eHybrid tips and tricks

[Cipper]

I have searched for this and didn't find anything, if there is already being discussed my appologies, please delete this thread.
So, as a newbie driver of a PHEV, I was wondering if there are any tips and tricks I should be aware of. How to get the most out of it. How to obtain maximum range etc.

Thanks!

 

[caloomba]

Bumping this as I was about to post a thread asking the same

 

[Cuprakash]

1)Pre warm the car using the app before you set off in the morning....it will warm the interior,turn on the heated steering wheel and warm the battery do you get better range at this time of year. (Select climate and EV charging in the departure time area when setting this up)
Obvs the car needs to be plugged in to gain the benefits)

2)around town use either the sport mode to get regeneration of the throttle or set max regen in vehicle settings.
When I'm not doing purely town work I leave the regen on auto so it can coast too.

3)Charge as often as you can to get maximum range and mpg.
I plug in as soon as I'm down to 15 miles range in the gom when I'm at home.

4)Be gentle on the throttle and look ahead to anticipate the traffic to maximise the ev range (if that's what you are after)

5) Don't worry about having air con turned on,it uses very little electricity and using it stops the cars interior steaming up all the time (as some Formentor drivers who turn it off are finding)

6) Enjoy the benefits of the sport and cupra modes,the car has excellent performance when it combines the ev motor and engine...don't forget it has GTi go when you want a little fun.

7) if you hardly use petrol and don't refill often,then consider using 98 Ron super unleaded...it doesn't rot the ancillary pipes like the new 95 Ron fuels so it's happy to sit in your tank longer,plus it definitely boosts the performance when you do need it.

 

[caloomba]

Thanks for that @Cuprakash.

 

[Cipper]

@Cuprakash , good input. Thanks.

Meanwhile I've bumped into those myself. I can't preheat the car as I live in an apartment building with no charging options in the parking lot. So yeah, my range has dropped a lot. If I could go for 46-50 km during summer, now I really am happy with 30.

Regarding the gasoline, I have a feeling that super unleaded is burnt faster than regular 95. But I may be wrong

 

[Cuprakash]

@Cuprakash , good input. Thanks.

Meanwhile I've bumped into those myself. I can't preheat the car as I live in an apartment building with no charging options in the parking lot. So yeah, my range has dropped a lot. If I could go for 46-50 km during summer, now I really am happy with 30.

Regarding the gasoline, I have a feeling that super unleaded is burnt faster than regular 95. But I may be wrong

Only if you put your foot down

In reality it gives slightly better mpg than 95 as it burns more efficiently (in my experience) and a little more power.

 

[Nickh1278]

1)Pre warm the car using the app before you set off in the morning....it will warm the interior,turn on the heated steering wheel and warm the battery do you get better range at this time of year. (Select climate and EV charging in the departure time area when setting this up)
Obvs the car needs to be plugged in to gain the benefits)

2)around town use either the sport mode to get regeneration of the throttle or set max regen in vehicle settings.
When I'm not doing purely town work I leave the regen on auto so it can coast too.

3)Charge as often as you can to get maximum range and mpg.
I plug in as soon as I'm down to 15 miles range in the gom when I'm at home.

4)Be gentle on the throttle and look ahead to anticipate the traffic to maximise the ev range (if that's what you are after)

5) Don't worry about having air con turned on,it uses very little electricity and using it stops the cars interior steaming up all the time (as some Formentor drivers who turn it off are finding)

6) Enjoy the benefits of the sport and cupra modes,the car has excellent performance when it combines the ev motor and engine...don't forget it has GTi go when you want a little fun.

7) if you hardly use petrol and don't refill often,then consider using 98 Ron super unleaded...it doesn't rot the ancillary pipes like the new 95 Ron fuels so it's happy to sit in your tank longer,plus it definitely boosts the performance when you do need it.

Great tips, thanks.

couple of questions though..

Regarding your second point… the other day I was driving to work and sat in traffic. I usually have the left dial showing the battery kw/100 and mpg stats and being in electric only mode, I was surprised to see that while coasting along at about 10mph the battery usage was around 50. Now I’ll admit that I’m still not exactly sure what number of battery would be considered good but obviously the lower the number the better and once I get above 20mph I’m usually getting usage numbers in the low 20s. To counter this I started leaving much larger gaps between me and the car in front before moving again so I could move a bit faster but for a shorter period before stopping again and this seemed to help but I’m interested in knowing if this is what other people experience too?

