You can get your PHEV to do in excess of 500 mpg, if you drive carefully, and frugally.....

[littlescrote]

Exactly that. Had you not come on and spouted nonsense and claimed it must be true as your son is clever with a totally unrelated qualification, you would not find yourself on the end of my vitriol.

 

[Fancy McDancy]

Exactly that. Had you not come on and spouted nonsense and claimed it must be true as your son is clever with a totally unrelated qualification, you would not find yourself on the end of my vitriol.

But why vitriol? Can't you save that for something important OFF this Forum, like Putin, or..... I'll leave it at that.

 

[AndyInOz]

Members may notice that some posts have been deleted.

May I take this opportunity to recommend that the snide remarks stop at this point?

That includes all the passive aggressive comments about other members being passive aggressive.

 

[kpetrov]

No bullying mate, just facts.
To paraphrase:
Always, always be in Normal. When even in EV and battery is gone the consumption goes trough the roof...
When asked direct question you have changed the tune... Charge, Save, EV mode... all modes apparently.
The only consistent thing in your posts is exactly what you are complaining of, self-describing as better...

 

[Phev2016]

I will now stop following this thread. No need for aggressive and assertive behaviour

 

[Geolog]

I like this. I'm almost a neighbour - I live near Northwich - and have only had a 2020 Outlander PHEV since last Thursday. Hence I am in sponge mode so far as information like this is concerned. Anything else I urgently or even very usefully need to know?

I've had a 2017 Outlander PHEV from new, and it's the best car I've ever had (been driving since 1964 so I've had a few!). Small problem during covid lockdown was that minimum driving and only short journeys meant that it didn't use any petrol at all for a few weeks. But full marks to Mitsubishi - the computer gave me a "dirty fuel" warning. Tank wasn't full, so I filled up and then drove next shopping journey on 'save' mode. Problem solved! By the way, so far the battery has done OK. Over six years old now, but I'm still getting regularly over 20 miles on full charge. Also, like you, in Middle England - Peak District.

 

[Woon Chung]

I visited this thread hooked by fuel consumption issue, because I just bought 2022 Outlander PHEV SEL model in Florida, US.

Most of the people except who drives supercar or super-looks-car concerns about Gas Mileage. As I have been lived my most of the time with ICE cars only. Just from decade ago, several type of Electronic Car becomes popular and especially EV manufacturer emphasize fuel economy compare to ICE cars. Thus, I was hoping to hear valuable advices from this thread.

But see what is going on this thread. Somebody blames other by claiming that it is wrong. I totally disappointed in such argument. Whether he or she is right or wrong, we cannot blame somebody else. We all might be wrong on this matter. Thus, I just write my opinion disregarding whether it is right or wrong, and kind ask you not to blame me but teach me either with your personalized experience or based on the deep knowledge of the car and its technology.

When we return to CAR fuel consuming cost, we first start with the fact that what kind of car I am driving. Electric Bike, Motor Bike, Compact 2 seater, Compact 4 Seater, Regular Sedan, Compact SUV, Mid size SUV, Heavy duty SUV, Luxury SUV, Pick up Truck, Convention Van, Mini Van, ETC. Think about what kind of car you have been driving so far. Also, We have to recall how important Fuel efficiency when you choose the car. Strangely, fuel efficiency is seldom to be a standard selection but all of a sudden, it becomes important factor when driving a car after purchase. Someone choose the SUV for family safety and pay a lot of money on SUV instead of cheap Sedan which shows higher fuel efficiency but he expects fuel efficiency of sedan. As a result, he is looking for the best way to drive SUV with less fuel consumption. If there exist the ways to save cost of fuel in SUV, that will be a miracle. Or, he can buy a less option installed SUV to save gas consumption with similar cost of Luxuries Sedan, expecting saving running cost. It will not happen like this.

