Hybrid/Battery Questions and Possible Issue

Nov 10, 2022
5
0
Hey guys, a slightly different question here. So I have my first Cupra (Formentor VZ2) but also my first hybrid car. I'm loving it so far, and I think I have the hang of the majority of the controls and features, however I'm wanting to take full control of the hybrid/electric part of the vehicle to be able to gain a good fuel economy and efficency.

1) My formentor seems to automatically start in E-Mode, is there a way to automatically start in hybrid? It seems to automatically start in E-mode and it loses a mile, even sometimes a few miles by just even sitting stationary on my drive.


2) Is there a eco mode on the car which could possibly let the car consume less fuel?

3) My car should have a stop start, and although I do hear it stop itself every now and again, I don't seem to see it flash/indicate it is activated via the cockpit?


4) Here is a possible issue with my car. Today I thought I would charge my car for a few hours before I go out (I had 7 miles left on the battery around 30%). Also to mention I dont have a fast charger at this moment in time. I only managed to charge the car an extra 10 miles (was about another 40%) and I went on a 4.2 mile trip (at a fairly steady speed and was in hybrid maintain the battery mode). Although by the time I had got back to my house, my car used the whole 10 miles/40%. The thing is that the miles noticeably went down a lot after I left it parked. So, it went down by 4 miles on the battery by the time I had left it parked and went back to my car first time, then an extra 5 miles the second time I left it stationary. I was wondering if something is draining the battery while I leave it stationery, or maybe it used this much battery/miles while I was driving and there was a delay in the system? Although it does seem to have consumed a lot of battery even though it was on the hybrid maintain battery mode.

Would be grateful if someone could help out a fellow formentor hybrid user.

Thanks :)

Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:

ES_Formentor

Active Member
Sep 30, 2021
36
32
Hey guys, a slightly different question here. So I have my first Cupra (Formentor VZ2) but also my first hybrid car. I'm loving it so far, and I think I have the hang of the majority of the controls and features, however I'm wanting to take full control of the hybrid/electric part of the vehicle to be able to gain a good fuel economy and efficency.

1) My formentor seems to automatically start in E-Mode, is there a way to automatically start in hybrid? It seems to automatically start in E-mode and it loses a mile, even sometimes a few miles by just even sitting stationary on my drive.


2) Is there a eco mode on the car which could possibly let the car consume less fuel?

3) My car should have a stop start, and although I do hear it stop itself every now and again, I don't seem to see it flash/indicate it is activated via the cockpit?


4) Here is a possible issue with my car. Today I thought I would charge my car for a few hours before I go out (I had 7 miles left on the battery around 30%). Also to mention I dont have a fast charger at this moment in time. I only managed to charge the car an extra 10 miles (was about another 40%) and I went on a 4.2 mile trip (at a fairly steady speed and was in hybrid maintain the battery mode). Although by the time I had got back to my house, my car used the whole 10 miles/40%. The thing is that the miles noticeably went down a lot after I left it parked. So, it went down by 4 miles on the battery by the time I had left it parked and went back to my car first time, then an extra 5 miles the second time I left it stationary. I was wondering if something is draining the battery while I leave it stationery, or maybe it used this much battery/miles while I was driving and there was a delay in the system? Although it does seem to have consumed a lot of battery even though it was on the hybrid maintain battery mode.

Would be grateful if someone could help out a fellow formentor hybrid user.

Thanks :)

Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk
To give you my take from experience of having a hybrid (204 V2) for over a year.

1)it will always start in E mode, even if you select Hybrid. you can go Hybrid Manual but this will only kick the engine into life if the selected battery state of charge is higher than existing battery charge. Warning though using HYBRID MANUAL will kill your economy as it uses the engine to charge the battery. we recently used this a lot after moving house prior to gettinga charge point sorted out. The car would give high battery flat warnings and have no little assistance coming out of junctions etc So we set it to keep 30% battery charge, economy went to the high 30s.

2)No Eco mode just sensible use of hybrid power. The more you use the various modes and understand the car will tell you what works for you.

3) The car will stop the engine whenever it can. It may start and not shut down or go to electric until engine warms up to protect the engine.

4)The electric range is only an estimate of range achievable not exact battery charge. It works exactly like the normal predicted range for petrol cars, it depends entirely on how it was last driven taking the usage and predicted against battery level. If you hoon it around then range predicted next time it is charged will be less than if you are gentle. My wife constantly gets higher predicted electric range than me …………
 
  • Like
Reactions: MattyH

dashnine

Active Member
Oct 31, 2012
412
155
Warwick, UK
There are various Eco settings you can make in Individual mode that should help eke out a few more miles, but otherwise as above.

Less right foot also helps too, but you haven't bought a Cupra for it's economy have you....
 
  • Like
Reactions: MattyH

Hizzards

Active Member
Aug 19, 2021
102
74
If I know I’m going to be doing a longer journey (or Cupra mode journey) I just dab the accelerator in Park to start the engine. Moves it to Hybrid mode without using the menu, although I’ve got it was the first custom menu so it only takes a second.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
  • Like
Reactions: MattyH

Ninjakebab

Active Member
Apr 12, 2022
176
91
1: Like Hizzards say, start the engine by pressing the accelerator all the way (while in Park or N). It will always use electric range when you start it up on electric, as it uses the battery to run cabin heating etc.

2: ECO-mode can be found when setting up the Individual mode, but right-foot discipline is always the best. Learn to roll and break evenly so it regenerates as much as possible instead of using the disc brakes.

3: It is indicated in some of the cockpit views by an orange RPM meter that drops to a blue bar when the engine switches of. That's the only visual indication you get

4: 40% points extra charge sounds right for 2 hours in a standard wall socket.
From my own experience, when in hybrid you use very little battery on the straights. I get around 40-50 km on a full charge running pure electric. Around 200 km in hybrid, but that depends a lot on whether you're in Sport or D, and driving in city or rural/highway.
Sport will conserve battery the best, since the threshold for starting the engine is at much lower throttle, and lower speed. I'm driving a lot in sport these days, since petrol is cheaper until I get a new electricity plan.

Using 40% of your charge on a 4 mile trip in hybrid sounds like a lot! Try getting some more miles and more data.
Note the consumption after each trip:

20221112_090621.jpg


This is an average everyday trip for me, mainly straights with 4 km of city driving. If you have an issue, it's either high consumption or low capacity - this data will tell us which.

EDIT: Adjusted numbers and added picture
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: MattyH

dashnine

Active Member
Oct 31, 2012
412
155
Warwick, UK
What about the flip side - making sure it starts in E-mode rather than Hybrid?

My car started in hybrid yesterday, and I wanted to go home on the battery - but for no reason I could see it started in Hybrid mode. It wasn't cold, plenty of charge, I couldn't see a reason why it would need to start in hybrid.
 
Progressive Parts, performance parts and tuning specialists