In terms of charging, I’d like to know how other people are finding their battery performing if they charge it often. Right now, I’m charging and discharging the battery almost entirely most days, certainly down to 10% at least. My work is only a 24 mile round trip so I’m able to get away with just using the electric pretty much every day but I’m a little worried that doing this may compromise the battery life in the long term.

 

[Cuprakash]

Great tips, thanks.

couple of questions though..

Regarding your second point… the other day I was driving to work and sat in traffic. I usually have the left dial showing the battery kw/100 and mpg stats and being in electric only mode, I was surprised to see that while coasting along at about 10mph the battery usage was around 50. Now I’ll admit that I’m still not exactly sure what number of battery would be considered good but obviously the lower the number the better and once I get above 20mph I’m usually getting usage numbers in the low 20s. To counter this I started leaving much larger gaps between me and the car in front before moving again so I could move a bit faster but for a shorter period before stopping again and this seemed to help but I’m interested in knowing if this is what other people experience too?

In terms of charging, I’d like to know how other people are finding their battery performing if they charge it often. Right now, I’m charging and discharging the battery almost entirely most days, certainly down to 10% at least. My work is only a 24 mile round trip so I’m able to get away with just using the electric pretty much every day but I’m a little worried that doing this may compromise the battery life in the long term.

I must confess I don't really understand about the battery q to be honest as we use KW per mile in the UK. and I'm not quite sure what you are referring to?

Re the charging.....over a long period I'd imagine the battery may be effected but it's a very low capacity battery and I'd imagine it will take several years to cause any issues.
Like yourself and I would imagine most phev users,I charge from virtually empty to full almost every day.
I'm on a three year lease tho,so I won't be worrying about it!!

 

[stutre]

1)Pre warm the car using the app before you set off in the morning....it will warm the interior,turn on the heated steering wheel and warm the battery do you get better range at this time of year. (Select climate and EV charging in the departure time area when setting this up)
Obvs the car needs to be plugged in to gain the benefits)

2)around town use either the sport mode to get regeneration of the throttle or set max regen in vehicle settings.
When I'm not doing purely town work I leave the regen on auto so it can coast too.

3)Charge as often as you can to get maximum range and mpg.
I plug in as soon as I'm down to 15 miles range in the gom when I'm at home.

4)Be gentle on the throttle and look ahead to anticipate the traffic to maximise the ev range (if that's what you are after)

5) Don't worry about having air con turned on,it uses very little electricity and using it stops the cars interior steaming up all the time (as some Formentor drivers who turn it off are finding)

6) Enjoy the benefits of the sport and cupra modes,the car has excellent performance when it combines the ev motor and engine...don't forget it has GTi go when you want a little fun.

7) if you hardly use petrol and don't refill often,then consider using 98 Ron super unleaded...it doesn't rot the ancillary pipes like the new 95 Ron fuels so it's happy to sit in your tank longer,plus it definitely boosts the performance when you do need it.

@Cuprakash. Thanks for this, where is the option to turn on the heated steering wheel please. I can see how to set the air con but not this feature. I have the heated wheel but not heated seats if that makes a difference. Thanks

 

[caloomba]

@Cuprakash , good input. Thanks.

Meanwhile I've bumped into those myself. I can't preheat the car as I live in an apartment building with no charging options in the parking lot. So yeah, my range has dropped a lot. If I could go for 46-50 km during summer, now I really am happy with 30.

Regarding the gasoline, I have a feeling that super unleaded is burnt faster than regular 95. But I may be wrong

@Cuprakash. Thanks for this, where is the option to turn on the heated steering wheel please. I can see how to set the air con but not this feature. I have the heated wheel but not heated seats if that makes a difference. Thanks

Interested to hear the response to this as I've been wondering how to properly 'preheat' the vehicle.

 

[Cuprakash]

@Cuprakash. Thanks for this, where is the option to turn on the heated steering wheel please. I can see how to set the air con but not this feature. I have the heated wheel but not heated seats if that makes a difference. Thanks

When I set the departure time in the app,I simply set for both the car to be charged and the climate to be turned on at the same time....if it's cold outside the car also turns on the heated steering wheel (although my car has a disklok fitted overnight so I get a warm disklok)

Presumably once the weather is warmer the heated steering wheel won't heat.

 

[stutre]

@Cuprakash Will have to see next time, haven't really used the heated wheel function but will turn that on and get an idea of how hot the wheel gets and then see with the departure time set.

 

[Cuprakash]

It gets very hot.

It has three stages,hot,very hot and inferno!

No need to do anything with it with pre heating tho,if it's cold it will come on at the departure time you set.