Miles displayed after full charge

[Misty]

I have had my brand new PHEV GX4h for 3 weeks and I have never seen a battery milage reading of more than 26 miles despite leaving the car on charge for minimum time. One of the reasons I bough the car was that it could do up to 32 mile on a single charge. For the past few trips the most it has shown has 19-21 miles after a full charge. I expected the way I drive to decrease the milage if not driving it in a Eco way but not to have the full range of milage after a full charge is concerning me. I spoke to the dealer today who told me what I see is not actuate and to use my trip counter to work out the amount of miles I am getting out of the battery. Any one else have this problem?

Other than the mileage issue I love the car and look forward to get more hints and tips from the forum.

 

[maby]

32 miles is extremely optimistic. Very few have ever achieved it and even then only under absolutely perfect conditions. The best I've ever achieved was 29.5 miles and that was a gentle cruise at between 30 and 40mph on flat and relatively empty roads in warm (not hot) conditions. 22 to 25 miles far more realistic and I reckon I'm doing alright to get 16 miles in the middle of the winter.

 

[Misty]

32 miles is extremely optimistic. Very few have ever achieved it and even then only under absolutely perfect conditions. The best I've ever achieved was 29.5 miles and that was a gentle cruise at between 30 and 40mph on flat and relatively empty roads in warm (not hot) conditions. 22 to 25 miles far more realistic and I reckon I'm doing alright to get 16 miles in the middle of the winter.

I was lead to believe that the car was always capable of achieving the 32 miles but dependent on how it is driven, weather etc this might not be achieved. On start up it is not showing more than 19-21 miles and then I probably don't even get that as it seems to go down faster than the miles I am driving so probably achieving 15 miles out of a single full charge which is not much more than my OH Prius plug-in!

 

[maby]

32 miles is extremely optimistic. Very few have ever achieved it and even then only under absolutely perfect conditions. The best I've ever achieved was 29.5 miles and that was a gentle cruise at between 30 and 40mph on flat and relatively empty roads in warm (not hot) conditions. 22 to 25 miles far more realistic and I reckon I'm doing alright to get 16 miles in the middle of the winter.

I was lead to believe that the car was always capable of achieving the 32 miles but dependent on how it is driven, weather etc this might not be achieved. On start up it is not showing more than 19-21 miles and then I probably don't even get that as it seems to go down faster than the miles I am driving so probably achieving 15 miles out of a single full charge which is not much more than my OH Prius plug-in!

Sorry, but 32 is definitely the best you'll get, but low to mid twenties is a realistic figure in normal use. I can certainly get it down to 15 if I drive fast or accelerate hard.

 

[Misty]

So I will probably never see anything higher than the 19-21 miles that I am currently seeing on start-up? I think I will feed back to the dealer I feel that I was quite misled over the claims of the car. Having been familiar with the Prius plug-in I thought I understood there might be slight variations on mileage achieved but felt that I should getting over 20 miles on a single charge whilst driving in carefully.

Thank you for your response, it is handy to know what the reality is. As I said still love the car but hate to be proving my OH right as he said the claims were not achievable

 

[maby]

So I will probably never see anything higher than the 19-21 miles that I am currently seeing on start-up? I think I will feed back to the dealer I feel that I was quite misled over the claims of the car. Having been familiar with the Prius plug-in I thought I understood there might be slight variations on mileage achieved but felt that I should getting over 20 miles on a single charge whilst driving in carefully.

Thank you for your response, it is handy to know what the reality is. As I said still love the car but hate to be proving my OH right as he said the claims were not achievable

If you are driving reasonably gently at urban speeds in reasonably warm weather, you should get better than 20 miles on EV. You really do need near ideal conditions to get 30. Driving at 70mph in any weather and driving at urban speeds with the temperature around zero will take the EV range below 20 miles.

You don't say where you are - if you are in southern England where the temperatures have been around 15 degrees these last few weeks and you are getting 15 miles EV range driving reasonably gently at around 30mph, then you should have a chat with the dealer.

