Bring back Motorail now electric cars are here

hawkeye9999

Herzlos wrote: »

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (one of the big players in the space) does 70 miles on electric before falling back to petrol.

Plus, the vast majority of journeys are well under 20 miles for people who don't live on the motorway.

I can get 20 out of my boss's on a good day, even Mitsubishi's website only claims 33miles.

almillar

Most electrics will do approaching 150 miles, and charge within about 20 minutes at a service station whilst you take a pee/coffee break every 2/3 hours.

Sorry, but 'most' do not. They'll do, maybe 70 miles at 70mph, and that 20 minute charge would get you 17kWh on a 50kW rapid charger. At 3.5 miles per KWh (that would be good at 70mph), that's an extra 60 miles.

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (one of the big players in the space) does 70 miles on electric before falling back to petrol.

No it doesn't. It's promoted as sort-of up-to 30 miles, and 20 is more realistic, as confirmed by hawkeye9999 above.

henry24

almillar wrote: »

Sorry, but 'most' do not. They'll do, maybe 70 miles at 70mph, and that 20 minute charge would get you 17kWh on a 50kW rapid charger. At 3.5 miles per KWh (that would be good at 70mph), that's an extra 60 miles.

No it doesn't. It's promoted as sort-of up-to 30 miles, and 20 is more realistic, as confirmed by hawkeye9999 above.

After reading this I will be staying with my 2.2l diesel, at least I an do 650 miles on a tank.

BeenThroughItAll

almillar wrote: »

No it doesn't. It's promoted as sort-of up-to 30 miles, and 20 is more realistic, as confirmed by hawkeye9999 above.

Less optimistic than Mercedes then, who claimed my boss' S500Lh should do 18mi on electrons. He's lucky to get across the carpark before the 3.0L, twin-turbo petrol engine fires up.

bob_a_builder

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (one of the big players in the space) does 70 miles on electric before falling back to petrol.

NO - It doesn't - thats exactly what I'm driving - so fairly confident of my figures - got 24 ish on a good day

And on the 2016 one I have, you have to drive it very gently to ensure the petrol engine doesn't cut in , on the 2017 one there is now switch to drive it electric only

And mitsubishi also made an error in only giving it a small tank - max range is 260 ish for a full tank

almillar

bob_a_builder - my F-I-L had one (the first one) and I drove it a few times - I thought there was a 'step' on the accelerator pedal that meant you could feel a maximum on electric - you could push harder past it, and the petrol engine will kick in - do you have a heavy right foot or have they changed it?

BeenThroughItAll - as above, maybe your boss has a heavy right foot, or hasn't got the mode set right. Hybrids often have a 'hold' function which describes using the engine, and saving the electric - this is useful for motorways, and an 'electric only' function, which would only use electric, but might be overridden by stamping your foot, or using sport mode or something. If he really can't do 10 miles or so on electric only he should go back to the dealer...

BeenThroughItAll

almillar wrote: »

BeenThroughItAll - as above, maybe your boss has a heavy right foot, or hasn't got the mode set right. Hybrids often have a 'hold' function which describes using the engine, and saving the electric - this is useful for motorways, and an 'electric only' function, which would only use electric, but might be overridden by stamping your foot, or using sport mode or something. If he really can't do 10 miles or so on electric only he should go back to the dealer...

I've driven the thing too. It's a massive heavy barge with a battery the size of a pair of AAs. On E-drive mode it's capable of draining the battery from fully charged in three miles.

It did actually have a new battery, control system and charger within three months of purchase due to its terrible range. The new one was exactly the same, and the performance tallies with that experienced by the dealer principal in the same model of vehicle.

It's just not intended to be a hybrid for any other reason than as a tax dodge. It really is that simple.

bob_a_builder

I thought there was a 'step' on the accelerator pedal that meant you could feel a maximum on electric - you could push harder past it, and the petrol engine will kick in - do you have a heavy right foot or have they changed it?

Yes - There is step, just like a normal auto kick down where it will try to give you the max beans it can
But even in normal driving even without kick down the engine will start as and when the computer thinks it should, you can monitor this on the screen, and you will have to drive quite conservatively to avoid it starting at all

Later models (2017) can now be locking into electric only mode, but still only going to give 25 miles range
but for a lot of people that will be enough for their commute, and if they can charge at work, back home too

You can dig deeper here if interested
http://www.myoutlanderphev.com/forum/

As BeenThroughItAll indicates, and certainly for me, the main reason for choosing this car was that it halved my company car tax liability due to its Co2 banding

almillar

On E-drive mode it's capable of draining the battery from fully charged in three miles.

That's how NOT to drive it then!

It's just not intended to be a hybrid for any other reason than as a tax dodge. It really is that simple.

I think it really works for short urban journeys. If you do longer journeys more often, Mitsubishi themselves steered customers towards the diesel.