OK, Let return to main issue of Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV fuel economy.
Quote from littlestrote
"Whether it's more economical to use Normal, Charge or Save all depends on the specific journey you are doing at the time."
Unquote
I am totally agree to this expression. Especially PHEV fuel economy relies on Journey. In my case, I drive 1000miles, 1600kms per year. According to calculation, I do not need gasoline at all since my journey is less than 20miles, 36kms per day and only wall charging is enough. Thus Gas Mileage is unlimited. If the situation is like this, any car has unlimited gas mileage, only if it is PHEV, to me. I choose the 2022 Outlander PHEV only because I found lowest offer on the market among PHEV. I need PHEV not because of high gas mileage but because of low purchasing price with factory warranty, even though there are more cars with fuel efficiency, with similar or better quality. One of the reason why people love to buy this car may not be the fuel efficiency, but because it is hard to find PHEV in the market. Toyota and Honda does not have PHEV in this class. There is Rav-4 but when I drive a car, it feels like steel box. Strangely, Car manufacturer try to cut the production of PHEV but to manufacture EV cars more. I guess PHEV is more expensive to produce but less effect in fuel cost than Pure EV.

OK, Lets go back to the issue, which is the most economical way to drive Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV if the journey is fixed circumstances?"
The answer will be different according to the character of Journey, however, the result has no distinguishable difference of fuel economy. The car software will try to use less fuel in any position. Each position has different aim(purpose) to run the vehicle but not to minimize the fuel consumption. EV mode is not for less fuel consumption, but for quite driving a certain distance because when battery drops to a certain degree, ICE will run by using gas. Charge mode is not for gas saving but maintain full battery to use battery in other purpose like camping, emergency power back up. In this mode, ICE is used for moving the car, supply 12v system in the car and top charge the battery. No electric motor engaged. We don't need this mode if we do not use this car as extra power source. Eco and Natural is same consuming fuel but generally less power when driving. This will save a little of gas but when we calculate to money saving, it is neglectable. Living near a cheaper gas station will save more money. Please refer following experiment.

There was an experiment that how the driving attitude will affect the fuel consumption. One case is fast acceleration with fast brake and the other case is modest driving all the way. As we may guess, first case consumes more fuel than second case. But those testers, when they drive the car in the city, say that the difference is so little to be noticeable when calculated to currency. Not like in the Lab, it is not easy to drive for general people fast accelerate or quick stop unless emergency, and also not easy to drive moderate always. The conclusion of the above test on old ICE car, the difference driving mode does not strongly affect fuel economy in general.

OK, then we turn the issue to that "Is Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is best choice in fuel economy?"
The answer is No. According to the Laws of Physics and/or Low of energy, fuel economy is mostly affected by the weight of Car. However, we cannot compare this with other cars as apple to apple, because every PHEV has different battery capacity and ICE. Simple comparison is that the car is lighter, fuel consumption is low, except ICE super cars. (ICE engine has very special character that all gasoline burn is not transferred to power to use moving car. This is why EV cars are fast in start line - Mensa will know this, but electric motor use most electric energy to turn rotors) So the hybrid engine car fuel efficiency will be affected by the size of the ICE engine, not considering Drive Battery size . More loss of fuel efficiency comes from ICE. There are many hybrid cars using smaller ICE engine than Outlander and manufacturer try to make lighter weight cars to suit to this small engine. Those cars have more fuel efficiency. But they lose driving comfort and other Luxurious things like power options. Also the tires affect fuel efficiency as seen an BMW i3. We find many argument in the internet regarding less fuel cost but more cost to buy. Less fuel cost but less comfort.

All above information are purely based on my personal experience of driving a car as non-mechanic for 50 years. I once drive Hyundai Pony, Honda civic, Sonata, Impreza, Frontier, v60, Continental, Accord, X1, X3, 330i, M3, 340Mi, Z4, Boxster, SC430, CT200h, Ioniq ETC. Compare to the cars running on the street, very limited experience, I admit. But fuel efficiency was never been a priority option, because if I put first priority to fuel consumption, it requires more sacrifice of other options when compare the car quality.

