Can i make it work

[Charlie1986]

Hi Chaps

I currently have a 320D for my daily commute , And the OH has a 2011 Polo and does 11 miles each way and im looking at changing one the cars.

my commute is from Sevenoaks to Horsham 32 miles this is either A25 M23 or M25-M23, I can have a charger fitted at home and in work chargers are due to be fitted end of the year. My OH work will not entertain the idea

I really do like the Outlander PHEV but can the batteries charge whist using the petrol engine or do they need to be plugged in?

Answers on a match box please then the hard work of convincing the missus

[B3NNL]

Can't comment on the PHEV. But get a Nissan Leaf on an extended test drive, itll cost you nothing bar the charge and after driving and living with it for a week, you'll both know if you can live with an EV.
IMO, a 22mile a day commute is more than achieveable with charging every other day. It soon starts making sense when the cost of filling a car goes up and you know it will!

[bp1000]

Charlie1986 said:

Hi Chaps

I currently have a 320D for my daily commute , And the OH has a 2011 Polo and does 11 miles each way and im looking at changing one the cars.

my commute is from Sevenoaks to Horsham 32 miles this is either A25 M23 or M25-M23, I can have a charger fitted at home and in work chargers are due to be fitted end of the year. My OH work will not entertain the idea

I really do like the Outlander PHEV but can the batteries charge whist using the petrol engine or do they need to be plugged in?

Answers on a match box please then the hard work of convincing the missus

I think you will manage around 20 miles on battery power as it will drain a little faster at higher speeds you need to keep below 70mph ideally to keep the engine off.

You can charge the batteries and force the car to charge it but it will hammer mpg. Your batteries will be empty by the time you arrive and they will be fully charged when you are back but expect mpg in the 35-45mpg range for that leg.

When you get a charge point at work all this changes. I think you will easily see 50mpg and shorter journeys will use hardly any fuel.

I would utilise all the battery energy and just keep it in hybrid mode until then. Use a charge point to fill the batteries. The prius does about a mile or so on pure battery under 45mph, it's hybrid system is very effective when running with petrol too. Don't think its all about the battery only use.

Edited by bp1000 on Tuesday 17th March 09:23

[Charlie1986]

Well the joys of a rush hour commute im lucky to get above 50Mph anyway.

I am having a look at the Nissan leaf and see if it will work changing the polo and then looking the Outlander after this,

But the spanner in the works is the Lexus is300H as it will mange the same MPG as im currently getting and looks a lot nicer and drives superbly

I really just fancy getting rid of the oil burner and trying something different

[bp1000]

The lexus is pretty nice but its essentially a worked on prius hybrid power train. It isn't plug in afaik, i'm not sure if you will be getting any tax incentives on your purchase, plug ins could be better in this regards.

I have a prius as a commuter car and it sounds like i have a journey similar to yours. It is all A road and between 40mph and 50mph. It is rarely stop start, just slow ish speeds all the way and the prius genuinely returns 70mpg summer and 60mpg winter. I think it might have dropped to 55mpg occasionally on the very coldest, slowest, stop start days with max use of heater.

Short journeys however are different in a hybrid. My prius struggles to do more than 40mpg on 1 or 2 mile journeys. It does take around 5 miles to start seeing mpg north of 50mpg but once its warmed up its pretty incredible.

In a plug in you will likely get battery usage earlier and therefore more efficient. I'm not 100% sure on that, it may need to warm up the pack first so might need the engine on a bit even in a plug in.

I think you might run it close in the worse conditions in a leaf doing a 70 mile round trip. A BMW range extended takes away this issue. I think a leaf for your wife and a mitsubishi would work very well for you both. Quite expensive though!

Edited by bp1000 on Tuesday 17th March 13:47

[Charlie1986]

bp1000 said:

The lexus is pretty nice but its essentially a worked on prius hybrid power train. It isn't plug in afaik, i'm not sure if you will be getting any tax incentives on your purchase, plug ins could be better in this regards.

I have a prius as a commuter car and it sounds like i have a journey similar to yours. It is all A road and between 40mph and 50mph. It is rarely stop start, just slow ish speeds all the way and the prius genuinely returns 70mpg summer and 60mpg winter. I think it might have dropped to 55mpg occasionally on the very coldest, slowest, stop start days with max use of heater.

Short journeys however are different in a hybrid. My prius struggles to do more than 40mpg on 1 or 2 mile journeys. It does take around 5 miles to start seeing mpg north of 50mpg but once its warmed up its pretty incredible.

In a plug in you will likely get battery usage earlier and therefore more efficient. I'm not 100% sure on that, it may need to warm up the pack first so might need the engine on a bit even in a plug in.

I think you might run it close in the worse conditions in a leaf doing a 70 mile round trip. A BMW range extended takes away this issue. I think a leaf for your wife and a mitsubishi would work very well for you both. Quite expensive though!

Edited by bp1000 on Tuesday 17th March 13:47

Thanks for the info

unfortunately I will get no incentives towards it this is me mearly thinking of ways to increase my pension pot for when I retire so the small savings I make now whilst im 30 will add up over the years.

it will be 1 car we change with another maybe few years down the line. The OH is not very keen on changing even thou its a constant moan about the car it self.

ive never thought about a I3 with the range extender. My commute is all my car is used for as when we go to Scotland we book in advance and fly

[johnnyreggae]

I think you are describing a perfect Leaf journey - nothing other than 30-35 miles with the possibility of charging (even standard mains all day) at work - I think your 320 is almost wasted just doing that (OK might be a bit more comfortable) and there would be no benefit to changing to an Outlander PHEV or other hybrid (as noted above)

Try reading some of the recent Leaf threads re usability & cost

[bp1000]

johnnyreggae said:

I think you are describing a perfect Leaf journey - nothing other than 30-35 miles with the possibility of charging (even standard mains all day) at work - I think your 320 is almost wasted just doing that (OK might be a bit more comfortable) and there would be no benefit to changing to an Outlander PHEV or other hybrid (as noted above)

Try reading some of the recent Leaf threads re usability & cost

Don't forget its perfect if he has the charger at work which he doesn't yet.

