Prospective Owner - Looking for Answers...

[HYBRID]

Hi all..
I am seriously thinking to own the Outlander PHEV in Canada
Did a test drive and pleased with it's performance.

I heard this model is one of the best selling PHEV in Europe and introduced to Canadian market in early 2018

Can someone tell me...

• 1. Anyone noticed problem with the battery and its charging

• 2. Is it possible to drive only in Gas mode when the battery is completely down/dead

• 3. Can I use this for a daily commute without any issues

Thanks in advance

 

[jaapv]

1. Not really
2. Of course, this is handled automatically by the car. In fact, with a depleted battery it will go into a hysteresis cycle of ICE use/charging and electric driving. It will not run when it runs out of both electricity and petrol, though. In fact, by its quietness it is a very nice long-distance car without charging.
3. It is built for this type of use. The optimum use is a commute of up to 40 km each way with charging at work and at home, or 20 km or less with charge-at-home only. In winter the distances will drop.

 

[BCbackroader]

Hello, HYBRID. I'm a new owner in Canada, took delivery of my PHEV on April 21, and now have just over 12,000 km on it.


1. No charging issues at all, either plug in or by ICE. I've done both overnight charges at 12A, and 20 min. Chadmoe charges, they all work as advertised.

2. Yes, about 100 km each day of my usual route is freeway driving, at 120 kph. I select "charge" on the console, the screen shows that the ICE is driving the front wheels, and by the time I get to the next city, it's ready to go through town in EV mode.

3. Yes, I'm using mine in the courier business, hence my high mileage, and it's saving me enough fuel each month to make the payments on the vehicle.

 

[gobiman]

Welcome.
It's taken a while to get to North America - I have friends in Seattle who wanted one when I bought mine four years ago!
Just to add and reinforce the other comments -
1. It only really works if you can charge it regularly (home or office) and most of your drives are short to maximize EV use.
2. I bought it for school runs in London (where it is brilliant and benefits from tax/congestion charge exemptions) but it is still comfortable for long distances. The only negative is a small fuel tank and a range under 200 miles. I have a couple of 20 litre jerry cans to mitigate this.
3. I would avoid fast charging where possible as it does accelerate battery deterioration.
4. Not a single thing has gone wrong with mine in 4 years.
5. The tyres it came will (Toyo) were not great. I now have a set of Michelin Crossclimates which work well in cold weather.
I intend keeping mine for a another four years.
Good luck.

 

[jaapv]

Long distances - it is still recommended to stop for a 10 minutes every two or three hours. Use your stop to fill up.

 

[ChrisMiller]

The only negative is a small fuel tank and a range under 200 miles.

I think the range with a full tank and full battery is a realistic 300 miles, unless travelling at illegal (in the UK) motorway speeds.

 

[HYBRID]

Thanks to all...
This gives me more confidence in Outlander PHEV
This model's entry into the Canadian market came only early 2018, it's hard to get a performance report either from friends, families or neighbours
I really appreciate your comments

 

[gobiman]

On the range point, I have taken it to Austria a couple of times and travelling at the legal limits in France and Germany ( a little higher than the UK ),with a roofbox and with a depleted battery , 200 miles was the realistic planning range.
I was pretty happy with that. It reflects just under 30 mpg which is what you would expect from a heavy SUV with a 2 litre petrol engine.
In my case, I like to get from Calais to Luxembourg to refuel and then to Austria - which is challenging!

 

[robdickinson]

Hi all..
Can someone tell me...

• 1. Anyone noticed problem with the battery and its charging

• 2. Is it possible to drive only in Gas mode when the battery is completely down/dead

• 3. Can I use this for a daily commute without any issues

Welcome! Overall its a great car, had mine 7 months now.

1 - Charging is good, it always charges (less in cold weather), and has timer etc. But the battery management for long term is poor, it mismanages the state of health which can drop faster than expected, this is covered by warranty and fixable but its a pain.

2 - you can drive in gas mode whenever you like with save or charge modes, and it will seamlessly cut in the ice engine when needed.

3 - yes, I use (almost) no gas in my daily commute, only for longer trips.

 

[HHL]

Not sure what makes you think battery management is poor....It works fine, maybe a little inaccurate in day to day estimation, but I think when it shows a battery has lost capacity, it is true. Re-calibration may give people a warm feeling for a little while, but the fact is that batteries do degrade for various reasons and there is not a lot that can be done about it at this stage of development. I don't think it is a big issue right now.