I believe fuel efficiency does not save real money but make us a little bit happier, thinking I am spending less money on journey, while there are practical other ways to save actual money when buying a car. In reality, If I buy more fuel efficiency car with less pay, I would not be happy because of missing options on the car. Everybody knows that we pay more money on Hybrid car expecting money saving on Fuel, while the ICE only car is more cheaper than fuel saving from Hybrid. Compare the price of regular Outlander and PHEV outlander. Do you think you can save that sale price gap by saving a fuel?

But we as an Earth Citizen, and Car manufacturer as a savor of the earth environment, should accept valuable change to future tech for earth. That is why we pay more money to EV car instead ICE. PHEV owner is a little bit shy(hesitate) to adapt big transition to only EV car at the moment but has desire to enjoy modern tech.

There is no short cut to save fuel cost in any way once you choose the car. Your car will consume gas according to the car itself, journey itself, not by driving behavior. Once you buy a car, there is no way to more save on money, such as several hundred dollars of fuel cost by selecting driving mode.

This is real story form Environmental Movement guy. He says "To protect environment, do not flush water from toilet until it starts smell."

 

[mellobob]

I visited this thread hooked by fuel consumption issue, because I just bought 2022 Outlander PHEV SEL model in Florida, US.

Most of the people except who drives supercar or super-looks-car concerns about Gas Mileage. As I have been lived my most of the time with ICE cars only. Just from decade ago, several type of Electronic Car becomes popular and especially EV manufacturer emphasize fuel economy compare to ICE cars. Thus, I was hoping to hear valuable advices from this thread.

But see what is going on this thread. Somebody blames other by claiming that it is wrong. I totally disappointed in such argument. Whether he or she is right or wrong, we cannot blame somebody else. We all might be wrong on this matter. Thus, I just write my opinion disregarding whether it is right or wrong, and kind ask you not to blame me but teach me either with your personalized experience or based on the deep knowledge of the car and its technology.

When we return to CAR fuel consuming cost, we first start with the fact that what kind of car I am driving. Electric Bike, Motor Bike, Compact 2 seater, Compact 4 Seater, Regular Sedan, Compact SUV, Mid size SUV, Heavy duty SUV, Luxury SUV, Pick up Truck, Convention Van, Mini Van, ETC. Think about what kind of car you have been driving so far. Also, We have to recall how important Fuel efficiency when you choose the car. Strangely, fuel efficiency is seldom to be a standard selection but all of a sudden, it becomes important factor when driving a car after purchase. Someone choose the SUV for family safety and pay a lot of money on SUV instead of cheap Sedan which shows higher fuel efficiency but he expects fuel efficiency of sedan. As a result, he is looking for the best way to drive SUV with less fuel consumption. If there exist the ways to save cost of fuel in SUV, that will be a miracle. Or, he can buy a less option installed SUV to save gas consumption with similar cost of Luxuries Sedan, expecting saving running cost. It will not happen like this.

OK, Let return to main issue of Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV fuel economy.
Quote from littlestrote
"Whether it's more economical to use Normal, Charge or Save all depends on the specific journey you are doing at the time."
Unquote
I am totally agree to this expression. Especially PHEV fuel economy relies on Journey. In my case, I drive 1000miles, 1600kms per year. According to calculation, I do not need gasoline at all since my journey is less than 20miles, 36kms per day and only wall charging is enough. Thus Gas Mileage is unlimited. If the situation is like this, any car has unlimited gas mileage, only if it is PHEV, to me. I choose the 2022 Outlander PHEV only because I found lowest offer on the market among PHEV. I need PHEV not because of high gas mileage but because of low purchasing price with factory warranty, even though there are more cars with fuel efficiency, with similar or better quality. One of the reason why people love to buy this car may not be the fuel efficiency, but because it is hard to find PHEV in the market. Toyota and Honda does not have PHEV in this class. There is Rav-4 but when I drive a car, it feels like steel box. Strangely, Car manufacturer try to cut the production of PHEV but to manufacture EV cars more. I guess PHEV is more expensive to produce but less effect in fuel cost than Pure EV.

