Is Outlander the only PHEV without EV button?

[user 258]

Hi,

All we need is an option on the setup screen (much like we already have that says the a/c works normally when in ECO mode) that gives the choice of enabling ICE heat assistance at current 7C or at a lower temperature such as 0C.

The Ampera has just such an option.

Kind regards,
Mark

 

[greendwarf]

What's wrong with "Eco" = pure EV until the battery is exhausted, "Eco" + "Save" = the current "Eco" mode and "Save" on its own = the current "Save" mode.

While we are asking them for changes, I would like the option to move the low battery floor value up to 50% charge, and I would like this to be sticky. As I've already described, I spend quite long periods away from home with the Outlander and no opportunity to charge - I would like to be able to signal this to the car so that it keeps a fair reserve in the battery to cover climbing steep hills and demand for high acceleration.

Isn't that what the Save button is for :?:

That is what the save button does, but it currently requires the driver to manage it each time he starts the car - I have on occasion forgotten to press the Save button and run my battery down days away from home with no opportunity to recharge. There is also this question mark over how well the car performs if you press save with a completely full battery - regen braking is less effective and it has been suggested that it may also be less able to store excess output from the generator. My current strategy for multi-day trips away from home is to drive in normal mode till the battery is down to something like 50 or 60%, then put it into save till I'm on the return leg home. This seems to work well - leaves the car running more or less like a Prius - but does depend on me remembering to do it. If we are asking Mitsubishi to tinker with the power management, then I would like to request a "sticky 50% save" mode for long trips away from charging facilities.

At the risk of seeming difficult, surely you would still need to remember to activate this or, if it was a default setting, have to remember to override :?

 

[maby]

...

At the risk of seeming difficult, surely you would still need to remember to activate this or, if it was a default setting, have to remember to override :?

I would like it to be sticky - in fact it's the only option I would seriously like to be sticky. I effectively have two distinct driving patterns - weekdays when the trips are short and EV is appropriate and weekends when I spend three or four days on the road with no opportunity to recharge. If I occasionally forget to turn "sticky save" off and drive an entire weekday on petrol, I will burn less than a pint - I'm not going to lose sleep over that. It is more annoying to forget to turn save on during the weekend and find the engine screaming as I climb a steep hill.

 

[anko]

... and weekends when I spend three or four days on the road ...

Can I please, please, please have your weekends? :lol:

 

[maby]

... and weekends when I spend three or four days on the road ...

Can I please, please, please have your weekends? :lol:

Only if you can write the IT Outsourcing bids that I produce most weekends!

 

[anko]

... and weekends when I spend three or four days on the road ...

Can I please, please, please have your weekends? :lol:

Only if you can write the IT Outsourcing bids that I produce most weekends!

On second thought, thanks.

 

[PolishPilot]

In the grand scheme of things, avoiding burning a cup full of petrol on a cold morning is of no importance whatsoever. If you care about the environment (personally it does not cause me lost sleep), then you would be buying a small pure EV with a battery range in excess of 100 miles, not a two tonne 4WD estate car with an optimistic EV range of 30 miles.

This not about "cup of petrol", this is about running just 10-15 km a day
and this extra "cup" means fuel consumption of 10-13 l/100km.

I was fine with that with my Hilux until now, but the Hilux was having
80l tank, not 40l. It means going to filling station twice as often now.

And I would like to kindly inform you, that I purchased
"a two tonne 4WD estate car with an optimistic EV range of 30 miles"
not out of my fantasy, but for a purpose.

I live in the countryside and have app. 1 km unpaved road
not maintained in winter to the nearest settlement.
I work from home, but make now and then 500-700 km
a day business trips.

The Outlander was supposedly the solution for my needs.
Short runs as pure EV, 4WD and good enough for longer trips.

This is why I purchased her and did not buy
"a small pure EV with a battery range in excess of 100 miles instead.
(Which I probably wouldn't be able even to drive out of the gate
in winter.)

 

[maby]

Clearly we are never going agree about this, so I guess we just have to agree to disagree. As far as I can see, most of the year you are going to get your wish and run pure EV - losing sleep over burning a fraction of a litre on a cold morning seems like unjustifiable eco-idealism to me. The total cost of ownership will still be good compared to any conventional 4WD estate and that's all that matters.

 

[anko]

it is not about TCO. It is about not wasting stuff.

 

[greendwarf]

As I've pointed out before this is a Japanese car primarily designed for their market. Given the density of their cities (and in nearby China) traffic pollution is likely to be even more of an issue than in Europe. So EV range is important especially for those commuting from suburbs.

