Risky decision or not?

[Beechtree]

I have taken a bit of a gamble and bought a late 2014 Gx4h with 99k miles/150k km. It has full Mitsubishi history and in lovely condition. I take delivery next week. An independent specialist I spoke to suggested that many PHEV cars were bought by companies or specified by company car drivers simply because of tax advantages rather than potential fuel economy and environmental issues. I get this of course. But he also said that a large number of them would have rarely been charged to run on EV mode, and simply relied on the ICE for driving it as a normal car while reaping the tax benefits. This, he says, has left a fairly large number of high mileage cars out there. Mine, for example, covering 25k miles per year when realistically the one charge a day that regime could manage would have only given it 5k miles of ‘free’ motoring leaving it to do diesel miles in an inappropriate car but it must have made economic sense to someone! Anyway my question is whether the lack of regular and disciplined charging would reduce battery efficiency over time or is there a degree of protection built into the design? Have I taken a massive risk? My expectations are realistic.....I would be very happy with an average 20-25 miles EV range which suits my anticipated use of predominantly short journeys (15 - 20 miles per day) plus the occasional longer trip with or without caravan. Advice and opinions are invited.

 

[twosout]

I reckon you'll be fine.
The engine will have charged the battery and the BMS should have made sure that the batteries were treated correctly. It has been used as a pure Hybrid, with no plug-in.
Enjoy!

 

[maby]

It is certainly true that there are quite a few high mileage PHEVs around that have been purchased as company cars and rarely charged - mine is one of them. I think that the jury is out on the effect that this pattern of usage can have on battery condition. I suspect that there are two sub-groups within this population of vehicles - those that were never charged from the day that they were delivered and have had the battery more or less flat fot the last three years and those - like mine - that have had their charge level managed manually. I rarely charge my car, but I keep the battery level between 50% and 100% most of the time by using the "Save" button. I hope that this will help to reduce wear on the battery since the received wisdom is that Lithium Ion batteries dislike being either close to 100% charge or down around flat for long periods of time.

 

[Steel188]

I too am a BIK refugee (89,000 miles in 35 months - 13 months to go) and I agree that you will be fine. Cars like mine tend to be leased, and there are penalty clauses in our rental agreements imposing heavy fines if we do not have the car properly serviced and maintained, which is a plus point for the next owner(s).

Also, all the bits related to the ICE will have got thoroughly hot regularly, which is good for their longevity, rather than weeks (or even months) without ever being used; only turning on when the car decides the fuel is stale and needs replenishing.

The car is supremely comfortable and an extremely good motorway cruiser. Stick it in D, enjoy the seats, admire the view down the bonnet and go!

 

[ChrisMiller]

You could have reduced the gamble by getting a report on battery state (good practice for anyone contemplating a second hand PHEV), but I agree with the other posts, you should be fine.

 

[MikkB]

It is certainly true that there are quite a few high mileage PHEVs around that have been purchased as company cars and rarely charged - mine is one of them. I think that the jury is out on the effect that this pattern of usage can have on battery condition. I suspect that there are two sub-groups within this population of vehicles - those that were never charged from the day that they were delivered and have had the battery more or less flat fot the last three years and those - like mine - that have had their charge level managed manually. I rarely charge my car, but I keep the battery level between 50% and 100% most of the time by using the "Save" button. I hope that this will help to reduce wear on the battery since the received wisdom is that Lithium Ion batteries dislike being either close to 100% charge or down around flat for long periods of time.

Empty on the dashboard guage is still actually about 30% in the battery, so far from flat. The car will maintain it around that level itself.

 

[Beechtree]

So the car was delivered last night but it was too cold to play then. I put it on charge and waited until this morning for a test drive. First impressions are very positive apart from struggling to master the selector lever! EV range at start showed 24 miles and I drove about 15 miles mostly on battery although the ICE kicked in a few times briefly. Range remaining still shows 9 miles however the battery gauge itself shows 50% left. Do these tend to agree or disagree? Looking forward to more insight and loading the app.

 

[Regulo]

The range showing is a "guess" the software makes depending on how the car was previously driven. It can be wildly optimistic or pessimistic. It's not known on here as the "Guessometer" for nothing!

 

[Tipper]

If you do do longer journeys in it I would recommend refueling when the car's low fuel warning first sounds at 60 miles otherwise you will enter panic mode when the car suddenly decides just 5 miles later that you won't get home even though in your estimation you will!

Oh and it seems quite economical on fuel too...but that's because the fuel tank is so small! (Annoyingly small IMHO)

 

[ThudnBlundr]

Mitsubishi cuts off the top and bottom of the battery capacity, so 100% is far less than the battery is capable of holding and 0% is far higher than the maximum discharge that the battery could feasibly allow. Also "empty" on the dash is actually 25-30% full based on Mitsubishi's allowable range. So managing it even further is actually fairly useless, as you're already working within a restricted capacity within an already restricted capacity.

High mileage cars will almost certainly have been charged rarely, if at all. In the UK, many were bought because of the tax breaks, and people had no intention of doing anything other than filling them with fuel like a regular car...

 

[AndyInOz]

Minor quibble.

They're not diesel. Don't put diesel in it!

:lol:

 

[Beechtree]

Minor quibble.

They're not diesel. Don't put diesel in it!

:lol:

I appreciate they use petrol/gas!!

 

[Beechtree]

I am like an over-excited schoolboy with a new toy. Apologies! So I charged the car last night from a 240v domestic supply and took it out today to investigate EV range. At around 23 miles it reverted full time to the ICE and indicated 0 miles EV. I found a data screen which said 77% EV useage which I took to mean the proportion of the trip powered by the drive battery? Conditions were cold...,about 2 to 3 deg but relatively flat and I wasn’t driving aggressively however I did have heated seat on and rear window demise. Implication is that I have an EV range approaching 20 miles which (I think) is pretty good n’est ce pas? If so, I am delighted and look forward to warmer weather. By then of course I will have stopped obsessing about it and just be driving normally!

 

[ChrisMiller]

I think the power drain from heated seat or rear window is relatively small. Electric pre-heating (not available on all models) drops the battery by about 1 notch on the display.

 

[Hypermiler]

Sounds fine. I wouldn’t worry about ev % as it’s pretty meaningless. On longer trips (ie out of ev range) you can learn to play around with managing how and when the engine runs rather than just letting the battery run flat (if you like that sort of thing). Don’t let the battery run below about half when towing unless you are nearly home and there aren’t any big up hills!
Cheers
H