Maximising the range on the battery?

[elm70]

No, the kick-down is always there. Not everybody wants to avoid the start-up in cold weather. I personally appreciate it as I like warm feet in the morning - and if I want to avoid it I will use pre-heat. I get the strong impression that your "design misses" are more generated by personal preferences and misconceptions than by the design of the car.

I don't like trying to "invent" something for justify bad design.

In ECO mode, ICE should never start ... 4kw for heat up is enough for warm up the cabin in reasonable time ... if people want faster heat up .. then there is normal mode.

Same apply for ICE starting and going high rev for provide power, just for a fraction of second ... it is a bad design in general, even worst when this happen in ECO mode

This is why vtech is "patching" this car .. with two patch units

This is why 2017 have a proper EV mode that replace (or supplement) ECO mode

This is the first Hybrid from Mitsubishi .. and it is "visible" it is their first "attempt" .. and they are still learning

 

[jaapv]

Well, given that Mitsubishi is a giant technological company that builds just about anything from supertankers to home electronics and jet aircraft to high-tech military equipment, I would suggest that their technical expertise exceeds an Internet voice somewhat.

 

[maby]

As I said and Jaap confirmed: there is a kick down. You need to learn to find it.

If I never felt it .. it means it is not there .. or it is way down for give even extra power .. still I did floor few times for check the "power" of my PHEV

Never felt any feedback from the pedal

Definitely there is nothing in ECO mode between EV power and ICE start

There is a click-stop very close to the bottom of the accelerator travel, but it's not what I would understand as a "kick-down" coming from large auto-boxes in big engined cars. As far as I can see, its only real effect is to override the speed limiter if you have that set. I use the limiter a lot of the time and have been glad of the kick-down effect a few times when I have needed to get out of the way of another vehicle in a hurry.

 

[elm70]

There is a click-stop very close to the bottom of the accelerator travel, but it's not what I would understand as a "kick-down" coming from large auto-boxes in big engined cars. As far as I can see, its only real effect is to override the speed limiter if you have that set. I use the limiter a lot of the time and have been glad of the kick-down effect a few times when I have needed to get out of the way of another vehicle in a hurry.

Thanks

So ... per your feeling, it is only present when the speed limit is set in the PHEV

Interesting to see how many different point of view or feeling we have here

 

[anko]

You still can't believe it, can you? :mrgreen:

 

[Steepndeep]

It is indeed interesting to see the many views on the topic. I think there is some misunderstanding beetween the posts though. What elm70 describes is, as I understand it, that Mercedes has some gaspedal resistance about halfway through the pedal travel to indicate that: if you push further I will start the ICE. Would be quite useful in my opinion but this clearly the PHEV has not.

What the PHEV has however is something which resembles the kick-down button on ICE Automatic transmission cars, at least in the old days. I found this out by accident as you need to press quite hard on the pedal when you floor it. It works like this, on my car at least: In parallell hybrid mode (sort of above 80 km/h) when you push hard past "the button" you force the car into serial hybrid mode, the ICE revs hard and you also draw maximum current from the battery so you have the combined maximum power of both electrical engines for e.g. overtaking. The effect is exactly like in the old ICE Automatic cars, maximum acceleration and screaming ICE

 

[elm70]

You still can't believe it, can you? :mrgreen:

I don't have to believe ...

I need to feel it .. and I never felt this kick down point on the gas pedal

Still:

I never used the speed limit ... and as well .. I have done just twice to fully press the gas pedal for check the acceleration of the car ... else I'm always driving in EV mode, which if it has a kick down .. it is ways far from the ICE start point

 

[elm70]

It is indeed interesting to see the many views on the topic. I think there is some misunderstanding beetween the posts though. What elm70 describes is, as I understand it, that Mercedes has some gaspedal resistance about halfway through the pedal travel to indicate that: if you push further I will start the ICE. Would be quite useful in my opinion but this clearly the PHEV has not.

