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anyone fancy the new gte?
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@Wigwam please forgive my lack of knowledge of this, I have the B4 version, so not the plug in sort of stuff, however I have this regenerative braking system…
I take it that’s the blue battery icon filling top to bottom charging as we brake…and if in eco coasting when going down inclines or hills, seems a bit gimmicky tbh..
Ajn, mild hybrids, like your B4 use a smallish 48v battery and a starter/traction motor that doubles as a generator. It’s supposed to provide smoother starting off and fuel saving in stop go conditions. It also gives a small fuel saving, compared to a conventional vehicle where the engine has to provide all the electrical needs of the car. It’s a system most manufacturers seem to be adopting in the pursuit of lower emissions.
Ajn, Volvo says it better than me!
https://www.volvocars.com/uk/about/human-innovation/electrification/mild-hybrids
Glos Guy, yes in “pure” mode you have whatever the electric motor provides. However if you use kickdown, the engine starts too, for safety reasons.
I was talking to my dealer yesterday and he says we are on target for delivery mid July. We don’t change over until the 31st. The only thing affected by the chip shortage is the blind spot monitor which has been removed from option packs. I tend to find the mirrors provided work well…
Glos Guy, yes in “pure” mode you have whatever the electric motor provides. However if you use kickdown, the engine starts too, for safety reasons. I was talking to my dealer yesterday and he says we are on target for delivery mid July. We don’t change over until the 31st. The only thing affected by the chip shortage is the blind spot monitor which has been removed from option packs. I tend to find the mirrors provided work well…
Excellent news. My X1 is due the end of July as well, but I am less confident! Just as a point of interest, when I was test driving the facelifted X1 I noticed that the all round parking sensors and park assist system (all now standard) sort of work as blind spot monitors as well. You don’t get the flashing light in the door mirror, but when a car gets close to your side the parking sensor chimes go off. I found out as a car squeezed past the inside of me very close when I was in a traffic jam. It dawned on me that this would activate the same way if I inadvertently drifted out when someone was in my blind spot. If your Volvo has both front and rear sensors and park assist then I suspect it will do the same. Not perfect, but better than nothing!
Glos Guy and Wigwam. Your posts greatly appreciated in my efforts to understand PHEVs. It is all a bit clearer but there still seems to be an element of “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”: if the ICE is making energy to top up the battery then it may be more efficient to have a more powerful ICE and do away with the extra weight of the batteries and the charging bits. I do understand that brake energy will alleviate the imbalance.
Not really, Tharg. Using an ICE engine to charge a battery is very inefficient. The lower the electrical load on the engine the better the fuel consumption will be. An ICE uses energy to accelerate and that energy is wasted in friction and heat under braking. Any system that recovers and reuses that energy has to be good. A battery is just a convenient way of doing it. In fact my non-hybrid (of an sort) X1 puts energy back into the battery under braking in Eco Pro mode. I’ve no idea how it does it but the eco gauge shows it happening.
Glos Guy, I suspect you may be right about the Volvo. Regarding blind spots, I adjust my side mirrors such that a car disappearing from the rear view mirror is already visible to the side, so I don’t see the point of monitoring a blind spot I don’t seem to experience.
Not really, Tharg. Using an ICE engine to charge a battery is very inefficient. The lower the electrical load on the engine the better the fuel consumption will be. An ICE uses energy to accelerate and that energy is wasted in friction and heat under braking. Any system that recovers and reuses that energy has to be good. A battery is just a convenient way of doing it. In fact my non-hybrid (of an sort) X1 puts energy back into the battery under braking in Eco Pro mode. I’ve no idea how it does it but the eco gauge shows it happening.
I do think I agree with most of your points, but there are some interesting developments coming from Nissan. Below is a quote from Whatcar about the new Nissan Qashqai. I’m guessing that in this case, it must be more effeicent or they would never have done it?
“The second engine choice is a new e-Power unit, which uses a 188bhp 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol engine and an electric motor. Unlike a conventional hybrid system, which continuously switches between the car’s engine and the electric motor, the e-Power system is a range extender setup that uses the electric motor to drive the car almost all of the time. The engine is purely there to top up the battery, although the car can travel for up to 1.8 miles on pure electric power. “
Previous Motability Cars
2006 - 2009 Skoda Superb VR6 2.0tdi
2009 - 2012 Citroen C5 2.0tdi VTR Nav
2012 - 2015 Nissan Qashqai 1.5dci tekna
2015 - 2018 Ford Kuga 2.0tdi Titanium X
2018 - 2021 BMW 220d X drive 2 Series Active Luxury
2021 - 2023 Hyundai Kona Electric Premium SE
2023 - Hyundai Kona Electric UltimateI ready that too, Intranicity. It’s a serial hybrid. That 188hp (140kW) engine is powering the electric motors – like a diesel electric train.
The battery charging element is incidental.
It was more the point that you said using an ICE to charge a battery is very inefficient, and I’m guessing in this case it isn’t?
Previous Motability Cars
2006 - 2009 Skoda Superb VR6 2.0tdi
2009 - 2012 Citroen C5 2.0tdi VTR Nav
2012 - 2015 Nissan Qashqai 1.5dci tekna
2015 - 2018 Ford Kuga 2.0tdi Titanium X
2018 - 2021 BMW 220d X drive 2 Series Active Luxury
2021 - 2023 Hyundai Kona Electric Premium SE
2023 - Hyundai Kona Electric UltimateNot really, Tharg. Using an ICE engine to charge a battery is very inefficient. The lower the electrical load on the engine the better the fuel consumption will be. An ICE uses energy to accelerate and that energy is wasted in friction and heat under braking. Any system that recovers and reuses that energy has to be good. A battery is just a convenient way of doing it. In fact my non-hybrid (of an sort) X1 puts energy back into the battery under braking in Eco Pro mode. I’ve no idea how it does it but the eco gauge shows it happening.
When running our Outlander PHEV in ICE mode any excess torque for ICE is use to charge the batteries. to date I have towed a 1500 kg caravan for approximately 1200 miles averaging 28.5 mpg (our Ford Kuga 2.0 diesel Powershift achieved 29mpg) the Outlander PHEV has proved capable of towing 200 miles without fully depleting it batteries down to the 30% reserve ?
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
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