Let's go pure EV...

[anko]

If the driver only goes to work and then returns home, presumably like you do then it may be possible to include a Press the ECO button into the startup sequence of the biological computer. My usage as well as many others may include a quick trip to the shop, drop some kids off at sports, and others at ballet, as well as pick others up from neighbourhood homes as a shuttle service with the flash EV. The REMEMBER to press the ECO button will soon become lost in all else that is happening within the vehicle. Sticky functionality of the ECO button for these drivers will soon become an important consideration.

In the Netherlands, which I believe is still the biggest market, 95% (if not more) of PHEVs are company cars, predominantly used for the daily commute to work.

Of course, I would love the have Sticky ECO, make mo mistake about that. But to say that the impact of this particular mod will be minimal as long as I don't have it does not make much sense IMHO. I still allows you some sort of control that you did not have before. As does your mod.

 

[jaapv]

I don't think I would have ever bought the PHEV without the tax advantages and solely for economy. Much as I like the car, it takes an awful lot of EV running to offset the price difference to a large number of other desirable vehicles.

 

[jaapv]

[...]In the Netherlands, which I believe is still the biggest market[...]

About 25000 Outlander PHEVs on the road.

 

[anko]

Last two days, it was 6 and 5 degrees C when I left home for work. Both days, after first selecting ECO mode, I was able to set the heater to 20 deg C without the engine starting up at all. Something I don't think I was ever able to do. Very promising.

The box manipulates the interior temp sensor, causing the car to believe the interior temperature is at least 13 deg C, even when it is in fact colder (*). This means the gap between actual interior temp (as seen by the car, so >= 13 deg C) and requested interior temp (20 deg C in my case) is less or equals to 7 deg C. Also, I saw that when cranking up the heater from 21.5 to 22 deg C, the engine will start (gap > 8 deg C). It looks as if the car is programmed to bridge a gap of up to 7 deg C pure EV where it will bridge bigger gaps using the engine. This would be consistent with my (personal) observations that you need at leest 7 deg C interior temperature in order to be able to run the heater at 15.5 deg C.

(*) When it is warmer than 13 deg C, the box does not manipulate the sensor.

 

[ClasseClas]

Last two days, it was 6 and 5 degrees C when I left home for work. Both days, after first selecting ECO mode, I was able to set the heater to 20 deg C without the engine starting up at all. Something I don't think I was ever able to do. Very promising.

The box manipulates the interior temp sensor, causing the car to believe the interior temperature is at least 13 deg C, even when it is in fact colder (*). This means the gap between actual interior temp (as seen by the car, so >= 13 deg C) and requested interior temp (20 deg C in my case) is less or equals to 7 deg C. Also, I saw that when cranking up the heater from 21.5 to 22 deg C, the engine will start (gap > 8 deg C). It looks as if the car is programmed to bridge a gap of up to 7 deg C pure EV where it will bridge bigger gaps using the engine. This would be consistent with my (personal) observations that you need at leest 7 deg C interior temperature in order to be able to run the heater at 15.5 deg C.

(*) When it is warmer than 13 deg C, the box does not manipulate the sensor.

This sounds very promising! I normally set my cabin temp to 18.5C during winter season so this mod would work well from that point of view.

I can't wait for a Swedish "box installation event" like you had in NL.
What do you say @vtechtuning? Ready for a Södertälje event?

 

[gwatpe]

I suspect that EU shipped PHEV with the lower climate default range would mean a different operation sequence for AUS shipped PHEV. Benefits to AUS shipped vehicles would possibly not be as great.

 

[anko]

I suspect that EU shipped PHEV with the lower climate default range would mean a different operation sequence for AUS shipped PHEV. Benefits to AUS shipped vehicles would possibly not be as great.

'Not starting the engine for heating purpose' is only a secondary function added to the box in a late stadium .... The main purpose of the box was to prevent unintentional engine starts caused by hitting the accelerator pedal to enthusiastically. And this works very well, I must say ...

 

[NAPpy]

I suspect that EU shipped PHEV with the lower climate default range would mean a different operation sequence for AUS shipped PHEV. Benefits to AUS shipped vehicles would possibly not be as great.

'Not starting the engine for heating purpose' is only a secondary function added to the box in a late stadium .... The main purpose of the box was to prevent unintentional engine starts caused by hitting the accelerator pedal to enthusiastically. And this works very well, I must say ...

That is exactly what I want. Will also prevent the ACC from doing the same thing?

 

[anko]

I suspect that EU shipped PHEV with the lower climate default range would mean a different operation sequence for AUS shipped PHEV. Benefits to AUS shipped vehicles would possibly not be as great.

'Not starting the engine for heating purpose' is only a secondary function added to the box in a late stadium .... The main purpose of the box was to prevent unintentional engine starts caused by hitting the accelerator pedal to enthusiastically. And this works very well, I must say ...

That is exactly what I want. Will also prevent the ACC from doing the same thing?

I doubt that. As the solution is only manipulating signals between the accelerator and the ECU.

 

[NAPpy]

That is exactly what I want. Will also prevent the ACC from doing the same thing?[/quote]
I doubt that. As the solution is only manipulating signals between the accelerator and the ECU.[/quote]

Yep, that is what I thought hence why the flash would suit me better as we do use ACC just about all the time!

