Here in Northwest Oregon winter is rain nearly everday. Temp are in the mid 30's to mid 40's and you need heat, wipers, headlights, even during the day time in frequently bad weather. So, how much of a hit do you take on the EV range. Of course if its 70 degrees, sunshine, and dry roads, it probably a much longer EV range.
On my Gen II, wet road surfaces have a noticeable negative effect on MPGs. The effect varies by the amount of standing water: * Just noticable dampness - ~1 MPG * Enough standing water to reflectelight - ~2-3 MPG * Some small puddles and water moving on road surface - 3-4 MPG * Heavy rain, lots of water on the road surface, tire tracks of cars ahead easily visible - 5 and up MPGs. I do't know how you'd convert these figures to EV range reduction.
The only way to check would be to actually drive in those conditions after a full charge. But most places in the U.S. don't see the constant rain as we do, we get more rain in a month than some places in the US get in a year.
EV range can increase when the engine runs. It did the other day driving my PHV, when engine start for heat/defrost. (It was 37°F outside.) That resulted in roughly a 0.5 mile addition to EV range each time that happened. The "loss" from cold isn't as clear as it was originally assumed. .
lol. Yes you can charge the batteries with gas while you warm the car. If you use a higher proportion of gas, the battery will drive you longer. We shouldn't confuse blending more gas for higher charge depletion range as more EV Rain is a strange thing. It will add to drag and stops reduce mileage, but sometimes in light traffic you just drive slower and it nets out. YMMV greatly on conditions. We don't get the volume of rain they do up in Oregon, but we get the storms and flooding conditions. One of the big advantages of a phev over a bev is the ability to warm the cabin and batteries with a little gasoline. The ev/hv button should also help here. We have to wait for more data to see how good the phv is here, but I expect just a small hit to gasoline to keep good range.
Who? Remember, I'm the one who's been pushing for the inclusion of GALLONS and KWH with the reporting of efficiency data. I'm also the one who has for years been referring to the plug as a MPG BOOST option. Confusion comes from those attempting to treat PHV as if it was an EV. It's really a ultra, super, genius approach to hybrids... which uses gas & electricity in the most efficient manner. .
I picked up my car yesterday with 12 miles of EV and pulled on to a freeway running about 30-45MPH with rain so incredibly hard i've not seen it that bad in years and really nasty wind. Visibility was about 40 feet max, i had my headlights on, defroster to keep from fogging, and windshield wipers at as fast as humanly possible. My EV range ended up being about 9.2 miles. So the hit IS there, but it's not like it cut it in half, more like it took 25% off the top. Something i discovered and later confirmed in the user manual, the Radar cruise control will not work if your windshield wipers are on their max setting. I'm sure the rain would have prevented using it accurately, but the windshield wipers override it's use evidently anyway. EDIT: Also quick aside, i grew up in Portland Oregon for the first 18 years of my life, and this rain was like oregon rain on it's worst days.
This is interesting, and something to definitely keep in mind. In those 50 ft visibility Tstorms, i would gladly trade efficiency for a rise in shields, structural integrity and life support, to use a Trek analogy.
It certainly sounds like you are the one confused from these posts. I was just setting the terminology straight. You are not really increasing EV range when you use the engine, you are increasing charge depletion range by increasing the ratio of gasoline to electric power. Then Wth is ultra super genius? Its just the simplest thing to do to transform a hv to a phev. I guess if KISS is your definition of some USG (ultra super genius) you have a low opinion of genious and are using lame terminology. There are two types of hybrids those that blend and those that can run completely in ev mode until charge gets low. There are tradeoffs and you should not confuse these with some really phenomenal occurrence. Umm. I guess I don't get it, but did upgrade my tires for more grip when the "sky is crying".
