Electric range on new PHEV about 26 miles !!

[Nick Morley]

We got this Kuga PHEV new at the beginning of September and have now done about 1000 miles.  The electric range after charging has never shown more than 31 miles and after today's charge it is now showing 26 miles and 100% charged.

Has anyone else had this and is there anything I can do ?  I generally use it for short journeys and rarely use it for trips of over 30 miles. Is this the issue or is something else going on?

Thanks for any information

Nick

[unofix]

The range on the Kuga has been a concern of many. Even when conditions are perfect it only manages 35 miles on a full charge. As of course the weather is getting that much colder now you can expect the battery performance to decrease drastically possibly by as much as 40% in the real cold weather.

 

[Quofan]

Totally normal. As the weather gets colder your battery range will decrease. I was getting 40 miles showing on the dash in the summer (after a full charge), when the weather was hot, but now I'm getting between 26 and 30 miles. 

[alanfp]

11 hours ago, Nick Morley said:

is there anything I can do ?

If you aren't already doing so, turn off the aircon, the heating, the radio, the lights and the heated seats (and park it in an integral garage). 

[unofix]

7 hours ago, alanfp said:

If you aren't already doing so, turn off the aircon, the heating, the radio, the lights and the heated seats (and park it in an integral garage). 

and of course put the car to bed with an electric blanket 🤣

[Jimpster]

I was having a similar conversation the other week with my taxi driver "Toyota Prius" on the way to collect my dinosaur from the garage. He to complained about range and battery failure now his had reached a certain age. Tho as it was a hybrid he also factored in fuel costs.

[TrevorB]

If I only did short trips of 30 miles and approx 100 miles per week (as per OP) I would just buy a cheap say Fiesta for a couple of grand.

Unless one has money to burn why spend thousands on technology that, up to now is unfit for purpose, and costs far more than a "normal" veh - can't see the point.

So - how much does it cost in electricity now to get a 30 mile range?

Edited November 13, 2022 by TrevorB
amend mileage

[Eric Bloodaxe]

1 hour ago, TrevorB said:

If I only did short trips of 30 miles and approx 400 miles per week (as per OP) I would just buy a cheap say Fiesta for a couple of grand.

Or, if liking the electric idea, just get a "normal" full EV - I'm sure they can manage 31 miles on a charge and can go even further under favourable circumstances, I'm told.

But being serious, EV and PHEV range drop in cold weather is a commonly reported issue. In this weeks Autocar for instance, the guy running their Cupra Born long-termer comments that it rarely, if ever, achieves its claimed range even in warm weather,  and relates a nightmare experience of trying to find a working charger to complete his journey recently.

[Paul Chertsey]

Hi, I own a 21 plate Kuga ST line that I've had for about 6 weeks.

The electric range on a full charge often reaches 37-39 miles but drops quickly once motoring.

This I believe is perfectly normal as the weather gets colder.

Try using eco mode as opposed to normal mode and you may see a slight improvement not so much when charging but in the decrease in electric miles when driving. (I'm not sure what happens when this modr is selected, I may need to ask that question in a separate post). Note that everytime the car is started it will revert back to normal mode so re-selection is necessary upon switch on.

Regards

Paul C

[Nick Morley]

Thanks for all the suggestions - Even when the temp was around 20 deg C or slightly higher this was the sort of range I was getting - I appreciate that as it gets colder (this week) I will see even less range as is normal with batteries, but a friend who also has one  which is about a year older and had a replacemnt pack fitted before he got it, gets high 30's whilst mine is only getting high 20's on the same temp days which is about a 1/3rd less.  Of course neither of us have actually seen if the quoted ranges are accurate or not, so I guess that is the next thing to ascertain.

 

[iantt]

What you get and someone else gets isn't really a good indicator. His electric range may consist no hills or roads of lower speed limits, and driving styles . Add in interior temp differences and then range can vary. My elec car wltp is 193, but can get 210miles a and b road speeds   or 170miles motorways/dual carriageway speeds. So a 20% difference. 

