Is Series mode really that effective compared to normal petrol car?

[Iggy_phev]

I've read somewhere that series mode in PHEVs are way more efficient compared to normal petrol cars in start-stop city traffic. Is it applicable to outlander phev as well, because I know that parallel hybrid is far more efficient, or is it?

 

[AndyInOz]

Well, one anecdote is not data but...

... I spent hours in a traffic jam (State wide blackout took out all the traffic lights), and the car didn't use any more battery than normal.

In the following days, I heard many anecdotes about people who ran out of petrol and had to abandon their cars, while they were stuck in the jams.

So from that point of view, my car looked pretty efficient.

(Even if I had been forced to start the engine to charge the battery back up, I'd only have to run the engine for forty minutes. cf. something like 3 hours in the gridlock.)

 

[littlescrote]

Of course it's more efficient than a petrol car if you are using energy from the battery that was grid charged.

 

[BruceHF]

In my case I have found in travelling long distances (more than 50km) I find that Series mode is pretty efficient especially when I use ECO and Cruise Control

 

[mark42]

Apples are more efficient than oranges.

We have each chosen the vehicle that we believe best meets our needs. Efficency, price, practicality, looks etc.

I have the PHEV because I believe some trips I make are outside a fully electric vehicles current capabilities. But most days I can get away with the small electric only range.

So what is the most efficient vehicle, that must depend on what is wanted from it.

A lighter vehicle will be efficient going up hill.
When stationary a vehicle not using any power will be tge most efficient. That could be an ICE vehicle that the driver has swiched off.
Downhill many ICE vehicles shut off the fuel and use gravity to keep things turning. An EV can probably do this on a shallower incline than an ICE.


So the question asked about parallel or seriese hybrid in stop start traffic.


The outlander can be either, but I think in stop start traffic you are unlikely to get up to a speed where the engine drives the wheels directly so you don't have the option.

Any other comparison is also not worth much given all the other variables.


So the answer is clearly a grape.

 

[BobK]

Even if the battery is depleted, you get the advantage of regenerative breaking in a PHEV that is wasted on a pure ICE car.