OK, Lets go back to the issue, which is the most economical way to drive Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV if the journey is fixed circumstances?"
The answer will be different according to the character of Journey, however, the result has no distinguishable difference of fuel economy. The car software will try to use less fuel in any position. Each position has different aim(purpose) to run the vehicle but not to minimize the fuel consumption. EV mode is not for less fuel consumption, but for quite driving a certain distance because when battery drops to a certain degree, ICE will run by using gas. Charge mode is not for gas saving but maintain full battery to use battery in other purpose like camping, emergency power back up. In this mode, ICE is used for moving the car, supply 12v system in the car and top charge the battery. No electric motor engaged. We don't need this mode if we do not use this car as extra power source. Eco and Natural is same consuming fuel but generally less power when driving. This will save a little of gas but when we calculate to money saving, it is neglectable. Living near a cheaper gas station will save more money. Please refer following experiment.

There was an experiment that how the driving attitude will affect the fuel consumption. One case is fast acceleration with fast brake and the other case is modest driving all the way. As we may guess, first case consumes more fuel than second case. But those testers, when they drive the car in the city, say that the difference is so little to be noticeable when calculated to currency. Not like in the Lab, it is not easy to drive for general people fast accelerate or quick stop unless emergency, and also not easy to drive moderate always. The conclusion of the above test on old ICE car, the difference driving mode does not strongly affect fuel economy in general.

OK, then we turn the issue to that "Is Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is best choice in fuel economy?"
The answer is No. According to the Laws of Physics and/or Low of energy, fuel economy is mostly affected by the weight of Car. However, we cannot compare this with other cars as apple to apple, because every PHEV has different battery capacity and ICE. Simple comparison is that the car is lighter, fuel consumption is low, except ICE super cars. (ICE engine has very special character that all gasoline burn is not transferred to power to use moving car. This is why EV cars are fast in start line - Mensa will know this, but electric motor use most electric energy to turn rotors) So the hybrid engine car fuel efficiency will be affected by the size of the ICE engine, not considering Drive Battery size . More loss of fuel efficiency comes from ICE. There are many hybrid cars using smaller ICE engine than Outlander and manufacturer try to make lighter weight cars to suit to this small engine. Those cars have more fuel efficiency. But they lose driving comfort and other Luxurious things like power options. Also the tires affect fuel efficiency as seen an BMW i3. We find many argument in the internet regarding less fuel cost but more cost to buy. Less fuel cost but less comfort.

All above information are purely based on my personal experience of driving a car as non-mechanic for 50 years. I once drive Hyundai Pony, Honda civic, Sonata, Impreza, Frontier, v60, Continental, Accord, X1, X3, 330i, M3, 340Mi, Z4, Boxster, SC430, CT200h, Ioniq ETC. Compare to the cars running on the street, very limited experience, I admit. But fuel efficiency was never been a priority option, because if I put first priority to fuel consumption, it requires more sacrifice of other options when compare the car quality.

I believe fuel efficiency does not save real money but make us a little bit happier, thinking I am spending less money on journey, while there are practical other ways to save actual money when buying a car. In reality, If I buy more fuel efficiency car with less pay, I would not be happy because of missing options on the car. Everybody knows that we pay more money on Hybrid car expecting money saving on Fuel, while the ICE only car is more cheaper than fuel saving from Hybrid. Compare the price of regular Outlander and PHEV outlander. Do you think you can save that sale price gap by saving a fuel?

But we as an Earth Citizen, and Car manufacturer as a savor of the earth environment, should accept valuable change to future tech for earth. That is why we pay more money to EV car instead ICE. PHEV owner is a little bit shy(hesitate) to adapt big transition to only EV car at the moment but has desire to enjoy modern tech.

