[PJmacgee]

Hi, just wondering if anyone (with lots of driving time on their '22/23 PHEV) can comment on long highway trips. Can you tell when the gas engine engages in parallel mode for efficient high-speed cruising? Is there an indicator anywhere, on the gauges, or maybe the "power flow" screen? Does it stay engaged pretty consistently for hours at a time, or does it sort of come and go even at hwy speed?

Just curious! (while awaiting my delivery)

 

[Hasenphever]

I don't have lots of driving time, but both power flow screens show parallel mode with the flow from the ICE to the axle/wheel. You can nudge the system towards hybrid driving by selecting Save mode with the EV button.

 

[oldfarmer]

Hi, just wondering if anyone (with lots of driving time on their '22/23 PHEV) can comment on long highway trips. Can you tell when the gas engine engages in parallel mode for efficient high-speed cruising? Is there an indicator anywhere, on the gauges, or maybe the "power flow" screen? Does it stay engaged pretty consistently for hours at a time, or does it sort of come and go even at hwy speed?

Just curious! (while awaiting my delivery)

I have a similar experience as Hasenphever. Not any long trips but some hwy miles where the parallel mode kicks in in Save or Charge mode. In normal mode I have never had the parallel mode engage, even with 0 ev miles.

 

[PJmacgee]

Interesting! Thanks for sharing your experiences. Odd that Normal mode never seems to use parallel, but Save does (which makes sense why that mode would). Maybe you have to be droning on for quite a long while in Normal mode before it decides you're on a long boring hwy drive...? AFAIK parallel should be the most efficient and probably least annoying way (engine revs matched to the wheels, rather than rising and falling like serial mode) to do a steady 65-75mph for long trips.

 

[oldfarmer]

Interesting! Thanks for sharing your experiences. Odd that Normal mode never seems to use parallel, but Save does (which makes sense why that mode would). Maybe you have to be droning on for quite a long while in Normal mode before it decides you're on a long boring hwy drive...? AFAIK parallel should be the most efficient and probably least annoying way (engine revs matched to the wheels, rather than rising and falling like serial mode) to do a steady 65-75mph for long trips.

After driving more miles I did get the car to work in a parallel mode when using the normal setting. On was on a longer trip(about 20 miles) with no EV range left. I had the CC on and the car toggled between parallel and serial mode. Another situation I found interesting was that while driving in charge mode with the CC on at freeway speed, I was in parallel mode exclusively. When I exited the freeway I was still in charge mode with about 10 miles to drive home on a county road. So I turned off the CC turned on the innovative pedal, and the car would only work in serial mode. about half-way home I turned off the innovative pedal and the car immediately went into parallel mode. I turned up the paddle shifter to B5 and it did not affect the parallel mode.

 

[PJmacgee]

Had mine for about 10 days now, and it certainly has a mind of its own sometimes. But I see that Save while on the hwy reliably uses parallel mode.

One odd thing, I was driving and in EV and when I adjusted the B mode, it started the gas engine. Don't know if it was just a coincidence, or related...?

Also noticed that if it's chilly when first turning the car on, it'll fire up the gas engine, doesn't matter how quickly I try to hit EV button... Preheating might help...need to do more testing. One "trick" that seems to work (need to do more testing in cold weather though) is hitting the on button with no brake pedal (accessory mode), then hitting EV, then turning it all the way on/READY.

 

[oldfarmer]

Had mine for about 10 days now, and it certainly has a mind of its own sometimes. But I see that Save while on the hwy reliably uses parallel mode.

One odd thing, I was driving and in EV and when I adjusted the B mode, it started the gas engine. Don't know if it was just a coincidence, or related...?

Also noticed that if it's chilly when first turning the car on, it'll fire up the gas engine, doesn't matter how quickly I try to hit EV button... Preheating might help...need to do more testing. One "trick" that seems to work (need to do more testing in cold weather though) is hitting the on button with no brake pedal (accessory mode), then hitting EV, then turning it all the way on/READY.

I found that when I am in EV mode and I increase regen with the paddle shifter to B3 or above the EV priority mode is disabled. Funny thing, if I use the innovative pedal in EV mode it is not disabled.

 

[JohnMitsu]

I found that when I am in EV mode and I increase regen with the paddle shifter to B3 or above the EV priority mode is disabled. Funny thing, if I use the innovative pedal in EV mode it is not disabled.

You are right and I am not using the paddle anymore when on EV, it does start the ICE everytime. Trying to understand this, cause like you say it should not change anythign…

 

[PJmacgee]

Oh ok good to know I didn't just imagine that! Haha. But yeah it's insane, EV mode is exactly when you'd WANT increased regen (B4 and B5)...why the heck would it cause the engine to start??🤦‍♂️

Interesting that the one-pedal mode doesn't affect it. But...I'm not a fan of that mode.

 

[Hasenphever]

Increasing regen to above B2 when the drive battery has more than 60% charge turns on the ICE, which turns on the generator that the energy from the regen braking dumps into. That's the layman explanation from the manual, except it doesn't state 60%, just when the drive battery has a "high" state of charge. I think another thread or forum postulates that threshold to be 60%.

I'm on a longer road trip right now with mostly highway driving and confirm that Save activates parallel mode especially on hilly terrain. Avg 8.2 L/100km driving across Vermont, on winter tires, normal S-AWC and outside temp about -2 to 2 degrees C, A/C off. Instant fuel economy of about 12-13 L/100km seems to output about 40kW going uphill so far.

 

[PJmacgee]

Now I'm convinced that making any setting change will bump it out of EV-only and fire up the gas engine.

The regen settings, as we've discussed, yes. But then today - after performing the "trick" to prevent ICE turn-on when leaving my house (ACC > EV mode > ON/Ready > Drive) - I was driving around in wonderfully serene EV mode, but then I changed the HVAC settings from feet to face (didn't even touch the temperature) and the gas engine fires up😤🤪 So, I think when you've used the "trick", any change after that breaks the spell... Orrrr, maybe when I changed from feet I cycled past defrost (on my way to face)...and that might've triggered it?

 

[JohnMitsu]

Now I'm convinced that making any setting change will bump it out of EV-only and fire up the gas engine.

The regen settings, as we've discussed, yes. But then today - after performing the "trick" to prevent ICE turn-on when leaving my house (ACC > EV mode > ON/Ready > Drive) - I was driving around in wonderfully serene EV mode, but then I changed the HVAC settings from feet to face (didn't even touch the temperature) and the gas engine fires up😤🤪 So, I think when you've used the "trick", any change after that breaks the spell... Orrrr, maybe when I changed from feet I cycled past defrost (on my way to face)...and that might've triggered it?

Yes, the Defrost mode put the fan to max and does start the ICE envine, I have experienced the same thing. Stay at half defrost and and half to my feet all the times… then no ICE at all. I will soon fill up my fuel tank after more than 800 km, will report you my stat…

 

[delveganz]

My observations:
Enabling innovative pedal mode disables series mode
Changing from D to B3 causes the engine to start up
Series mode is normally available when speed is about 80 kph or over
Using Save mode will allow you to switch to to more economical series mode when driving on highways
Best NOT to use innovative pedal mode when car is over 70% charged or when driving on highways. Suggest it be used mainly for city driving.

 

[PJmacgee]

Enabling innovative pedal mode disables series mode
Changing from D to B3 causes the engine to start up
Series mode is normally available when speed is about 80 kph or over
Using Save mode will allow you to switch to to more economical series mode when driving on highways

I think every time you said "series" you meant "parallel", but otherwise yes I think we are all in agreement with your observations. It's been an interesting couple of weeks learning all of its "features" (aka quirks, haha)