What the PHEV has however is something which resembles the kick-down button on ICE Automatic transmission cars, at least in the old days. I found this out by accident as you need to press quite hard on the pedal when you floor it. It works like this, on my car at least: In parallell hybrid mode (sort of above 80 km/h) when you push hard past "the button" you force the car into serial hybrid mode, the ICE revs hard and you also draw maximum current from the battery so you have the combined maximum power of both electrical engines for e.g. overtaking. The effect is exactly like in the old ICE Automatic cars, maximum acceleration and screaming ICE

Thanks

Maybe I was never pushing hard enough ... :shock:

 

[greendwarf]

Just to muddy the waters on this - I've found the effect is similar to model cars racing sets - where, if you squeeze too quickly the car just flies of the track, so you need a smooth (but fast) action to get maximum acceleration without crashing. When I get it just right from the lights it is very satisfying but most of the time I overdo it and the ICE kicks in but the result is just the same, as I leave the boy racers eating my dust :lol:

 

[elm70]

Just to muddy the waters on this - I've found the effect is similar to model cars racing sets - where, if you squeeze too quickly the car just flies of the track, so you need a smooth (but fast) action to get maximum acceleration without crashing. When I get it just right from the lights it is very satisfying but most of the time I overdo it and the ICE kicks in but the result is just the same, as I leave the boy racers eating my dust :lol:

:shock: :shock:

Maybe if the street is with snow or very slippery , the PHEV can outrun "racers" in the traffic light urban "race"

Else ... I doubt it can outran any other car that is not a Fiat Panda or Fiat 126 :ugeek:

PS: "Model car racing set" ??? What it is that ? I have been doing RC mode cars racing, ages ago .. but I gues you don't mean this :?:

 

[maby]

Just to muddy the waters on this - I've found the effect is similar to model cars racing sets - where, if you squeeze too quickly the car just flies of the track, so you need a smooth (but fast) action to get maximum acceleration without crashing. When I get it just right from the lights it is very satisfying but most of the time I overdo it and the ICE kicks in but the result is just the same, as I leave the boy racers eating my dust :lol:

:shock: :shock:

Maybe if the street is with snow or very slippery , the PHEV can outrun "racers" in the traffic light urban "race"

Else ... I doubt it can outran any other car that is not a Fiat Panda or Fiat 126 :ugeek:

PS: "Model car racing set" ??? What it is that ? I have been doing RC mode cars racing, ages ago .. but I gues you don't mean this :?:

It's certainly not a sports car but, if you keep a reasonably high level of charge in the battery and are not afraid to burn petrol, it is quite fast for a 4WD estate. You are not going to beat a hot-hatch that is trying, but if you floor it off the lights, you will make them wonder what you are driving.

 

[maby]

You still can't believe it, can you? :mrgreen:

I don't have to believe ...

I need to feel it .. and I never felt this kick down point on the gas pedal

Still:

I never used the speed limit ... and as well .. I have done just twice to fully press the gas pedal for check the acceleration of the car ... else I'm always driving in EV mode, which if it has a kick down .. it is ways far from the ICE start point

The "kick-down" is right at the bottom of the pedal travel. Press the pedal till it appears to reach the end stop, then press a bit harder and it will click down a fraction of an inch - after which there is no more travel. It functions as a switch which overrides some setting of the car - it certainly temporarily disables the speed limiter if that is set, and I have seen it suggested that it also disables the ECO function if that is set. Since the effect of ECO is so small, this would probably be difficult to verify. You certainly don't need to trip the switch to get the car to go from parallel hybrid to serial hybrid - it will do that in response to any hard acceleration.

I am talking about a two year old PHEV here - things may have changed on later models.

 

[jaapv]

Yes. Kick-down is always on the last bit of the accelerator travel - with all cars that have it. That is why it is called kick-down.
It is in the same spot with the VTech box as well. The only thing that box does is to modify the response curve of the accelerator to prevent the car from going into hybrid mode.

 

[greendwarf]

PS: "Model car racing set" ??? What it is that ? I have been doing RC mode cars racing, ages ago .. but I gues you don't mean this :?:

Scalextric - is that before your time, ha, ha?