NAPpy

 

[gwatpe]

My PHEV will soon be out of warranty, so a flashing the ECU to provide new functions would be a better solution for me.

 

[anko]

Hi Vtechtuning,

Found the SW, the USB driver and the little manual on your site. Installed the SW under Windows 10, running in a Parallels VM environment in a MacBook Pro. Worked like a charm. Congrats with this.

This evening, I cut a little piece out of the casing, so I could connect the USB cable without opening the box again. Then I started playing with the settings. “Originally" I had this setup:

- 42 for Engine Starts
- 86 for Kick Start
- 95 for Kick Hard
- 20 for Kick Stop

I had two ‘issues':

First, I found it difficult to meet the Kick Down point, without passing it. By changing Kick Start to 90 I totally got rid of that issue. It feels very solid now. For sure, it must be behind the ears, but it is almost as if my accelerator pedal physically changed.

Second, I had the idea I was not getting as much EV power as possible, at full throttle. About 52 kW according to my OBD tools. Changing the first param to 45 turned out to be too much: engine kicked in every time at full throttle. Setting it to 44 appeared just right: 55 - 56 kW on the dashboard and the power meter pointing at 11:59 instead of 11:56 or 11:57 at setting 42. Very nice. The car felt quicker. Maybe also because I was less worried about accidentally engaging the Kick Down.

But, when I turned on the electric heater, 44 turned out to be a little too much. I did several fast take-offs, with both 43 and 44 for the first param, heater on as well as and heater off. At 43 the engine stayed off every time. At 44 then engine stayed off when the heater was off, but came on when the heater was on. Consistently. So, it appears we do have to take power consumption by the heater into account somehow. Perhaps, I need to get used to changing maps whenever I change tires at the beginning and end of winter ;-)

You have explained a lot about the functioning of the box and the various settings. But playing with the SW myself, I think I finally understand what you’ve been doing. And I must say: I think it is rather impressive. Especially taking into account the short timeframe you have been working on this.

 

[anko]

To be honest, the settings that worked so well last night did not work so well this morning. With the same setting and the heater off, the engine kicked in three times at full throttle. This afternoon, it was totally fine again and extremely pleasant to drive.

I blame either low SOC or low battery temperature, which may have reduced max battery output. Must see if Vtechtuning can take this into account somehow ...

 

[Mdejon]

Great job, I guess you found a customer is Brazil also..

http://www.powerful.com.br/ is a representative of Vtech Tuning in Brasil. I have informed Jose Putra (owner) about new product.

Thanks a lot!!

 

[gwatpe]

To be honest, the settings that worked so well last night did not work so well this morning. With the same setting and the heater off, the engine kicked in three times at full throttle. This afternoon, it was totally fine again and extremely pleasant to drive.

I blame either low SOC or low battery temperature, which may have reduced max battery output. Must see if Vtechtuning can take this into account somehow ...

To adapt one parameter with another variable is a lot more involved than manually re-flashing.

 

[anko]

To be honest, the settings that worked so well last night did not work so well this morning. With the same setting and the heater off, the engine kicked in three times at full throttle. This afternoon, it was totally fine again and extremely pleasant to drive.

I blame either low SOC or low battery temperature, which may have reduced max battery output. Must see if Vtechtuning can take this into account somehow ...

To adapt one parameter with another variable is a lot more involved than manually re-flashing.

You really don't like this a bit, do you?

You cannot compare product development with product implementation / installation.

 

[Claymore]

[...]In the Netherlands, which I believe is still the biggest market[...]

About 25000 Outlander PHEVs on the road.

I've just spent a week in the Netherlands and saw 3!

One white one was parked up on the side of a canal in Amsterdam and apparently on charge beside a houseboat containing a substantial bearded gent who may have been a Dutch Dentist with an engineering background.

JimB

 

[jaapv]

Just three? It must have been weekend, 95% are company cars. On a normal commute of 20 km I will see more than three. Sorry to disappoint, I don't have a beard and rarely visit Amsterdam.

 

[thegurio]

Finally a real use for the ECO button. I put up with the ice starting with just that bit more acc pedal in NORMAL mode. It is annoying to burn 50-80ml of petrol for no real reason. This would be perfect for the local driving I do to help reduce unnecessary petrol consumption. The plug connections without any ECU mods suits me. Would you consider shipping to Australia?

Of course. V-Tech Tuning Australia will be final distributor, so delivery will be quick. http://vtechtuning.com.au/
They still don't know about that but I inform them today.

That's a terrible shame considering I live in Australia! Do you need another tester? Would be more than happy to help out with debugging etc.

 

[gordone]

I must say you have done a good and clever work with the powerbox and pure electrical mode!

I will purchase it when I receive my car...

Have you done some progress of heating and AC turn the petrol engine on?
Right now with your powerbox installed will the petrol motor run for 30 seconds when you start up the car before it goes off in Eco mode? So the problem for me in the winter will be that the petrol motor start up for a short while each time I start to drive in Eco mode?

I try to understand how the car will behave for me with the power box. Where I live can it easy go down to -10 Celsius in the winter. How much power will the electrical heater use?

Lets say I want to have 22 Celsius in the cabin and outside temp are -10 how far can I drive?
Maybe it would be hopeless for me to run in ECO MODE in winter time?