Not using charge when temp drops below 10 degrees

[Garymullen]

Noticed lately that my phev does not use its charge when the temperature drops below 10 degrees, outside temperature, this does not look good for the winter, as most of the winter will be below 10 degrees.

Any idea how to change/improve this?

 

[Hypermiler]

Sorry Gary, what do you mean "it doesn't use its charge". You mean the ice always comes on? Do you have the heating on? What model do you have?
cheers
H

 

[jdsx]

Noticed lately that my phev does not use its charge when the temperature drops below 10 degrees, outside temperature, this does not look good for the winter, as most of the winter will be below 10 degrees.

Any idea how to change/improve this?

There has been a fair bit of discussion about this on the Inside Outlander forum. Try this link (if it works): http://insideoutlander.boards.net/thread/470/workaround-prevent-start-cold-weather

Quite interesting, if a bit OCD.... I didn't expect to spend more than £30K on a car then freeze my **** off not to use the ICE, but I must admit I will be giving it a try... :lol:

 

[maby]

I would say that it is massively OCD! The Outlander is a hybrid, not a pure EV - it is designed to burn petrol when the engineers determined that is the best strategy to combine comfort and performance. If it matters that much to you that you should not burn any petrol then you should have bought a Zoe or a Tesla. As the temperature gets closer to zero, expect to burn more...

 

[jdsx]

I would say that it is massively OCD! The Outlander is a hybrid, not a pure EV - it is designed to burn petrol when the engineers determined that is the best strategy to combine comfort and performance. If it matters that much to you that you should not burn any petrol then you should have bought a Zoe or a Tesla. As the temperature gets closer to zero, expect to burn more...

Zoe - too small
Tesla - too expensive
I realise it is designed to burn petrol when the (Mitsubishi) engineers determined that is the best strategy, but IMO I know better than the Mitsubishi engineers what trade-off I wish to accept between comfort and ICE use. I know how to moderate the use of ICE in driving - I simply don't press too hard on the right pedal, but unfortunately (in my view) they have taken away my choice with the heating. I rarely use the whole battery capacity, even in winter, and I would gladly use some of the capacity on the heating..... It's strange, because the air conditioning always works off the battery, but not (necessarily) the heating....

 

[maby]

The air conditioning can only work off the battery - the petrol engine does not generate cold. But it does generate heat as a by-product of generating electricity - there is scope for a trade-off and the designers have presumably done some calculations to decide which is the best strategy for overall running costs. Since the weather has started to cool off, I've been experimenting with the strategy of hitting the save button when I set out in the morning to force the ICE on till the car has warmed up - I'm coming to the conclusion that this probably results in lower running costs rather than allowing it to dump much of my battery charge into the heater.

I guess that the calculation runs something like this - a full battery charge costs approximately the same as a litre or petrol. A litre of petrol will take the car about 10 miles - therefore if heating the car from the battery reduces your EV range by more than 10 miles, it makes more sense to run the engine - running the heater while the ICE is running will not significantly increase your fuel consumption.

 

[jaapv]

I would say that it is massively OCD! The Outlander is a hybrid, not a pure EV - it is designed to burn petrol when the engineers determined that is the best strategy to combine comfort and performance. If it matters that much to you that you should not burn any petrol then you should have bought a Zoe or a Tesla. As the temperature gets closer to zero, expect to burn more...

Zoe - too small
Tesla - too expensive
I realise it is designed to burn petrol when the (Mitsubishi) engineers determined that is the best strategy, but IMO I know better than the Mitsubishi engineers what trade-off I wish to accept between comfort and ICE use. I know how to moderate the use of ICE in driving - I simply don't press too hard on the right pedal, but unfortunately (in my view) they have taken away my choice with the heating. I rarely use the whole battery capacity, even in winter, and I would gladly use some of the capacity on the heating..... It's strange, because the air conditioning always works off the battery, but not (necessarily) the heating....

You certainly have a choice. Just turn the heat down and switch off the AC. The car will soon notice and adjust accordingly. The ECO button will shift the compromise towards freezing toes even more.
The top models have electric heating btw with the ICE only kicking in to supplement.

 

[Garymullen]

Hi,

I set the heating to 17 degrees, which is not exactly tropical.

Even after driving for 10 miles or so, when I assume the car to have heated up, if the outside temperature is below 10, then the charge is not used, it stays at almost 100 percent.

Once the temperature hits 10, then the charge is utilised as normal.

This does not look good for the winter months.

I have a ghx3 in white.

 

[maby]

Hi,

I set the heating to 17 degrees, which is not exactly tropical.

Even after driving for 10 miles or so, when I assume the car to have heated up, if the outside temperature is below 10, then the charge is not used, it stays at almost 100 percent.

Once the temperature hits 10, then the charge is utilised as normal.

This does not look good for the winter months.

I have a ghx3 in white.

Hang on a minute - the only heating in a GX3 is the petrol engine - and while 17 degrees may not be tropical, it is still several degrees above the external temperature, so heating will be running. Cars are not well insulated and the movement through the air causes a lot of windchill - your heater will be on pretty much all the time.

It is an unfortunate fact that GX3 owners in the winter will have a choice between burning petrol or wearing multiple pullovers! GX4 owners can get by on battery provided they are not going very far, but we too will end up burning a lot more petrol than we do in the summer. Before the Outlander, we owned a Prius - my petrol consumption used to increase by 20 to 25% between November and March. They are hybrid cars - and they do burn petrol!

