Does anyone know if any of the plug-in hybrids have modes that help to assure that the battery usage is maximized by the time you reach a charging location. For example, if you put the Volt in mountain mode, it will keep the battery at a higher charge level and you will arrive at your charging location with EV only miles to spare. This is an issue if you don't take it out of mountain mode when you get close to your charging location. Ideally, when you get close to your charging location, you want a plug-in HEV to start using as much battery as possible. I am wondering if any of the vehicles will either automatically start to discharge the battery when it is near the destination (charging location) or has a driver selectable mode that you can push when you get close to your charging location which forces the battery usage to be maximized.
Maximizing battery usage on a plug-in HEV
Comments
· regman · 19 weeks ago
Tom,
I do recall driving some vehicles that would automatically go into (or drop out of) certain driving modes or settings but I can't recall what they were or what vehicle I was driving to give any details. I agree that you may not want to "automatically" just switch modes but rather provide a warning or suggestion to switch. One example that I can come up with, but not related specifically to EVs, is certain climate control settings. I have driven vehicles that will "time out" and switch back non recirculation mode if air recirculation is selected. I don't know if this is occurring because of time or if it is related to outside/inside temperature.
· regman · 19 weeks ago
I only bring this question up because it seems to me that mountain mode on the Volt (and maybe other upcoming plug-ins) can reduce overall EV only usage if not managed properly.
· abasile · 19 weeks ago
I've wanted to do this in the standard HEV Prius, i.e. significantly discharge its little battery immediately prior to a big downhill with regen, but the car makes it hard. More user options would be nice.
· Brian Schwerdt · 19 weeks ago
Abasile,
Interesting you mention the Prius. I wasn't thinking in that sense, but I have definitely wished for this in my Insight. There have been cases where I'm almost to the top of a hill, and the car suddenly kicks up the motor and starts recharging the battery, and then on the way down the other side, the regen tops off the battery long before I get to the bottom. It's infuriating!
My only hope is that as these cars get smarter, and more people drive them, such a thing becomes more common. I hope that GM is using all of the OnStar data collected to work on these optimizations...
· regman · 19 weeks ago
Brian,
I feel your frustration. I am a flatlander so I don't get into the hill cresting issue as much but the concept is the same. There are definite times that you want to discharge your battery and it would be nice if the car could either automatically know this or at least allow you to select a mode.
Has anyone seen or read about this type of feature in any upcoming vehicles?
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I've never seen or read about anything like this. I understand what you're saying, but I don't think they will allow the cars to automatically switch to battery only. Maybe they can utilize an alert suggesting the driver use their stored energy before they plug in.