Volvo T8 Operation
Discussion
Ive had my T8 a few months now and love it!
Great overall economy as I can plug in overnight and it's a 30mpg cruiser on the juice.......but , my question is, if I start in Pure (electric only) mode then the car seamlessly switches to hybrid bringing the petrol engine on line, at maybe say 60mph, am I bringing a cold engine immediately up to power?.....seems a bit brutal, just not sure how the changeover works?
Great overall economy as I can plug in overnight and it's a 30mpg cruiser on the juice.......but , my question is, if I start in Pure (electric only) mode then the car seamlessly switches to hybrid bringing the petrol engine on line, at maybe say 60mph, am I bringing a cold engine immediately up to power?.....seems a bit brutal, just not sure how the changeover works?
I have an XC90 T8
Yes, if you were cruising on the motorway in pure mode and ran completely out of battery energy, the car will instantly start and use the petrol engine. In reality though, the load is hardly so high that it’d present any concern on the odd occasion.
I tend to only use pure mode if I know the journey is less than the available range, otherwise just leave it in hybrid mode and let it do its thing - you’ll still get to your destination with zero battery energy and you’ll have used the petrol engine off and on whenever it’s most efficient to do so, rather than constantly for the last few miles after the battery is flat.
On a cold day from a cold start, when I know I am doing a longer journey than the battery range, I tend to start in “hold” mode for a while so it runs the petrol engine more at the start of the journey than the end. You might as well use the petrol engine waste heat to warm the thing up when you want it the most. Seems logical to me anyway!
Yes, if you were cruising on the motorway in pure mode and ran completely out of battery energy, the car will instantly start and use the petrol engine. In reality though, the load is hardly so high that it’d present any concern on the odd occasion.
I tend to only use pure mode if I know the journey is less than the available range, otherwise just leave it in hybrid mode and let it do its thing - you’ll still get to your destination with zero battery energy and you’ll have used the petrol engine off and on whenever it’s most efficient to do so, rather than constantly for the last few miles after the battery is flat.
On a cold day from a cold start, when I know I am doing a longer journey than the battery range, I tend to start in “hold” mode for a while so it runs the petrol engine more at the start of the journey than the end. You might as well use the petrol engine waste heat to warm the thing up when you want it the most. Seems logical to me anyway!
Its also worth mentioning that cruising at motorway speeds doesnt use anything like maximum engine power, other than perhaps the lowest of low powered cars, hence why you can still accelerate 70-100 (on a private road) with ease.
Combine that with the fact that the best way to bring an engine to temperature is gentle load and avoiding peak revs, rather than letting it idle for half an hour, cold starting a hybrid on the motorway probably isn't half as bad as it inherently feels, it might even be fairly close to optimum.
Combine that with the fact that the best way to bring an engine to temperature is gentle load and avoiding peak revs, rather than letting it idle for half an hour, cold starting a hybrid on the motorway probably isn't half as bad as it inherently feels, it might even be fairly close to optimum.
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