I read that with a headwind in the rain, cold you might be looking at a max range of 75 miles. This is very close to his round trip. He is going to want a buffer.

I'm thinking the leaf could do the round trip but you want to plan for the worse scenario. If he has to take a detour in winter due to an accident and he's got to sit in traffic with the heating on he might cut it very fine.

[johnnyreggae]

bp1000 said:

Don't forget its perfect if he has the charger at work which he doesn't yet.

Yes but no but....

Provided he can plug the domestic mains charger in he can top up at work anyway before the dedicated charging unit arrives - as you point out 35 miles each way will normally be do-able without top-up - just

[smn159]

I changed my VAG diesel for a Zoe in January and use it mainly on my 54 mile round trip to work each day and I love the thing. I need to do a 90 mile round trip to another office 4 or 5 times a month and I originally intended to take my wife diesel. So far I've been using the Zoe and stopping at the motorway services for a coffee on the way while it charges as I prefer it!

[gangzoom]

So we’ve recently bought a had the Lexus IS300H to replace our diesel Civic. We’ve had it now well over 2 weeks now, and mileage is now over 700, with me doing most of those miles.

I’m more than impressed with the Lexus, overall mpg is improving with every trip, at the weekend got nearly 60mpg on a 100mile trip down the M1 down to London with cruise control set at 70mph, come the summer, and the engine loosened up I wouldnt be surprised if itll hit 65mpg regularly….Which for luxury saloon, stuffed full of gadgets/leather and is more refined than my father-in laws Merc E cleass is pretty astonding



Lot’s of online reviews complain about a ‘sluggish throttle’ but actually both 0-60 and 40-70mph ‘in gear’ acceleration more than matches a 320D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd-7ymKI1mg

So for our needs, I love the Lexus, the car will be with us for easily 7-8 years+, and I'm we choose it over the likes of a XE diesel or Merc C class diesel.






Now the biggest headache the Lexus has given me, it that despite it been a traditional ICE (internal combustion engine) car 90% of the time, the 10% of the time it’s in EV mode it’s simply amazing. Been able to cruise along at up to 30-40mph with no engine noise is a experience I want 100% of the time…..and shows up just how outdated/old fashioned the ICE is

I firmly believe that in the next 5 - 10 years traditional ICE cars will disappear, forget environmental/cost arguments, been able to move along in near silence is just a nice experience (or I could just be getting old). It's a bit like when I watched Steve Jobs Keynote Apple presentation when he first showed off the original iPhone lock screen, and than unlocked the phone by swiping his finger across the screen....I had a Plam Treo 650 at the time, I remember looking at it and thinking 'This thing now belongs in the bin'

HOWEVER, when I look at things like the Leaf the compromise is simply too great. Having to plan a route to fit in with charging a car is simply making life too complicated. I can get in the Lexus and drive anywhere (with-in 600miles) without worrying about range….I know the argument about daily commutes etc, but even though my daily commute is less than 10 miles, in the last week due to unforeseen meetings/commitments on some days I was having to cover 100 miles +, in something like a Leaf that would be a major headache.

The only real viable EV car on the market I can see is the Tesla S, and if I had the funds to buy a Tesla S, I would sell our other car (BWM 335i) in a heat beat…After all it offers the kind of performance perviously reserved for hyper cars….But I have confidence technology/battery costs will come down, and in a few years time I can see a Tesla 3 on our drive away next to the Lexus, with the Lexus been used for long trips, and the Tesla for everything else

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpaLgF1uLB8

[Charlie1986]

Gangzoom thanks for the review its great to hear first hand, it's a handsome beast it would half my fuel costs and insurance is cheaper too.

I really do like the idea of a full ev but with the limited range I feel I may end up stuck somewhere if theres an accident as without the Chargers at work there's no way to charge as the car park is a bit away, hence why it would replace the oh car rather than mine,

So it looks like I will be visiting some dealerships over the weekend to try and get a feel. Even thou I do like my car it's the most boring and mundane car and just puts me down even thinking about driving it next.

[gangzoom]

You can get at 24hr test drive quite easily from Lexus, which really gives you a good feel. Lexus are also doing some offers at the moment, we got ours from Drivethedeal.com, 15% off list.

Trust me you wouldn't be disappointed by the Lexus. We choose it over a XF/Merc C class/BMW. Now that we have it, I prefer driving it more than our other car, which is a BMW E90 335i tuned to around 380bhp...Since the arrival of the Lexus on 18 days ago, the 335i has done 50 miles MAX!! It's spent most of the time sitting on the drive!!

As I've said convinced full EV is the way fowards, but the current generations of EVs are too comprised and really for early adopters...Having to constant worry about charging on every long trip to me isn't progress. If I want to be delayed constantly on my jouney I would just use public transport Unless that is you can afford a £70k Tesla. For the rest of us I'm sure EVs with useful range (200miles+) will be with us in the next 5 years. I cannot wait

Edited by gangzoom on Wednesday 18th March 06:42

[RKDE]

To answer your first question, yes the engine will charge the battery while driving.

I tend to manage almost 30 miles out of each charge but I rarely go over 35mph and only drive 10 miles a day, I do not see the engine come on unless I go on a long drive in the outlander.

On the motorway 20 miles at about 60 is about correct but even if the engine starts an 80% charge from flat is 3l of fuel or you just charge the battery and use the battery to power you along and leave the car to work out what is required