Hybrid Charge Mode Question

CHAdeMO is 20 minutes 80%. That's about 15kW rate. If 15kW is ok, I hope 9kW CHG mode is fine.

 

Planning a 450 mile trip through slightly rolling terrain in a week.
Have had my Advanced for two weeks now.
Charge Mode Question
Does it make any difference to when setting Charge Mode, to set it to Eco, Normal, or Power, meaning will Power mode charge the battery faster.

Is it advisable to run 25 miles in EV mode, then Charge Mode for x number of miles until the battery is up to 80% charge, then back to EV mode? How does one know when the battery is charged to the 80% level in charge mode?

 

Don't cycle the battery using charge mode, just drive in Hv if you are going a long distance.

 

I have found that charge mode is a waste of gas mileage.

 

Not if you use it right.

 

The only scenario where I could imagine value in it would be if:
- You're out on the highway for a considerable time with the battery depleted down to HV operation, and,
- later in that trip you'll be going slower -- through a small town, say -- and you want the drive through that town to be for-sure in EV mode.


iPhone ? Pro

 

Exactly!

Having EV available when on a long road trip with no opportunity to plug in can be a very effective use of charge-mode.

 

And then the question is whether there's really much value in driving that part in EV mode? Probably not much.

Still, part of the premise of hybrids is that you get better overall mileage if you shut off the engine completely in low-speed scenarios, where ICEs are notoriously low-efficiency. That, in return for recharging the hybrid battery by trickling off a little bit of power when the engine is operating in lower-power-demand, higher-efficiency situations, like continuous driving on the highway.

So, this is a way that you can inject some human knowledge of your route and what the future of that trip holds into that scheme -- information the hybrid system alone can't possibly know.


iPhone ? Pro

 

For us on vacation, there was a very obvious payoff.

Running out for something, once settled at your destination, EV provides the opportunity to avoid the warm-up penalty entirely... especially if you need heat or cold.

Charging while cruising on the highway has been a very efficient, while that extra power needed has minimal impact.

 

It's certainly potentially valuable, yes. The total amount of gas saved is probably still not much, but for me at least, there would be value in that I just prefer driving on electric!


iPhone ? Pro

 

Totally agree! Especially in traffic at speeds below 40-45mph.