Most realistic mpg

[K9pvc]

Hi Guys
Just wanted to ask your opinion, I'm going to take another test drive today in a My16 GX4Hs
I wanted to take it on my normal route to work which is 12 miles. As I want to try and establish what the mpg would be on that route only using the engine. Is the best Way to establish this by running with battery in save mode or battery on charge mode. I've got a feeling that in save mode would be the best but just want confirmation from you guys. Also just wondered how accurate is the trip meter in the outlander for doing this. As I just want to compare this with my current diesel Vrs which returns about 42mpg going steady the route is mostly dual carriageway.
Thanks in advance
Paul

 

[anko]

If you want to know how it performs without external charging, why not simply run down the battery before starting your test. If you hurry a bit, this should only take 20 miles or so (depending on how much charge is there when you pick up the car).

The trip meter is fairly accurate. Just reset it at there start of your 12 mile trip. But be aware: as the engine is probably warm the results may be to optimistic.

 

[jaapv]

Wouldn't you be running it on EV on such a trip normally? It might be more informative to do a longer run on Save to see how it behaves then. Note though, that the first few weeks will not be the most representative for your running economy, as the driving is quite different from a normal car. It takes a while to change your habits - or rather, the car will change them for you.

 

[K9pvc]

Hi Guys
Thanks for the replies, I fully appreciate that on a regular basis I would hope to be able to do my daily commute to work in pure EV.
My reason for wanting to test the Outlander in pure petrol mode is purely because there are so many facts and figures about how many Miles people are getting when using just the ice and what the best way to do it is.
So as I have done this daily commute in my current VRS for the last three years I know that when I leave my house if I drive steady my car is registering 42 or 44mpg when I reach work from cold. So my reasoning is this if I was that then make this same journey in the outlander but only using the petrol engine that would give me a worse possible case scenario. And allow me to do if not a direct comparison to my current car it would give me fairly good idea of the difference between the two
Hope this makes sense

Paul

 

[Carnut]

Paul,
Just returned from my usual 80 mile round trip. 22 miles EV 60miles hybrid. Showed 68.9 when I got there (40 miles) but that of course included the EV bit.
Arrived back in Poole. 40.1mpg. ALL on hybrid. I used the paddles as I have been instructed and the trip was B roads and A roads including dual carriageway (I stayed at 60mph.)
I don't think this is bad for a 2 ton 'brick'.
Last bought petrol 400+ miles ago. Will refill tomorrow and work out actual MPG including
converting cost of all Leccy charges to gallons of petrol since last filling with petrol, which should give an accurate MPG over nearly 500 miles.

 

[K9pvc]

Hi Colin
Thanks for your imput,
As I understand it the Phev has 3 drive modes

SERIES HYBRID MODE speeds up to 45mph
The petrol engine operates as a generator, supplying electricity to the battery which in turn powers the motors. In this mode It would be good to achive a Mpg of 40+Mpg For use around town do you think this is a possibility without too much effort or do you think I would really need to know how to drive it to achieve this

PARALLEL HYBRID MODE speeds of 45 to 70mph+
Engine power & motor assistance
The petrol engine provides most of the power, with assistance from the motors when required.
So would only use this on a motorways and dual carriage ways. Which I'm assuming you are saying you did on you trip today and this mode returnd you 40.1mpg which as you say is pretty good.

What I would really love to know is what sort of Mpg could I expect from just powering the Phev from the petrol engine. Which I'm assuming I would have to use with the save button pressed so that would just purely be running from the Ice power and no battery assistance.
Hence why I wanted to do the 12 mile route i do most days in my Vrs for no other reason than to give me a direct comparison with my Vrs. The The majority of this route would be all Duel carriageways apart from say the 2 or so miles from my house to the start of the dual carriage way. This figure in turn will give me some idea of what sort of mpg I could expect on say a run down to Cornwall or any other long distance weekend trips which would be mostly miles of motorway with the save button on. As on runs like that my Vrs would return about 55mpg so I was just trying to establish a sort of comparison for that really.

Paul

 

[gwatpe]

I have recently done some long distance checks of my PHEV, 50,000+km now, for various economies returned. 100kph - 8.2L/100km, 90kph - 7.2L/100km and 80kph - 6.2L/100km. These were open country, no traffic, on flat roads, in 25-30C conditions, over approx 140km for each test, on cruise control. The PHEV was operated in SAVE mode, and parallel hybrid was the norm, with the battery showing just under 50% on the gauge. Short periods of EV only were noted, and the PHEV showed 28-32%EV.

I have also retied to replicate tests by others with alternating CHARGE mode and NORMAL mode with the battery cycled from 0-50% over long distances, but so far I am not convinced there is any significant long term difference with petrol economy to just using SAVE mode. I did find that when the reset mpg is pressed is subjective and this can bias results obtained.

I am planning to reprogram my sticky SAVE feature, to work with the ECO button, to automatically operate the CHARGE button, so that say a 20% EVonly operation can be tested without driver bias on a longer trip to obtain some more objective data.