Don't pay much attention to the predicted range on the dashboard - that is notoriously unreliable. It claims to learn your driving style and it does seem to become more accurate over time, but it can take a while. It always used to be very optimistic for me, but these days it generally predicts about 22 miles - which is what I generally get.

 

[geoffshep69]

I dont mean to sound cheeky, and I have no idea what the dealer said to you, but is it not perhaps a little naive to expect that the car will deliver what is outlined in the marketing materials ? Isn't it pretty common knowledge that any published figures for acceleration, miles per gallon, range, etc. are all tested under ideal conditions and are therefore to be taken with a pinch of salt as they are highly unlikely to be replicated in the real world ?

Appreciate you

 

[jaapv]

The miles displayed are an estimate based on past driving. It is quite possible to get 28 miles despite the display claiming 20 on full charge and the other way around. Only actual miles driven can be taken seriously. The highest I have seen the estimated miles was about 50. I managed 10. (down a mountain pass, up the next...)

 

[Neverfuel]

I have managed 30.7 miles on one occasion. The temp was 28 degrees. But things change with the weather, the load, the route, the type of roads and your driving style.

We used to just leave it like that in the "olden days" but now we:

Keep records

Make spreadsheets

Show graphs

Adapt software

Interpret PIDs

Develop Apps

Etc...........................

I am currently recording a daily log of several common factors for the month of November (see previous posts). In the hope of trying to bring some sense to it for me. For example, car was fully charged today - it showed 24 miles EV, temp was 14 degrees C - no worse than the last week but only got 15.5 miles EV before the ICE kicked in, yet the day before I managed 21.4 miles on the same roads, at the same time - and the temp was a degree higher!

Please post your calculation theories here! :shock: :shock:

 

[jaapv]

i bet the difference was the wind.

 

[greendwarf]

Not mentioned above is the impact of the heater/aircon. As you have a Gx4 I assume you are using the electric heater rather than the ICE. Although the outside temp is around 15c here in London it will have been colder during the night and in other parts of UK. So depending on how high you have the car temp set and if using the aircon (switching this on cuts "predicted range in half") as well as the blower you will be using quite a lot of battery for all of this plus lights if you are driving in the dark.

As already mentioned the range after a charge is a prediction based on previous usage and the only way you can check this is actual miles driven. If the two don't match then there might be a fault but if they do, then you need to take all the potential factors - those already mentioned and the above - before complaining to the dealer.

 

[DazzyB]

Yes, lots of factors to take into account but I agree the predicted range is not accurate or particularly useful.

For example, this morning I got in the car after a full charge, predicted range was 23 miles. I switched the heating off and this jumped to 28 miles. I actually achieved 20 miles on a mix of urban and motorway. I wasn't particularly worrying about driving efficiently so probably could have squeezed a couple more miles out of it if I'd really tried but would never have got to 28.

 

[gwatpe]

As I have found and posted on another thread, it is really difficult to know what empty is. My PHEV showed 35%SOC for 1 bar showing while discharging. Managed to drop the %SOC down to 21% with a hill, and then 1 bar on the way back up was 26%SOC.

The 9%SOC difference amounts to 9/70 as a %, or around 12% looking at it one way. Could be + / - 5 parts in 30, if this is the value used to work out the full battery range. Add this to other aspects of the guestimeter and it is no wonder we are struggling to work it out.

 

[maby]

As I have found and posted on another thread, it is really difficult to know what empty is. My PHEV showed 35%SOC for 1 bar showing while discharging. Managed to drop the %SOC down to 21% with a hill, and then 1 bar on the way back up was 26%SOC.

The 9%SOC difference amounts to 9/70 as a %, or around 12% looking at it one way. Could be + / - 5 parts in 30, if this is the value used to work out the full battery range. Add this to other aspects of the guestimeter and it is no wonder we are struggling to work it out.

Surely a good working definition of empty is when it starts firing up the petrol engine for reasons other than heating or acceleration?

 

[greendwarf]

Yes, lots of factors to take into account but I agree the predicted range is not accurate or particularly useful.

For example, this morning I got in the car after a full charge, predicted range was 23 miles. I switched the heating off and this jumped to 28 miles. I actually achieved 20 miles on a mix of urban and motorway. I wasn't particularly worrying about driving efficiently so probably could have squeezed a couple more miles out of it if I'd really tried but would never have got to 28.

You should try living in Sarf Lundun where thanks to MC Escher being brought in as a consultant road designer, it is possible to make a round trip all down hill - so lots of Regen & coasting. However, if you don't know the route you end up all up-hill. :lol:

 

[Misty]

Wow lots more replies - thank you.

I do see the car as a challenge but was just disappointed that I was lead to believe there was always the potential to achieve up to 32 if driven 100% perfectly.
I live in Dorset so the weather has been nice and mild so I have not had A/C on and just the blower on low and heated car seat on low - does that count as a big drain? I mainly use the car for school runs at 2 local schools so no more than 15 miles round trip. I have however used the preheat just to take the chill off the car in the morning about 15 mins before we get in for 10 mins. Could this be having an effect on the battery although it normally shows as fully charged? The dealer told me to drive on B5 and Eco setting which I have been doing but after reading a few posts I am wondering if that is the best thing to be doing? I live on a dirt track which over 1 mile to long to start my journey each time and then quite often driving on winding country roads. Any thoughts to improve the cars efficiency and my driving style would be much appreciated and if I am able to convince the OH I did make the right choice then all the better .

 

[DazzyB]

The dealer told me to drive on B5

I wouldn't recommend this. You must be constantly on and off the accelerator to overcome the B5 braking force. I've played a lot with the regen braking modes and my preference now is to stay in B0 most of the time and let the car "coast". You will see from the power dial that you still get regen braking energy going back to the batteries even when you use the normal brake pedal. I can't promise this will improve your EV range but it should help give a smoother driving experience.

 

[greendwarf]

The dealer told me to drive on B5

I wouldn't recommend this. You must be constantly on and off the accelerator to overcome the B5 braking force. I've played a lot with the regen braking modes and my preference now is to stay in B0 most of the time and let the car "coast". You will see from the power dial that you still get regen braking energy going back to the batteries even when you use the normal brake pedal. I can't promise this will improve your EV range but it should help give a smoother driving experience.

Agee - unless you have steep declines on most of your journey, you'll never get the benefit being able to coast for "free". I don't think anyone has found out how much of the test track figures was done by coasting. But the heated seat would make some difference if used for the whole journey. With pre-heating this needs (I understand, I have a Gx3) to be done whilst charging to avoid draining the battery.

 

[jaapv]

If you are new to the car I would advise you to leave everything at default and let the 263 miniature Japanese engineers that Mitsubishi hid in all nooks and crannies of the car do their job.

After you have fully settled down you can start experimenting with the controls to optimize the car to your particular style. The only exceptions are basically the "save" and "charge" buttons which serve to inform the car of your intentions.
"Save" is best used on the motorway to tell the car that you want to use the remaining charge to use in the local traffic in the end and charge tells the car that you want maximum charge ahead, e.g. when there are mountains coming up or an emission-reduced zone.
In the mountains and under heavy load with for instance a caravan it is wise to run the car in "charge" all the time.
The ECO button is rather useless.

 

[anko]

The dealer told me to drive on B5

I wouldn't recommend this. You must be constantly on and off the accelerator to overcome the B5 braking force. I've played a lot with the regen braking modes and my preference now is to stay in B0 most of the time and let the car "coast". You will see from the power dial that you still get regen braking energy going back to the batteries even when you use the normal brake pedal. I can't promise this will improve your EV range but it should help give a smoother driving experience.

The E-motors can not propel and brake at the same time. There is no braking force in B5 as long as your foot is on the pedal. With proper control of the pedal (lifting not all the way), you can still let the car coast, even in B5. When hitting the brakes in B0, regen capacity is less than in higher B-settings.