There is no short cut to save fuel cost in any way once you choose the car. Your car will consume gas according to the car itself, journey itself, not by driving behavior. Once you buy a car, there is no way to more save on money, such as several hundred dollars of fuel cost by selecting driving mode.

This is real story form Environmental Movement guy. He says "To protect environment, do not flush water from toilet until it starts smell."

The '22 will force you to use at least 20 liters of fuel every 3 or 6 months (sorry, I don't recall the correct time). So, no you can't drive "forever" on electric only. Nor should you try ... there is a reason that the designers put in this restriction.

 

[Woon Chung]

The '22 will force you to use at least 20 liters of fuel every 3 or 6 months (sorry, I don't recall the correct time). So, no you can't drive "forever" on electric only. Nor should you try ... there is a reason that the designers put in this restriction.

That is good and important information for a newbie in PHEV, especially driving a short distance daily like me. I used to drive Hybrid and Hybrid engine maintenance not so much different than general ICE. If I add my excuse of "Unlimited Gas Mileage" is just an expression, not an practical express of status. Someone advise me (not 22 owner) that gas additives will help to clean the system or extend gas sound condition. I will search more to find the better ways and 22 model special characters to maintain the car for long time in good condition even such a short distance driving condition.
Thanks.

 

[Woon Chung]

By the way, I would like to write my opinion on fuel efficiency of the ICE car, Hybrid car and PHEV. This is purely my personal opinion. Please do not blame me why I have such an opinion instead, pinpoint on the details with reliable sources. Those will be added to me as new knowledge.

First, we have to look over fuel efficiency of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), using gasoline as a fuel. Gas itself has its own efficiency. High Octane gas produces more power than regular and that leads to high fuel efficiency. It has other good effect in addition to power efficiency. Nevertheless, it is expensive. So, it is very difficult to talk about Fuel efficiency when we go to money vs fuel efficiency. So selection of fuel will be out of discussion on fuel efficiency.

When we search in the internet about ICE engine efficiency it says:

Quote

The US EPA says that only 20% of the energy from gasoline is used to power the wheels, while the remaining 80% is lost as heat. This means that for every dollar spent on gas, only 20 cents is used to move the car.

Unquote

In addition to this efficiency rate(%), ICE shows different rate according to use engine while driving. When we idle, engine efficiency is zero. When engine power is engaged to transmission, the rate will be changed according to current car speed. The efficiency will be determined by the gas burning amount vs moving distance. When we accelerate engine by providing gas to burn, efficiency will be changed by the amount of supplying gas. If we push hard on accel, efficiency rate is low but expect fast start of the car, on the contrary, if we push slow on accel, efficiency rate is high but the car moves slowly. This is the reason how we are educated the driving believers to save the gas, i.e., high gas mileage.

Push hard on accel pedal is not liner to the moving distance of the car. This is THE UNIQUE special character of ICE. Burning Gas in the cylinder expends the volume and then the expend of gas(this gas means one of the exitance state of material such as gas, liquid or solid, Not abbreviation of gasoline) will push the piston. Fuel efficiency is directly related in this phenomena. When there is no load at the end of piston, pressure increase will move piston as per gas expansion ratio(not considering frictions related). The load of piston is related with existing speed of the rod movement. If the car has 0 speed, gas expansion will face maximum load. Thus, need more gasoline to burn to produce higher pressure inside cylinder. As per car getting a speed, load in the piston rod is lighter and then this leads to less explosion in the cylinder and this will decide as a whole gas efficiency. As a conclusion, gas consumption is very much related how to move the car. Fast acceleration and frequent stop will be the enemy of the fuel efficiency and its scientific background is Boyle Shale law and Newton's law. (I studied this laws in my middle school days. Not a Rocket Science)

Because of this phenomena, car engineer put an enormous effort to improvement engine fuel efficiency. High Octane is one of them and improving engine materials, also. But the most effective result came out of the Transmission. The key of the transmission in the aspect of fuel efficiency is the distribution of load to piston evenly in all different car speed, which will minimize the gas burning in difference car speed.