 

[geoffshep69]

On the range point, I have taken it to Austria a couple of times and travelling at the legal limits in France and Germany ( a little higher than the UK ),with a roofbox and with a depleted battery , 200 miles was the realistic planning range.
I was pretty happy with that. It reflects just under 30 mpg which is what you would expect from a heavy SUV with a 2 litre petrol engine.
In my case, I like to get from Calais to Luxembourg to refuel and then to Austria - which is challenging!

I think a range of 200 miles is very pessimistic.

General consensus on here is that when running on petrol, with a depleted battery, an average of 35mpg is reasonable. Bring that down a bit for having a roofbox and travelling slightly faster, but you should still be achieving something around 30mpg. The tank is 10 gallons, so you should be able to achieve closer to 300 miles ? Appreciate you want to build in some contingency and don’t want to run out of fuel, but 200 miles is definitely on the low side in my view.

 

[jaapv]

Running the Autobahn with a ski-box, @ on average 140 kph cruising speed, I would expect 400 km+
But I can understand the 200 miles idea, as the fuel warning tends to come in rather early. When it comes on there are still 9 liters in the tank at least, more than 100 km, and with the power management when really nearing empty, the car will start screaming with about 50 km left.

 

[gobiman]

My fault. I was thinking it was a 35L tank. It's 45L.
That 10L gets you a good way to 300 miles!!

 

[HYBRID]

Not sure what makes you think battery management is poor....It works fine, maybe a little inaccurate in day to day estimation, but I think when it shows a battery has lost capacity, it is true. Re-calibration may give people a warm feeling for a little while, but the fact is that batteries do degrade for various reasons and there is not a lot that can be done about it at this stage of development. I don't think it is a big issue right now.

When hybrid vehicles first came to the market, there were lots of complaints and confusion over the battery power and it's performance.
Now with the new technology and quality of battery, I assume it's better with Outlander PHEV

 

[jaapv]

I think the whole battery degradation issue is a bit overblown - Toyota has been building millions of Prius cars since 1997 - and there are plenty 10-15 year old ones running on the original battery. In addition there is a cottage battery refurbishing industry.
My car is 5 years old and doing fine - I don't bother measuring the battery. Should I get a problem in 5-10 years, I'll see what the world looks like then.

 

[HYBRID]

Thanks for all the feedback..

What's the actual mileage you get with different driving conditions
Mitsubishi claim is 3.2L/100km
View attachment PHEV.png

 

[jaapv]

That depends entirely on your driving style and car use. If your drive it on short(ish) commutes only, in summer, you will use no petrol at all, except for 15 L each three months that the car will use up to prevent fuel deterioration.
If you blast down the German Autobahn as fast as you can, you'll be lucky to get it better than 9 km per litre. On normal, average mixed use without plug-in charging, it would do something like 12-13 km/litre. But that is strongly influenced by the weight of your right foot.
It is still a 2000 kg medium SUV with Cw value that is similar to the Empire State Building.

 

[ChrisMiller]

My actual recorded consumption over 30,000 km is around 3.5L/100km, but your expected result could vary hugely depending on driving patterns. I do a lot of short trips on electric only, but on the other hand, I spend most of the time going up and down 15% hills!

If you want to estimate what you can expect in practice, I'd allow about 4km/KWh (electric) and 8L/100km from petrol only, which are fairly realistic values (though you could do better than that if your driving takes you along a lot of flat roads at 80-90 kph).

 

[ThudnBlundr]

I think the whole battery degradation issue is a bit overblown - Toyota has been building millions of Prius cars since 1997 - and there are plenty 10-15 year old ones running on the original battery. In addition there is a cottage battery refurbishing industry.
My car is 5 years old and doing fine - I don't bother measuring the battery. Should I get a problem in 5-10 years, I'll see what the world looks like then.

The batteries in most Toyota hybrids are not Lithium, [Edit] they're NiMH [/Edit] so it's totally different chemistry. I think only the PHEV Priuses use Lithium. [Edit]They used Lithium batteries in other earlier Priuses such as the 7-seater, and I think the latest version may be fully Lithium[/Edit]

 

[jaapv]

Well, there is a whole range of Li technologies, so any prediction is uncertain. So - cross that bridge when one comes to it.