Towing - What Mode

[littlescrote]

What clues do you get that you're neither regen or powering ?

2. One is the power gauge being neither negative nor positive. The other is the power flow diagram showing neither.

 

[littlescrote]

"good" in what way? Once the charging process is complete (at ~80% full) the car will use the energy in the battery until it's dropped a few percentage points and then recharge it again (referred to as a 'hysteresis' cycle). Without charge mode selected, exactly the same thing happens but with the battery 'empty' (in reality, ~15% charge left). Selecting save mode does the same, but at whatever level of charge is present when you press the button.

As long as you remember to turn charge/save mode off and arrive at your destination with the battery 'empty', you'll consume very similar amounts of fuel, whichever strategy you adopt.

The difference being that if you do that at 80% charge you will have some battery to assist the engine up long hills when it's either in direct drive or running the generator at maximum capacity. If you do it at lower charge, you may run out part way up said hill (mountain in reality).

 

[littlescrote]

That's not how my 2014 appears to work.
It drives on battery only until I select CHG.
Then the ICE starts and doesn't turn off until I deselect CHG.

Well, it won't drive on battery if the battery is empty.

 

[mountkay]

the car will use the energy in the battery until it's dropped a few percentage points and then recharge it again

As this video shows, below 42mph, the car will use only the electric motors.

The motors can use 80HP each, total of 160HP. The generator can only supply 94HP of energy. So it is possible to use more energy than the generator can supply.

Thus it is important to keep a large buffer of energy in the battery and not just rely on the generator kicking on when the battery is in a critical low state begging to charged.

Letting the genny kick on at low battery when you are driving the car solo is mostly fine since there is always a small buffer left in the battery. But when towing it is better to keep a large buffer of energy in the battery for when you are using more energy for the motors than the generator can supply.

 

[antonvs]

You appear to have rejected the answer out of the box.

Most members recommend using 'Charge' mode while towing a load.

This gives you the maximum available power, 120 kW to the motors.
(Battery plus generation from the engine.)

The engine does not and can not drive the front wheels at low speed.

Andy, I'm interested in your comment here and ask why you only mention the front wheels. What about the rear wheels, that is can they be driven directly by the ICE at any time. I think I have read that the any of the wheels never get driven directly by the ICE

 

[AndyInOz]

Hmm...

The car has a GKN multi-mode "eTransmission" attached to the engine.

This allows the engine to directly drive the front wheels once speeds are at 70 km/h or higher.

There is no physical connection between the engine and the rear wheels.

The electric motors (front and rear) can drive the wheels at any time.

This is a nice animation which explains the working of the "eTransmission".

 

[antonvs]

I tow over 1400 kg mainly on fairly flat A and B roads. I usually start on battery and let it deplete by at least a quarter before hitting charge. I manage engine use myself by keeping charge on all the time I am driving over about 40mph (orange power glow arrow to drive wheels direct) and try to minimise use of the engine when under 40 (engine charging battery). I turn the engine off whenever I can, on downhills, slowing for lights etc. B0 is my default but I paddle up to slow (towing a horse it gives smooth braking). Sometimes you can’t really avoid using the engine in battery charge mode if it is getting a bit low on charge.

I do try to keep the battery to around half full in case of hills or a jam but then run it flat on my return home.

This seems to give me reasonable economy.
Cheers
H

I would be interested to know what non-stop range you think you would get towing your trailer at 1400kg?

 

[antonvs]

To use the accelerator pedal to get zero Regen when in B5 I'd have to be glued to the dash dial instead of looking at the road.
Use the Regen paddles, that's what they're for.

Having our new MY24 PHEV with innovative pedal, I fail to see why I would use the regen B0-5 paddles as there seems to be more regeneration happening when I let my foot off the accelerator pedal compared to when I have tried B5. Also there is a lot more to keep track of. I wonder if the regen paddles are an older tech that have just been left as an option for those that are used to them

 

[Rudra]

I wonder if the regen paddles are an older tech that have just been left as an option for those that are used to them

Somewhat off the towing topic:

The paddles are an excellent feature. I don’t use the 'I-pedal', probably because I don’t live in a city.
On motorways and long uphills I use B0.
And sometimes rapid finger play with the paddles for speed control on open roads.
The default B2 suits me most of the time.

 

[littlescrote]

Having our new MY24 PHEV with innovative pedal, I fail to see why I would use the regen B0-5 paddles as there seems to be more regeneration happening when I let my foot off the accelerator pedal compared to when I have tried B5. Also there is a lot more to keep track of. I wonder if the regen paddles are an older tech that have just been left as an option for those that are used to them

I have the older model that doesn't have the innovative pedal, but if you are in B5 it effectively does. I also don't see why you'd use anything else. More effort for no gain.

 

[Phev2016]

After messing about for years I now use even less effort and leave it in default (more or less B3), with an occasional B5 on long downhill inclines or in stop/go traffic. The car automatically uses regen when the brake pedal is pressed lightly instead of the brakes, so effectively B5. At faster motorway speeds the default was most similar to 'normal' cars and when the accelerator is eased off it does not slow down as much as B5, so default seems more efficient as typically it's necessary to speed up again.
I did a 35 mile each way daily commute for 2 years with a mix of motorway, town and country roads and home/work charging. I tried various 'strategies' to assess battery range but couldn't see much variation between default/lots of paddling/B5 beyond a mile or two for comparable traffic, rain, temperature conditions. B5 feels better in rain or busy motorways and B0 was overall unpleasant so I gave up on that pretty quickly.

 

[antonvs]

I have the older model that doesn't have the innovative pedal, but if you are in B5 it effectively does. I also don't see why you'd use anything else. More effort for no gain.

On open roads, I will have Adaptive cruise control on with i-pedal on in the background. When it comes time for a steep long decent, I place my foot on the accelerator and "cancel" cruise. Then using the i-pedal I ease off to get exactly the amount of regen braking I need - infinitely variable rather than just 5 settings. So this to me seems less effort to me. Plus my testing shows that you get far more regen braking with the i-pedal rigtpht down to 5kph if required.

I am used to using paddles when I had a Pajero Sport, which I used to use constantly if I was towing but that was because the paddles changed gears and using them when towing prevented constant "hunting" of the gears. In the PHEV, i-pedal seems less effort for more gain. If there was only paddles, I would be using them. Maybe in time I will see it differently.