Next, we have to look up Electric Motor. Electric motor has significantly high efficiency(but it requires very expensive battery) when compare to ICE. The reason is that EM is not affected by the Boyle Shale Law. EM efficiency is affected by Electro-Magnetic law. Thus, efficiency is electric resistance and magnetic power. This is not new technology but material is improved a lot. In general, Motor efficiency is 50%-99%. However, since the car is moving object, Newton's law is strongly involved. Electric Motor use electricity, which has been stored in battery as the form of electrons. So, it is not limited to the point of view as fuel efficiency, but the point of view as whole car moving efficiency.

So, the genius car engineers tried to combine 2 different power source in one car to increase the gas fuel efficiency. We have to think it in this way. The fuel efficiency is the only terms of ICE. Electric motor has no relation with fuel(electricity) efficiency. Therefore, combine 2 power should be understood as how the Eclectic Motor help to decrease gasoline consumption without affecting car movement. They also consider the cost of Battery for EM. Tried to Minimize the cost of battery and take advantage of EV.

The most bad sequency in ICE fuel consuming is "Idling". and 2nd bad impact in ICE fuel consuming is "Start to Move". Once the car speed reaches normal speed, ICE will maintain its highest fuel efficiency, as a result, EM does not help fuel efficiency so much during steady speed circumstance. So engineers set Hybrid System as EM help ICE to stop Idling when the car is not moving and when start the car, EM acts first and then lighten the load of starting, ICE moves car together. After that ICE generate power and save it to the battery when ICE does not need the support from EM. Most of the Hybrid car has more fuel efficiency in city driving than Speedway because of this reason. If we say Hybrid Engine Technology, it means how to control Idling, starting and find charging point in software. All other hardware are not key point of Hybrid. Those are just car quality itself, disregarding ICE car or EV.

Let's assume 10 of fuel energy needed to moving 10 of distance, in Hybrid system let ICE save 2 to battery and uses 8 to moving, 2 saved energy in battery will be used for 5 car moving. As a result, total 10 of fuel energy will move the car 13 of distance. This is how we save fuel on Hybrid Car. So Hybrid quality depends on how to determine each gas saving point and control Electric motor as assistant.

PHEV is same as hybrid, described above. It only has bigger battery and use extra power saved by home electricity as EV car. When the bigger battery consumes most of them for EV distance as pure EV car, the system work as only Hybrid. PHEV is more expensive than Hybrid as the added battery price. If you drive long distance regularly, PHEV is not utilizing extra power even though you paid much money for extra battery and charging system hardware.

EV cars do not bouncing on the fuel efficiency as much as ICE car because there is no application of Boyle Shale's Law. There might be slight difference of motor quality but it is affected by the material and motor design, the difference will be the car price itself. No way to change of efficiency by changing driving set or driving behavior. We just pay much more for battery.

Same scientific (my) theory will be applied to Outlander PHEV. Also I have some question about that "Is Mitsubishi outlander (not PHEV) is better car in general than Toyota Highlander?" "Is Mitsubishi Hybrid Engine is batter than Toyota Hybrid Engine?" "Is Mitsubishi battery pack is better than other cars battery pack?" If the answers are not positive, there is only one technical factor should be superior than other PHEV in order to result Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is better car than other Hybrid car. In technical aspect, Mitsubishi engineer's design ability to consider all car system balancing between ICE system and EV system. We have no way to prove this on the market. But 120v AC 1500w can be found in Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV only. Highlander does not have PHEV, neither Honda Pilot. Rav4 PHEV is lower class with high price.

