subject to the usual limits of battery level, temperature and throttle position. But I was having a discussion with someone who claims that the engine note drops when they press CHRG while the ICE is running and they are at a steady speed. They conclude that pressing CHRG instantly increases the amount of power that the ICE sends to the battery. I haven't been able to reproduce this on my high-mileage pre-facelift model.

 

[user 3575]

When travelling alone the motorway at a set speed, using Save Mode, the screen showing a charge to the PHEV batteries, now press Charge Mode if this is in theory correct, you should see some movement on the power gauge and possibly a change in engine note ?

 

[greendwarf]

Difficult to test at present - as it is illegal to go anywhere :lol:

However, like ThudnBlundr I can't say I've ever noticed this - or even really thought about it. I suppose , if I had, I would have assumed that both Save & Charge control how long the battery stores the energy it gets from the ICE not the ICE itself. Having said this there is a current thread, which suggests that newer models in North America appear to work differently at above 78mph - which, of course, is a speed none of us in UK ever drive at. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[user 3575]

I have to admit I have not noticed any difference or even thought about it, I set my speed limiter to 60mph I am good

 

[kpetrov]

Basically Save is intermittent Charge. Were Save is engaging and disengaging the engine on order to keep the battery at constant level, whereas Charge is keeping the engine constantly on until the battery is charged up to ~80%.

The goal is to know in which driving conditions the engine can be used most efficiently to charge the battery if you need to top it up (trip out of the battery range). That will be in constant speeds over 65km/h when the engine can be forced in parallel mode.
So if you need to charge on the go, do it on the highway.

 

[ThudnBlundr]

Thanks for the replies. I’ve never seen a change when engaging CHRG, but they swear that pressing it charges the battery “harder” than it would when the ICE is already charging the battery - and of course they claim it uses more fuel doing so. I’m still thinking that charging is charging and there’s no “Extra Charge” (?Supercharge?) mode