 

[Carnut]

See my post above.
I have now filled up with petrol. 22.19 Litres. electricity charges over the period £16.15 which equals 3.5 gallons.
test distance 450.5 miles.
I won't waste space doing all the calcs here, but be assured it equals 53.63 MPG overall. I must admit I drive more slowly than when I had the Yeti (as my licence will bear witness!! ) but the PHEV consumption is 18-20 mpg better and of course NO ROAD TAX!!
The majority done on E. Plus 80 mile round trip fortnightly on A and B roads including dual carriageways, but only 22 miles (if I'm lucky) on e. the rest on Hybrid.
I must admit I can't be bothered with what the system wants to do when the leccy has run out. I just leave it to do it's own thing. I use the paddles correctly and I get blue 'up' arrows, blue 'down' arrows and quite a lot of orange and blue 'horizontal' arrows. (there's technical for you! )

 

[Barnfather]

is it even possible, under normal driving circumstances, to run *only* on ICE?

I thought there was always a degree of jiggery-pokery going on in conjunction with the EV-system - even if it's not the primary source of power

 

[maby]

is it even possible, under normal driving circumstances, to run *only* on ICE?

I thought there was always a degree of jiggery-pokery going on in conjunction with the EV-system - even if it's not the primary source of power

It is certainly possible to run with the ICE as the only major source of drive. Jaapv will tell you that the car is always in 4WD with at least a trickle of power to the motors to eliminate drag and I'm not in a position to disagree, but the level is sufficiently low that it does not show up on the power flow meter.

 

[jaapv]

If only to compensate for counter-EMF and to keep the Anti-Yaw system active.
The car will always feed some current to the rear motor to keep positive drive on the back axle, and it does not show up in the diagram.

 

[Carnut]

I can't get mine to run on ICE only, there is always a blue arrow going somewhere when the ICE is running and driving the wheels directly (orange arrow).
Blue arrow either going to battery or to battery AND from battery to wheels.
I also would be interested to know
A. if it is possible to run ICE only &
B. if so how does one make it happen?

 

[Hypermiler]

I tend to get just one orange arrow when driving up a moderate hill between 45 and 50 mpg but it is only for a minute or two, if that, as inevitably the power demand soon changes to either require (or charge) the battery.
H

 

[anko]

Any time the power demand for driving is between 75% and 100% of the available engine power (give the RPM associated with your current speed) the battery will not charge nor discharge. Except for the little discharge current that is needed for the rear motor.

Wanna see that for a prolonged period of time? Simply hook up a caravan and tow away

 

[maby]

I can't get mine to run on ICE only, there is always a blue arrow going somewhere when the ICE is running and driving the wheels directly (orange arrow).
Blue arrow either going to battery or to battery AND from battery to wheels.
I also would be interested to know
A. if it is possible to run ICE only &
B. if so how does one make it happen?

try cruising up a moderate hill in Save with cruise control set at about 60mph - it will run in petrol front wheel drive all the way.

 

[K9pvc]

Well Guys
Thanks for all your input, I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and go ahead and buy it. I've been considering this My16 pearl white ex demonstrator for the last couple of weeks so now its time for action. Just rang the dealer to tell him I will be in later to sign the paperwork.

I just hope I've not made the wrong decision and end up being out of pocket too much compared to my current Vrs Tdi running costs. I've read pretty much every post on this great site and found it a great source of information and inspiration.

If my ownership with this new outlander is as enjoyable as the past 3 years have been with my outgoing Octavia Vrs I will be one happy bunny.

Paul

 

[Carnut]

HHHHMMM? :?
Good luck!

 

[jaapv]

Well Guys
Thanks for all your input, I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and go ahead and buy it. I've been considering this My16 pearl white ex demonstrator for the last couple of weeks so now its time for action. Just rang the dealer to tell him I will be in later to sign the paperwork.

I just hope I've not made the wrong decision and end up being out of pocket too much compared to my current Vrs Tdi running costs. I've read pretty much every post on this great site and found it a great source of information and inspiration.

If my ownership with this new outlander is as enjoyable as the past 3 years have been with my outgoing Octavia Vrs I will be one happy bunny.

Paul

Some owners are very happy - me included - others less so. It is just like a any other car in that respect.

 

[phevmike]

I don't post on here very often, but since new (and covering more than 19,000 miles) we have averaged 70 mpg, when I include the cost of the electricity in that period that equates to 55 mpge. The best was 137 mpg over a period of almost 5 weeks and the worst was 34.8 mpg in one day on a long motorway journey.

 

[Plugger]

If it helps, your overall mpg obviously depends on your mix of journeys. Around town, running only (in theory) on battery I achieve around 100mpg or more but the ICE does kick in from time to time. On a long journey, running on ICE only, I achieve around 40mpg at 70mph (or slightly over when I can). On this journey, my 'power mix' is shown as typically around 60% petrol, 40% battery, presumably from the electric energy garnered when travelling downhill or when braking. So. In summary, I've never managed a journey entirely on petrol or electric power.