I do not know PHEV market price, but I bought used 2022 Outlander SEL only because of its most competitive price. Because of above my theoretical background, I can optimize EV car efficiency by PHEV option since my daily driving distance is less than 20 miles. So, I was looking for the PHEV with the best price in the market. At least I couldn't find any other car with better reliability in PHEV model under that price range. I am a lazy guy to go deep in search. No car beats the options on my car with this price. Thus, I am very much suspicious about reliability of this car, because I have never heard of Outlander's reliability, not like Toyota, Lexus and Honda. that is my destiny as a result of choosing lowest price car in that category.

This choice gave me another headache. I can save gas cost but I cannot maintain ICE engine by not using the ICE. They say I should use ICE from time to time to maintain ICE system. I can save Gas cost about $50 a year than Hybrid, but I do not know how much I have to spend extra money to maintain ICE system because I do not use ICE.

 

[HeliNurse]

Well thanks for that. Florida? ok, do you need the ICE for heating? In Adelaide, where I was previously living the dream, my commute was 8km, so I could do 2 days on one charge, so infinite mpg. Every now and then, about 6 months, the car ordered me to put in 20litres of fuel and it burned a certain amount, this is eminently sensible as fuel degrades and can really f-up your fuel system, this gave me about 8litres/100km. Much better than my disco (Ford 4.0 V6) at anything upto 20litres/100kms. And then back to infinite mpg. Now..Adelaide can get down to -2C and the car doesn't like that and starts the ICE. I'd have to switch off the heating and switch on the seats, so there's that. Now I am off grid on KI and town is 30km away on unsealed roads, I can get to town on ev and go home on ICE, 4litre/100km driving carefully. Good enough at the stage. BTW the Disco is now 16 years old and the only thing that has gone tits up on it has fomoco stamped on it.

 

[Ecological]

The '22 will force you to use at least 20 liters of fuel every 3 or 6 months (sorry, I don't recall the correct time). So, no you can't drive "forever" on electric only. Nor should you try ... there is a reason that the designers put in this restriction.

Mellobo-You hit the nail of the head. Clever person. I concur with you completely and totally.

 

[Ecological]

Well thanks for that. Florida? ok, do you need the ICE for heating? In Adelaide, where I was previously living the dream, my commute was 8km, so I could do 2 days on one charge, so infinite mpg. Every now and then, about 6 months, the car ordered me to put in 20litres of fuel and it burned a certain amount, this is eminently sensible as fuel degrades and can really f-up your fuel system, this gave me about 8litres/100km. Much better than my disco (Ford 4.0 V6) at anything upto 20litres/100kms. And then back to infinite mpg. Now..Adelaide can get down to -2C and the car doesn't like that and starts the ICE. I'd have to switch off the heating and switch on the seats, so there's that. Now I am off grid on KI and town is 30km away on unsealed roads, I can get to town on ev and go home on ICE, 4litre/100km driving carefully. Good enough at the stage. BTW the Disco is now 16 years old and the only thing that has gone tits up on it has fomoco stamped on it.

Hellinurse, you are absolutely spot on. There has been research carried out on the temperature, and EVs and batteries [eg PHEV] works best at 21 degrees centigrade. That is the optimum temperature, just like any other battery. Too cold and it will use up more fuel and more battery, and too hot, the same thing happens. You are also right about the fuel, as you need to put in 20 litres [I got away with 15 litres] as in the instruction manual, the fuel needs to be topped up every 6 months or so, as it will clog up, fuel going stale. The design of the car and its computer will not allow you to carry on driving without topping up every six months or so, as this will damage the ICE. Clarification- if car detects fuel has not been topped up after 6 months or so, ICE will continuously kick it, and in my car, the dash will not show any MPG, or battery, just warning lights to ask that you top up. This is to protect the ICE.

 

[Ecological]

Thanks for this. I continually argue with my wife who has alternate views on how the car should be run. I presume what you desribe would translate to Australia? Obviously, couldn't be more different to the UK with our long strtches of road between towns, cities and states.We mostly drive locally which is about 20 - 40 km a day find it rarely needed to refuel with petrol however planning long trips interstate later this year.

