Hybrid cars with approx 30 mile electric range

Hybrid cars with approx 30 mile electric range

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BMW A6

Original Poster:

1,911 posts

69 months

Friday 23rd August 2019
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I might possibly be tempted by a purchase of a car with conventional petrol engine, mated to a plug-in battery, offering around 20-30 miles of electric only driving - if you can regularly charge the car up.

Theoretically, if I was to charge it up at work, with the daily commute being under 30 miles, I may be able to drive to and from work with the electric motor only, and hence the petrol engine never starting up.

My question is this: if I used the car month after month on electric power only, would this have implications on the petrol engine electrics, fluids, lubricants, fuel system, drivetrain etc?

Something like a 2015 or 2016 Mercedes C Class C350e, or similar, is what I had in mind.

Pica-Pica

14,353 posts

89 months

Friday 23rd August 2019
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I do not know, but I have an assumption that the ICE engine would ‘kick-in’ on a regular basis: but why not ask the manufacturers?

jason61c

5,978 posts

179 months

Friday 23rd August 2019
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you won't get 30 miles out of them. bank on 18ish.

PK0001

349 posts

182 months

Friday 23rd August 2019
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Golf GTE

Electric range is 31 miles and that's fairly accurate.

When is engine brake mode it will also boost the battery so in stop start traffic it tops itself up.

Chews it up on the motorway though, best to switch to petrol for cruising.

Very smart bit of kit, it's my wife's car but I am amazed how smooth, quiet and bloody quick it is.

sjg

7,518 posts

270 months

Friday 23rd August 2019
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They start the engine for a little while if it’s been long enough. We’re talking a few months though.

My Golf GTE doesn’t get near the 29 miles range shown after a full charge, more like 16 winter, low 20s summer, apparently the c350e is worse. Get a proper EV for that kind of commute.

foggy

1,169 posts

287 months

Friday 23rd August 2019
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My commute is 11 miles of 30, 40 and 50mph roads, which at peak times is generally 1/4 stop-start queuing and 3/4 steady running at 40-50. When the weather is 20C+ I can usually just make it to work on a full charge in my C350e wagon, occasionally with 1 mile electric range remaining. In mid-winter I get about 7-8miles on electric then the engine fires up. That’s driving sensibly on ACC a lot of the time, but using the creature comforts and heated seat too when desired.

BMW A6

Original Poster:

1,911 posts

69 months

Friday 23rd August 2019
quotequote all
foggy said:
My commute is 11 miles of 30, 40 and 50mph roads, which at peak times is generally 1/4 stop-start queuing and 3/4 steady running at 40-50. When the weather is 20C+ I can usually just make it to work on a full charge in my C350e wagon, occasionally with 1 mile electric range remaining. In mid-winter I get about 7-8miles on electric then the engine fires up. That’s driving sensibly on ACC a lot of the time, but using the creature comforts and heated seat too when desired.
11-12 miles only - that's pretty poor in relation to what's quoted, right?

johnnyreggae

2,988 posts

165 months

Saturday 24th August 2019
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To get the 30 real world miles you want you're looking at a car advertising around 50

Chris-S

282 posts

93 months

Saturday 24th August 2019
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Similar results with my C350e saloon as well. Summer, but no AC, driving within the 80bhp of available electric power (that drops as the charge drops by the way) I can get 14 if I'm lucky, usually 12-13. Winter, yep, 7 or 8.

At any time, if you ask for more than the available electric power, the ICE will kick in (with or without warning, depending on which mode you have selected), so it turns you into a hyper miler if you're not careful. I drive mine like that most of the time now, kind of defeats the object of buying a car with performance capability TBH frown

Indeed, way worse than as advertised, but is anyone really surprise at that? I'm quite sure that under the test conditions applied, it would indeed achieve the quoted numbers, but as we should all know by now, these test figures are largely meaningless for real-world application - all they do is give us a vague clue for comparison purposes.

hantsxlg

866 posts

237 months

Saturday 24th August 2019
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I have a 67 reg 530e. Commute is 22 miles and a mix of 30, 60 and m-way. I charge at home and at work. Car has averaged 112mpg over 21k miles. On a good day I can do the 22 miles 100% on electric (and keeping up with traffic in lane 3/4 of m3) . On a bad day (very cold or hot) I use about 3 miles of fuel...

The e350e i had for 2 day test drive was almost half that for electric range...

The 530e is great for me... and I'd love a 545e next!

wivenhoe

10 posts

111 months

Saturday 24th August 2019
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hantsxlg said:
I have a 67 reg 530e. Commute is 22 miles and a mix of 30, 60 and m-way. I charge at home and at work. Car has averaged 112mpg over 21k miles. On a good day I can do the 22 miles 100% on electric (and keeping up with traffic in lane 3/4 of m3) . On a bad day (very cold or hot) I use about 3 miles of fuel...

The e350e i had for 2 day test drive was almost half that for electric range...

The 530e is great for me... and I'd love a 545e next!
My E350e occasionally gives me 14 miles in the summer and my C350e before it didn’t ever get that.
I have ordered the updated 530e - battery range is quoted at 40 and real world seems to 30+