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We have a Volvo xc40 PHEV, picked up in March of this year. Until now I have been running it almost entirely on electricity. However the electric range of the car has steadily dropped as the ambient temperature falls.
During spring, summer I was easily achieving 25-27 miles on a projected range of 27 miles. I am now however achieving 13-14 miles on the same 27 miles predicted.
Full disclosure I am not paying for 99% of electricity used, as there are free chargers where I live, but if I was I would be paying around £4ish for 13-14 miles. It is likely I would be cheaper to run on petrol during this time
So if you have a PHEV what are your experiences as the weather gets colder?
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We have also noticed the drop in the summer 30/32 miles, now we have noticed a drop down to 26/27 miles, now we are starting to use the heater it will drop to 18/20 miles, when the temperature real drops and the heating on 17/18 at the very best.
In the winter I regularly use the save/charge modes and take the heat of the ICE if I go any distance.
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
I’m getting about 20 miles on electric in our xc40 currently, possibly a little more as my commute is 17 miles each way and when I set off on the return journey it normally states 8-10 miles range for the return journey (I don’t get that though)
Well just to ease your mind Brydo,
I have to admit I have had a good run for my money the last time I topped up was 20th September, I have travelled 849 miles on electric only, using 267 kWh @ 5 pence = £13.35.
Over the last couple of years cold weather period November to the end of February I use approximately 100 litres of E5 petrol over 1500 miles, not sure how it going to perform with E10 this winter.
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
When we had the xc40 phev that’s all we was getting, High teens at best
Our neighbours got an Audi q5 phev and they’ve stopped charging it from the energy price rise because it works out more expensive than petrol and because they work from home it wouldn’t be worth using an octopus tariff
Recent journey-:
Out side temp 8*C
Range on car at start of journey 17 miles.
journey distance return 8 miles.
Roads travelled on – 50% motorway 50% surface streets.
Range remaining on car zero miles.
Recent journey-: Out side temp 8*C Range on car at start of journey 17 miles. journey distance return 8 miles. Roads travelled on – 50% motorway 50% surface streets. Range remaining on car zero miles.
Is that with heater on
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
No heater on oscarmax, just windscreen wipers.
I’m guessing if you have the climate control on maintaining the set cabin temperature, that’s the same as heating on, isn’t it, Brydo? Or are you just wearing your big coat and scarf in there?
No heating of, any sort.
When the wife is in the car it’s a completely different situation. Heating on 23*C, fan on full blast and seat heater on at full.
However the instances above I was on my own.
No heater on oscarmax, just windscreen wipers.
Wow that quite a drop with no heating on, however, you have to take into consideration the temperature difference compared to other areas.
Have you done a battery clean?
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
I’m not familiar with that oscarmax how is it done?
Arrive home in evening with low charge Park up, but do not plug in. Allow battery to “rest”—to cool cells and stabilise electrolytes (say 60–120 mins) Using the remote app, go to Timer|Climate Spin the Mode to HEAT Select 30min in Operation Time Touch Home Touch Climate ON/OFF to manually switch on the heater Wait for battery reserve to be depleted (heater will automatically turn off). Battery should now be below 25% SoC (no bars on the display) Allow battery to “rest” again (as step 2) Charge overnight at 10A or 16A
This is the Outlander method your will be slightly different, but the principal is the same, you will need to perform it a couple of times.
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
Oscarmax, how is this different to arriving home with an empty battery and waiting a few hours before charging it? And what is it supposed to achieve?
Oscarmax, how is this different to arriving home with an empty battery and waiting a few hours before charging it? And what is it supposed to achieve?
I am not sure why I use Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV specialist Richi Jennings site and after 29 months our battery still performs like new.
I have put a link in.
https://www.richi.uk/p/mitsubishi-outlander-phev-faq.html
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
Looks like it allows the battery management system to learn about the battery on your car.
Effectively it’s what I do using the XC40 normally. At least once a week I run the battery out on a long journey. I don’t plug the car in until late evening and let it charge overnight.
The “battery miles left” indicator on the XC40 can be a bit erratic. I certainly don’t depend on it for any purpose, nor is there any need to of course because the engine kicks in when there’s no battery miles left. After a short journey sometimes I can park with an indicated 18 miles. Get back in and it shows 20 miles but that goes down again very quickly.
I’ve not noticed what Brydo reports but I haven’t consciously looked for degraded performance in cold weather. Climate control is always on and mostly set to 20.