You are wise. For your requirements, you have bought the right car. You do need to refuel occasionally, because of the ICE, as with any ICE...not using the ICE for long periods will clog up the engine. The instructions provide that you refueled 20 imperial litres every six months. I did leave it without refueling and the car then required me to refuel, and the ICE kicked it all the time during this period, until refuelling was carried out. All you have to do to see whether your wife or you is right is see how much fuel it uses per annum. If you are only refuelling 20 imp litres every six months, you are driving the car at its best my friend, and nobody can beat that.

 

[maby]

"Imperial Litres"? That reminds me of "metric feet"! Soon after England went metric, my father and I were going to do some building and, being good boys, we measured up in metres. We went along to our local timber yard to buy half a dozen four metre beams and were told that they were now selling wood in metric feet... One metre is just over 39 inches, so the yard had rounded it off to 39 inches, then divided by three to arrive at metric feet - 13 inches each ..

Martin

 

[Woon Chung]

"Imperial Litres"? That reminds me of "metric feet"! Soon after England went metric, my father and I were going to do some building and, being good boys, we measured up in metres. We went along to our local timber yard to buy half a dozen four metre beams and were told that they were now selling wood in metric feet... One metre is just over 39 inches, so the yard had rounded it off to 39 inches, then divided by three to arrive at metric feet - 13 inches each ..

Martin

I don't know why US insist to use Miles/lb unit while all global standard become Meter/Li. Everybody knows that changing National system faces enormous resistance from every industry, and it costs a lot. South Korea changed EVEN FURTHER National Electric Grid system from 100v to 220v by passing thru 32 years of transition period. They switched Power Plant, High Voltage Power Transportation Lines, Power to each House, all inhouse lines, all electric products. They did great job. 100V system is transferred by US during Korean war, maybe it was standard in the world at that time. US using 120v, Japan still using 100v as National Electric Grid system. Changing might be not as easy Pie.

 

[HeliNurse]

"Imperial Litres"? That reminds me of "metric feet"! Soon after England went metric, my father and I were going to do some building and, being good boys, we measured up in metres. We went along to our local timber yard to buy half a dozen four metre beams and were told that they were now selling wood in metric feet... One metre is just over 39 inches, so the yard had rounded it off to 39 inches, then divided by three to arrive at metric feet - 13 inches each ..

Martin

Surely you mean timber metre?

 

[Ecological]

I've had a 2017 Outlander PHEV from new, and it's the best car I've ever had (been driving since 1964 so I've had a few!). Small problem during covid lockdown was that minimum driving and only short journeys meant that it didn't use any petrol at all for a few weeks. But full marks to Mitsubishi - the computer gave me a "dirty fuel" warning. Tank wasn't full, so I filled up and then drove next shopping journey on 'save' mode. Problem solved! By the way, so far the battery has done OK. Over six years old now, but I'm still getting regularly over 20 miles on full charge. Also, like you, in Middle England - Peak District.

Dear Geolog my buddy,
I have a 2015 PHEV when UK under David Cameron offered home charging installation for £99 [now BP pulse], had zero pounds Road Tax, and there was a government grant of £5000 off my PHEV...just after I bought my car in 2015, grant went down to £2500, road tax was now applicable. I have done 46,000 miles in it, and like you, did not top fuel for months on end as my journey was only 31 miles round trip. [My friend you can still get 30 miles but you must avoid sudden acceleration [even gentle!!!], and go at around 40-45 mph, thereby peeing some bombastic drivers off especially male middle age, BMW ICE.] Despite not having as many wise years as you, as I could only legally start driving in 1986, that was the best car I owned, out of 8 cars that I have had this side of life. I wanted to buy another but was saddened and aggrieved that Mitsubishi is not returning to the UK. The only hope I have now is to drive this car carefully till I am 100 +...after all in middle earth Bildo Baggins and Gandalf lived far longer than that. Keep well ma mate, and stay healthy. It is not everyday that you meet your bud from middle earth.