Pushing PHEV to its limit

[gwatpe]

i am presently on Kangaroo Island.

A mate has a private beach cabin. Road to the cabin is very steep. Rock with clay and sections at about 40% grade. Had some rain overnight and track became slippery. PHEV could only give 20kw EV alone. Even with foot flat to the floor PHEV would run out of go. Forced the ICE to operate with charge mode. Only a little better. The 4WD LOCK was ON but front wheel still lost grip and 1EV motor was not enough. I have some video to upload from an event cam. Was able to get some run up and change the driving line a bit and after 4 attempts car was able to use its inertia to get through with the driving line keeping all wheels in contact.

Am in poor service area on an iPad, so will need to return home to upload video.

Seems power available at high speed is not available always.

Will not be trying my PHEV in mud more than an inch deep.

 

[anko]

Can't wait to see that footage

Power output to the wheels at lower speeds is limited, as you cannot exceed max torque of the E-motors. You need to go at least 28 km/h in order to be able to use all power that is available in EV mode. Or even 56 km/h to use all power that is available in serial hybrid mode.

But the important thing would be the torque. That should have been there all the way up, and that would have been most important.

 

[jaapv]

Did you switch off Stability Control? You must in conditions like these, otherwise the car will brake itself to a halt. I learnt the hard way on steep snowy slopes - with my previous car.

 

[gwatpe]

Not sure if this is quite the way the system works. The PHEV should not of made it if this was the case, as I never turned ASC OFF, and wheels were spinning even on the final successful attempt. BTW torque may not have been enough, but if this was the case, then no matter what I did, the PHEV might not have made it up the grade. I had my passenger get out as well and this did not help. It was not until I had a few extra metres of run up and a slightly different line and just gunned it from the get go that the few extra degrees were behind me.

The 4WD lock should operate to give the best possible traction to all the wheels, without having to press still more buttons.

Am back home after my latest travels, with a few extra, apparently very difficult achievements accomplished, including photographing a falcon bird of prey, on the wing catching prey, with my phone camera, not once, but 4 times.

Will be working on the video over the next few days, and hopefully the footage has not been overwritten.

 

[jaapv]

IIRC the manual advises to switch the Stability control off in such conditions, and I did find out that the car will apply the brakes and struggle more and more towards the end when trying to ascend a steep hill with thick snow on the road if one forgets.
No big deal, as far as I am aware all brands use the same principle.