 

[maddogsetc]

I guess that the calculation runs something like this - a full battery charge costs approximately the same as a litre or petrol. A litre of petrol will take the car about 10 miles - therefore if heating the car from the battery reduces your EV range by more than 10 miles, it makes more sense to run the engine - running the heater while the ICE is running will not significantly increase your fuel consumption.

I'm inclined to agree with your thinking on this.

It is an unfortunate fact that GX3 owners in the winter will have a choice between burning petrol or wearing multiple pullovers!

Also agree with this. I fear there may be a number of Gx3 owners who bought in the summer and didn't realise the year round implications of the lack of an electric heater.

 

[maby]

...
Also agree with this. I fear there may be a number of Gx3 owners who bought in the summer and didn't realise the year round implications of the lack of an electric heater.

If you've made the choice with your eyes open, then it is not necessarily incorrect. The price difference between a GX3h and a GX4h is enough to buy more than 3000 litres of petrol - even if the GX3 requires the petrol engine running a hundred days more per annum than the GX4, that only uses up about 1000 litres over a ten year lifetime of the car - so you can still come out in-pocket - just don't complain that the engine has started prematurely - you are burning off some of that 3000 litre credit you got by going for the lower spec car!

 

[greendwarf]

...
Also agree with this. I fear there may be a number of Gx3 owners who bought in the summer and didn't realise the year round implications of the lack of an electric heater.

If you've made the choice with your eyes open, then it is not necessarily incorrect. The price difference between a GX3h and a GX4h is enough to buy more than 3000 litres of petrol - even if the GX3 requires the petrol engine running a hundred days more per annum than the GX4, that only uses up about 1000 litres over a ten year lifetime of the car - so you can still come out in-pocket - just don't complain that the engine has started prematurely - you are burning off some of that 3000 litre credit you got by going for the lower spec car!

I agree, we bought the GX3 precisely because we didn't need the "extras". For most of the time we will run the car without any heating (which my wife likes) and this will be the same as in a petrol car for our most common short journeys which would have not warmed up in time, anyway. For longer journeys we will probably be using the ICE and the heat is then, of course, "free".

 

[Garymullen]

That's great,

When I bought my car, the salesman did not mention the difference in spec, he only mentioned, reversing camera, leather seats and an automatic closing boot.

The salesman stated the cars were exactly the same mechanically......

Lesson learned... Don't believe a word a car salesman says.

Very unhappy with phev that won't use its charge for six months of the year.

Mitsubishi are taking the piss

Gary

 

[Garymullen]

Apologies,

My car is a gx3h

Gary

 

[maby]

That's great,

When I bought my car, the salesman did not mention the difference in spec, he only mentioned, reversing camera, leather seats and an automatic closing boot.

The salesman stated the cars were exactly the same mechanically......

Lesson learned... Don't believe a word a car salesman says.

Very unhappy with phev that won't use its charge for six months of the year.

Mitsubishi are taking the piss

Gary

Hmmm, perhaps you were poorly advised - though the information you needed is pretty clear from the web site and brochure.

I must say that I have questioned the wisdom of offering a plugin-hybrid without electric heating in northern European countries. I don't think Mitsubishi expected to sell many GX3s in this country - that is certainly what the dealer we bought from told us.

 

[greendwarf]

That's great,

When I bought my car, the salesman did not mention the difference in spec, he only mentioned, reversing camera, leather seats and an automatic closing boot.

The salesman stated the cars were exactly the same mechanically......

Lesson learned... Don't believe a word a car salesman says.

Very unhappy with phev that won't use its charge for six months of the year.

Mitsubishi are taking the piss

Gary

Hmmm, perhaps you were poorly advised - though the information you needed is pretty clear from the web site and brochure.

I must say that I have questioned the wisdom of offering a plugin-hybrid without electric heating in northern European countries. I don't think Mitsubishi expected to sell many GX3s in this country - that is certainly what the dealer we bought from told us.

My first thought was to agree with you but if you look on the web-site specs comparison the only mention of heating refers to the remote app. I suspect this is another example of crap salesmen (here I go again :evil: )

 

[maby]

My first thought was to agree with you but if you look on the web-site specs comparison the only mention of heating refers to the remote app. I suspect this is another example of crap salesmen (here I go again :evil: )

I have to say that I cannot find it now - but I was well aware of the lack of electric heating in the GX3h before we ever visited a Mitsubishi dealer, so it must have been stated somewhere.

 

[Garymullen]

Lesson learned

Wait for an electric car that does what the sales literature claims.

Interrogate the salesmen to get the truth

Then buy a diesel!

 

[TallPaul]

It does seem to default to only use the engine in series Hybrid mode though when you need the heating (so long as you have charge) so you're still driving on electric power. The ICE isnot driving the wheels directly so I'm assuming this is more efficient? (not seeing much fuel being used in the last week when I've had the heating on).

Also a gx3 owner.

 

[maby]

Lesson learned

Wait for an electric car that does what the sales literature claims.

Interrogate the salesmen to get the truth

Then buy a diesel!

Actually, I've just found it in the brochure - page 14 explicitly states that heating without running the engine requires the electric heater.

that said, I will agree with your final point - up to a point, at least. For most owners, the justification for buying a PHEV is tax avoidance. If you can't benefit from the favourable tax regime that applies to company car owners, and you do moderate mileages, then the diesel probably makes more sense.