Others moan about not getting the full 32miles/52km during winter, so it seems to me that the car has been designed to "protect" this as much as possible by burning petrol to provide heating (unless you pre-heat) at the beginning of the journey so as to save the EV until later.

We are not the target market and so shouldn't be surprised when it doesn't meet our individual requirements. It can't be all things to all men! Similarly, Mitsu aren't going to change the car just to satisfy some market niche - especially as many European owners aren't apparently bothered by the lack of an EV only button.

It will, however, be interesting to see if N American models are significantly different.

 

[anko]

So EV range is important especially for those commuting from suburbs.

And what about those that live in those cities instead of their suburbs?

Others moan about not getting the full 32miles/52km during winter, so it seems to me that the car has been designed to "protect" this as much as possible by burning petrol to provide heating (unless you pre-heat) at the beginning of the journey so as to save the EV until later.

For this, they have implemented Save and Charge buttons. And they work wonders. So, why must the engine also run if you don't use Save or Charge? It would be so easy to accommodate both needs.

We are not the target market and so shouldn't be surprised when it doesn't meet our individual requirements.

Did you compare sales figures between Japan and the Netherlands? You will be surprised

It can't be all things to all men!

Why not, in this case? Again, it would be so easy!

... especially as many European owners aren't apparently bothered by the lack of an EV only button.

And as long as they keep expressing that on forums like these, indeed Mitsubishi probably is laughing their socks off.

 

[PolishPilot]

.... especially as many European owners aren't apparently bothered by the lack of an EV only button.

....

Unfortunately, more and more surprised new users are bothered, see some posts from another forum:

http://insideoutlander.boards.net/thread/496/disappointing-fuel-usage

I am an Outlander PHEV owner since a few weeks.
iggest remark so far was the lack of a button to turn the engine off.
Even when I leave with full battery the motor runs the first 5 or 10 minutes. Why?
But also afterwards during driving I found the engine was running often.

 

[puckernutter]

It's funny. People want to drive without fuel, ie. they actually want an EV. But they buy a hybrid, and are surprised when the ICE is running... :roll:

 

[maby]

Didn't any of you test drive it? It would take less than a minute sitting in the driver seat to check for the presence of an "EV" button - surprise, surprise - there isn't one! There's no rocket launchers or passenger ejector seat either - do you hear me complaining that the salesman misled me?

 

[puckernutter]

It would also be nice to have something that shuts the passenger up.

 

[PolishPilot]

Clearly we are never going agree about this, so I guess we just have to agree to disagree. As far as I can see, most of the year you are going to get your wish and run pure EV - losing sleep over burning a fraction of a litre on a cold morning seems like unjustifiable eco-idealism to me. The total cost of ownership will still be good compared to any conventional 4WD estate and that's all that matters.

Unfortunately, not "most of the year".

Where I live morning temperatures below 5C are common for 8 moths of the year.

And this is not "eco-idealism", this is pure economic calculation.
There are no tax benefits in Poland, I calculated, assuming pure electric drive up to 30 km
(very conservative), that I will recover the difference in price between the diesel version and PHEV
within 5 years. Now, with the figures of the first half year, 10.000 km, I can see, that it will take
me 10 years instead (battery swap not included in the calculations.)

As simple as that.

 

[PolishPilot]

It's funny. People want to drive without fuel, ie. they actually want an EV. But they buy a hybrid, and are surprised when the ICE is running... :roll:

Dpn't be so funny yourself. This is a Plug In Hybrid ELECTRIC VEHICLE.

It is is supposed to drive for a certain distance after plugging in (charging) as a pure EV.

If I would buy a simple hybrid, your point would be valid,
although most of the "simple hybrids" have the "pure EV" option.

 

[puckernutter]

Plug-in doesn't automatically imply it's a pure EV. It usually means you simply can charge it from an external source. How it utilizes that power is still completely up to the engineers (and to some extent, business strategists).

 

[PolishPilot]

Didn't any of you test drive it? It would take less than a minute sitting in the driver seat to check for the presence of an "EV" button - surprise, surprise - there isn't one! There's no rocket launchers or passenger ejector seat either - do you hear me complaining that the salesman misled me?

I did. The EV button was so obvious for me, that I didn't bother to look for it.
The test drive was on a sunny, hot August day, fully charged, ICE never started.
(A/C, not heating, was my concern, but it showed negligible power consumption.)
The PHEV performed as advertised at those temperatures.

 

[Kim]

LOL, that's a sweet sign there, puckernutter!

I wished I had one of these back in the days when I did the sightseeing flights in the Swiss alps with the tourists, my boss regularly asigned me to