Driving tips to charge battery better.

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deguy
Posts: 93
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2017 8:54 pm
Location: Expat in Munich

Post by deguy »

I think the key to getting the HEV into EV mode is the tap on the brakes or coasting to reduce speed by 1-2mph. I use cruise control all the time after a quick coast. It helps me stick to the speed limit 🙂

In one of the German forums I think someone had a look at the OBD2 data and worked out that regenerative braking roughly corresponds to the thin blue bar and friction braking to the thick blue bar, which would make some sort of sense. I've certainly not come across anything that makes me think that's totally wrong.
Niro Spirit 2017 HEV in Ocean Blue (German spec similar to First Edition without ADAP)
Previously: Mercedes B-Class 200CDI Autotronic

jerrytaff
Posts: 120
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:28 pm

Post by jerrytaff »

I have the PHEV, and will set it to the HEV mode on motorways as it depletes the electric power quickly when under load at 70mph. In that mode it too can be encouraged to switch to EV mode by tapping the brakes, and I used to do that when approaching a downhill section. However, it didn't seem to make any difference to the overall fuel economy.

I think that what happens is that the car tries to keep the battery charge within a certain window. When coasting, going down hill it will, if left to its own devices, use the ICE to put some charge back in the battery to get it towards the top of the charge window before spontaneously switching to EV mode. Tapping on the brakes encourages it to switch to EV mode immediately, but then, as the battery depletes sooner, it approaches the bottom of the charge window and switches back to HEV mode earlier. Over a long journey the car uses the same amount of electric power regardless of whether you encourage it into EV mode, its just a case of when and how that energy is used, and there is no real net effect on economy to be gained by tapping the brakes. The HEV is no different from the PHEV in that respect.
2018 PHEV 3 in Gravity Blue :D
Previous DS (formerly Citroen) DS5 Prestige BlueHDi S/S Auto 2.0, Jaguar X type 2.0 S Diesel
djbobbins
Posts: 132
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2017 7:57 pm

Post by djbobbins »

The car will manage battery state of charge to within a fairly narrow band as this is the best way to preserve battery life.

Assuming the lithium polymer batteries behave in a similar way to lithium ion, a specialist engineering colleague of mine who works on grid scale battery projects told me that a good quality Li-ion battery will have a guaranteed cycle life of about 5,000 cycles. This increases to some thing nigh on infinite for small modulations in state of charge.

Therefore, if I was in Kia’s position and didn’t want people complaining that their batteries were life expired after a few years, I’d definitely set the software up so it doesn’t drain or fully charge the battery on a regular basis!
stever
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2019 3:03 pm

Post by stever »

see pics below

IMG_20190630_193726_resized_20190630_081922519.jpg

IMG_20190630_193658_resized_20190630_081923939.jpg

IMG_20190630_193609_resized_20190630_081924668.jpg

IMG_20190630_170433_resized_20190630_081921309.jpg

IMG_20190630_170422_resized_20190630_081923269.jpg

Fields
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2019 4:18 pm

Post by Fields »

Do a few doughnuts in it round an empty car park mate :lol:
ron in new mexico
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Aug 22, 2019 6:42 pm

Post by ron in new mexico »

My experience has been driving in sport mode in the PHEV in the city, will recharge the battery pretty quickly. However the down side is it uses more gas while one is doing that. But if for some reason I absolutely needed to have some charge, that is what I would do.
Coasting on long downhills does the job as well. Braking at least by the gauges, provides the most charge of all, but I have yet to find a appreciable downhill in which I could brake for a very long time constantly. And I do live in the mountains. Coasting seems to do a pretty good job of it.
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