When the weather gets colder I will be preheating while plugged in which helps the range.
Brydo,
We have had our XC40 R-Design Pro plugin now for 18 months and must say I am very disappointed in the car overall. During the summer I used to plug in each night and the most I achieved was 20 miles around town with no radio or air-con on. In the winter I got 13-14 miles max, obviously need heating, wipers etc on with family in the car. So i have now stopped charging the car, as it is just not worth it with the cost of electricity now at 34 p/kw during the night and 40p during the day on Octopus go.
The MPG on unleaded is also rubbish, I am averaging 25mpg around town and that is driving sensibly. But I just fill up now as the range in winter is pathetic.
The car also has had a few niggles, the windscreen never seems to clear fully even with air-con on! The ride is also rock hard, we tested the car in lincolnshire whilst visiting family but live in London and with the potholes, the ride is harsh. Wish we had gone with the Inscription Pro instead.
Look forward to handing it back in 18 months time!
Show how views differ. We love ours. Yes the ride is quite hard though – ours is the Inscription Pro.
Can’t see why you would not bother to charge it Farid and then complain about fuel consumption on local journeys! The car is at its best on local journeys on battery – quiet comfortable and economical. Of course fuel consumption is going to be poor the way you are using it – you are hauling a big battery and electric motor around with you for no purpose!
On long journeys with no recharging we get 46 or 47mpg which is pretty good in my view for a ton and three quarter car. On local journeys on battery I don’t really count – maybe I should…
As an aside – I don’t see why people turn climate control off. Even if it’s not heating or cooling the car, it’s keeping the air and the car interior dry. If the car is overall a bit damp, it will condense on the windscreen. The electric screen heater clears it in seconds though. I don’t believe not using climate control makes any difference to range or fuel consumption. As I said above ours is always on Automatic Climate and left at 20 degrees (with the fan on 2).
Brydo, We have had our XC40 R-Design Pro plugin now for 18 months and must say I am very disappointed in the car overall. During the summer I used to plug in each night and the most I achieved was 20 miles around town with no radio or air-con on. In the winter I got 13-14 miles max, obviously need heating, wipers etc on with family in the car. So i have now stopped charging the car, as it is just not worth it with the cost of electricity now at 34 p/kw during the night and 40p during the day on Octopus go. The MPG on unleaded is also rubbish, I am averaging 25mpg around town and that is driving sensibly. But I just fill up now as the range in winter is pathetic. The car also has had a few niggles, the windscreen never seems to clear fully even with air-con on! The ride is also rock hard, we tested the car in lincolnshire whilst visiting family but live in London and with the potholes, the ride is harsh. Wish we had gone with the Inscription Pro instead. Look forward to handing it back in 18 months time!
Octopus Go was 7.5 off peak and 40 peak, in October it changed to 12 off peak and 42 peak.
In the summer towing a 1500kg caravan using the ICE unit we were achieving 32mpg on E5, unfortunately it has dropped to 29/30mpg with the E10 (I will tow next year with E5 Super Unleaded).
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
My daughter has had an xc40 phev for the last 18 months and didn’t like it mainly due to lack of space and rubbish economy and hard ride. we looked at one but discard it due to int space.
she now has a brand new xc90 T8 recharge pro plus, (company car) picked it up last Friday Volvo say it does 45 miles on electric alone which sounds great, time will tell, it’s supposed to be thier flagship and most economical Volvo ever.
I only had a short pax ride but wow what a car and the ride and front seats are so comfortable. I think it’s got air suspension.
She says she’s already getting better combined mpg and this thing has 450 ps?
I’m still making do with a bus pass.As I said. I don’t really count how many miles I get from the battery. So this evening I did. 7 degrees temperature. Multiple short trips into and out of central Bournemouth in snarling rush hour traffic, and 17 miles from full to empty. A lot of that time spent stationary in traffic so the climate control obviously contributes a lot. I can’t bring myself to drive around with it off as I’m not a hardy Scot…
Does this mean I’d be better off running on petrol? Even if it did, I prefer the electric experience. Not that the XC40 is noisy using the engine, but it’s not as smooth as on battery.
Farid, apart from this range problem I am delighted with the car. We have the inscription pro and it has everything we need.
Yesterday I got a warning on the dash “Transmission service required”, so contacted our dealer and it’s to go in in January. They are giving me a courtesy car but I need to pay £18 for insurance ?. I will be contacting motability tomorrow to find out if they will pay it.
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