[iantt]

6 hours ago, TrevorB said:

If I only did short trips of 30 miles and approx 100 miles per week (as per OP) I would just buy a cheap say Fiesta for a couple of grand.

Unless one has money to burn why spend thousands on technology that, up to now is unfit for purpose, and costs far more than a "normal" veh - can't see the point.

So - how much does it cost in electricity now to get a 30 mile range?

At the capped 34p tarrif works out at 16p a mile. My manager runs a phev but doesn't charge it up. Gets 50mpg . That's 14.5p a mile. So unless your on a cheaper rate elec at home it's cheaper to just put unleaded on. 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

22 minutes ago, iantt said:

My manager runs a phev but doesn't charge it up. Gets 50mpg .

Probably only got it for the BIK advantages which are based on CO2 figures which assume it does get plugged in. People who get company fuel cards, etc, probably don't care and (at present) there's no penalty. So you have say, a PHEV SUV with BIK based on the assumption that it does the claimed 100mpg or whatever, actually doing 25 mpg on petrol.

I have seen indications that the Government have started to wise up to this, though, so maybe that's another thing where Rishi and Jeremy may recoup a few quid.

[iantt]

40 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Probably only got it for the BIK advantages which are based on CO2 figures which assume it does get plugged in. People who get company fuel cards, etc, probably don't care and (at present) there's no penalty. So you have say, a PHEV SUV with BIK based on the assumption that it does the claimed 100mpg or whatever, actually doing 25 mpg on petrol.

I have seen indications that the Government have started to wise up to this, though, so maybe that's another thing where Rishi and Jeremy may recoup a few quid.

That's exactly why he chose the phev . He could charge it up for free at work if he could be bothered , that's assuming there a charger available. We have got about 25 charging points. 

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

31 minutes ago, iantt said:

We have got about 25 charging points. 

Had a test drive at local VW dealer last week. Since my previous visit only a few months ago, virtually all the customer parking has been turned into EV charging bays (about 25, coincidentally) presumably in anticipation of all those ID 3s etc they are going to sell. Anyway, there were no EVs in sight so I parked my horrible petrol car in one. 

[iantt]

We need at least another 50 charging points soon by the amount we are doing at work. If the 175 vehicles we are doing each day turn to electric orders , we are in trouble. 

[TrevorB]

As Ian mentions at the current capped tariff the OPs Kuga works out at 16p per mile.

I am running a 2020 BMW 3 series (latest G20 model) 320i M Sport petrol 2 litre, purchased June 2021, pre reg from main BMW dealer, fully kitted £30,500. It averages an amazing 46mpg, at today's petrol unleaded prices it costs me 16p per mile, and I have a car that I enjoy which can also be a pleasure to drive, £10K under the price of a boring PHEV Kuga or similar veh

[iantt]

Driving gently my car is 3p a mile and  belting up motorway at 80mph---i mean 70mph officer 4.8p a mile. 

[iantt]

Anyway, back to phev, I was going to show a phev fully charged showing 40 mile range but by the time I drove less than 100 metres it now shows 32miles. 🤣🤣

[Nick Morley]

I am wondering if the Kuga heats up the engine coolant using the battery when it is first "started" - I have always been told it is not good to load up a cold petrol engine, so perhaps the initial drop in electric range when starting  off is because a chunk of energy has been taken to warm up the engine in case it is needed ?

[unofix]

21 minutes ago, Nick Morley said:

I am wondering if the Kuga heats up the engine coolant using the battery when it is first "started"

Absolutely not.

[Nick Morley]

I selected the PHEV Kuga because I usually do short journeys and have a massive solar array that I charge it from - even today I replaced the charge from the low amount of solar available, so the actual cost in running it is actually next to nothing, although still have the range for the occasional longer trip by using the engine, so it suits us fine.

Still puzzled by the low electric ranges I am getting, and the car is now in a warm garage attached to the house - I have now done around 1100 miles but today's charge up is quoting me 23 miles of electric range. I guess I will have to wait until summer and warmer temps to see what it is really giving in range.

[StephenFord]

If you are curious on what effect cold weather has on a batter car, this is really interesting...