When to use "Eco Mode"?

[awasen]

So, I guess the first question is; Does Eco Mode help the EV range at all?

I have been testing on my drive to and from work. In the morning I most often get into rush hour traffic with start/stop for some 10 km. The total distance to work is 28 km with about 12 of them on 70 km/h and the rest on 40 and 50 km/h.

During the summer I could get roughly 45 km EV driving.

Now with about 4-6 degrees Celsius here in Sweden I am lucky to get the 28 km on EV.

Using Eco Mode doesn't seem to help going to work in rush hour traffic, almost the opposite, it seems I get less EV km in Eco Mode in start/stop traffic.

As I have no charging at work I now normally hit the Charge button while in start/stop traffic as I figured it is cheaper to charge while standing still, is this a valid belief?

 

[jaapv]

Eco mode has a slight impact on accelerator response, airconditioning and heating. All in all it is not a very useful button. It only comes into its own if one has a VTech box fitted.

Charging whilst standing still (or driving -with a few exceptions-) is rather counterproductive as you will use more fuel than you will save by the subsequent electric driving, due to conversion losses.
The charge button is meant to be used when you want to stock up on electricity for future need, for instance climbing a mountain, ahead, entering a low-emission zone or showing off to your friends.

 

[greendwarf]

As I have no charging at work I now normally hit the Charge button while in start/stop traffic as I figured it is cheaper to charge while standing still, is this a valid belief?

Not sure I'd buy an EV car and then sit in my own micro atmosphere of pollution :?

 

[awasen]

As I have no charging at work I now normally hit the Charge button while in start/stop traffic as I figured it is cheaper to charge while standing still, is this a valid belief?

Not sure I'd buy an EV car and then sit in my own micro atmosphere of pollution :?

Well, with a few hundred other cars around me I hardly think that is an issue...
I figured it will draw less fuel charging stand-still than driving but seems that is not a valid point.

 

[HHL]

Eco mode has a slight impact on accelerator response, airconditioning and heating. All in all it is not a very useful button. It only comes into its own if one has a VTech box fitted.

Charging whilst standing still (or driving -with a few exceptions-) is rather counterproductive as you will use more fuel than you will save by the subsequent electric driving, due to conversion losses.
The charge button is meant to be used when you want to stock up on electricity for future need, for instance climbing a mountain, ahead, entering a low-emission zone or showing off to your friends.

Charging while stationary will also hit the battery with quite a high charge rate, not sure if that is actually a good thing to do on a regular basis.

 

[elm70]

So, I guess the first question is; Does Eco Mode help the EV range at all?

I have been testing on my drive to and from work. In the morning I most often get into rush hour traffic with start/stop for some 10 km. The total distance to work is 28 km with about 12 of them on 70 km/h and the rest on 40 and 50 km/h.

During the summer I could get roughly 45 km EV driving.

Now with about 4-6 degrees Celsius here in Sweden I am lucky to get the 28 km on EV.

Using Eco Mode doesn't seem to help going to work in rush hour traffic, almost the opposite, it seems I get less EV km in Eco Mode in start/stop traffic.

As I have no charging at work I now normally hit the Charge button while in start/stop traffic as I figured it is cheaper to charge while standing still, is this a valid belief?

I guess your big difference between summer and winter is because you use the heating system, this does consume up to 4kw, that is a lot if you drive at low speed (compared to the energy used by E motors)

The way to improve range is to use the pre heat in the car while it is still charging, and then disable the air/heating system in the car .. this will maximize the range

About using the charge button ... I think the best is let the car do its job automatically ... there is no point to charge the battery using petrol, unless you have special need ... like entering in a pure EV zone

Since you have to make 28+28 km a day .. so bit over the 50km range (that is in ideal situation, so hard to achieve for us anyhow) .. I can see that is a pain to have the ICE starting few km before being able to back to home and charging point. When the ICE kick in, this car is not anymore "fuel" efficient

 

[awasen]

Charging while stationary will also hit the battery with quite a high charge rate, not sure if that is actually a good thing to do on a regular basis.

Yes, that is what I've noticed. About 30 minutes in near standstill and I got about a 50% additional charge which then is enough to get me both ways...

Does anyone knoe what the fuel consumption is with standstill charging (per hour or per kWH) ?

 

[elm70]

Charging while stationary will also hit the battery with quite a high charge rate, not sure if that is actually a good thing to do on a regular basis.

Yes, that is what I've noticed. About 30 minutes in near standstill and I got about a 50% additional charge which then is enough to get me both ways...

Does anyone knoe what the fuel consumption is with standstill charging (per hour or per kWH) ?

I have read somewhere that Mitsubishi claim 3L of fuel for fully charge the battery .. if it take 30min for 50% charge .. then we an extra consumption of 3L per hour ... and it should charge battery at 10kw power (2.5x faster then normal charger .. but still slower then Chademo)

Anyhow 3L fuel for make 45km range (slowly) .. it is not even to bad for a city consumption.

Anyhow .. let the car do the charging on its own .. I'm sure you will get better fuel economy in this way

 

[awasen]

I have read somewhere that Mitsubishi claim 3L of fuel for fully charge the battery .. if it take 30min for 50% charge .. then we an extra consumption of 3L per hour ... and it should charge battery at 10kw power (2.5x faster then normal charger .. but still slower then Chademo)

Anyhow 3L fuel for make 45km range (slowly) .. it is not even to bad for a city consumption.

Anyhow .. let the car do the charging on its own .. I'm sure you will get better fuel economy in this way

Well, with 3l for a full battery, then now in autumn and winter it will be better to not charge then as the fuel consumption then would be about 1.1l/10 km charging (at standstill with 28 km EV driving fully charged) but about 0.9l/10 km in non-EV driving. In the spring/summer it would be even less...

Thanks for clarifying!

Can anyone confirm the 3l fuel for 100% charge?

 

[jaapv]

No- as it will only charge up to 80%.

 

[maby]

No- as it will only charge up to 80%.

I know that this is the theory, but my experience is that it is an oversimplification. This may be down to sloppy programming from Mitsubishi, but my 2 year old PHEV will quite happily sit for ages with the engine running as it tries to fill up the last block on the battery charge meter.

 

[Tipper]

Back to the original question...
I hate ECO mode is makes the car sluggish and really poor at hill climbing which I have to do right out of my house, you might as well put a brick under the throttle pedal!
I know it supposedly reduces heating or aircon consumption but frankly I'd rather be warm/cool/demisted in my high tech and expensive personal transport system. I've not noticed any change in range either during the limited times I tried ECO before I ignored the button all together. I think the designers got it pretty much right so I JFDI!

 

[jaapv]

Funny thing is: it does not really make the car more sluggish, it just feels that way as the accelerator is less responsive. I agree, before I added "the box" I found the button useless.

 

[anko]

I hate ECO mode is makes the car sluggish and really poor at hill climbing ...

IMHO, that is just perception. Maybe triggered by the modified throttle response ....

Even when towing my caravan, I have never experienced any real difference between ECO and non ECO. Although, now with the PHEVbox installed, I prefer to turn ECO off with the sole purpose of deactivating the PHEVbox. Because even in Charge mode (with the ICE running), the PHEVbox will restrict power demand and I don't want to deal with the kick down every time I need more than 60 kW.

edit - So, what Jaap said ....

I know it supposedly reduces heating or aircon consumption but frankly I'd rather be warm/cool/demisted in my high tech and expensive personal transport system.

Well, reducing the power consumption for heater and A/C should leave more power for hill climbing .... :mrgreen: