We have been driving our HEV in sub -10 -- -20 degrees Celcius temps and it seems to be kicking in the battery, even when the heat is up (HVAC settings on Auto Low, 22 degrees, seat warmers on).
A summary is, even under these cold temps, highway looks like 9.4l/100km (110km/h avg speed), but around the city stop and go or even some driving around Richmond Hill/Markham area, the EV mode is well active (7l/100km avg) anytime you are:
[ECO drive mode select]
1. ~within 30% throttle position, or off throttle.
2. i have seen it go into EV at any speed, even on highway around 110km/h - as long as the load on the vehicle to maintain that speed isn't too great, the EV mode is fine for modest driving in the city
My driving habits are really really gentle (mechanical sympathy here) as I am used to having a boost gauge in the car to tell me that my right foot is too heavy, and I find that the right gauge in the ECO cluster much the same. As long as you can keep the needle on the right below the 11 o'clock, the car stays in EV, provided the cabin is up to temp, at least from my weekend runabout.
I will continue to try and update this. and hope to see more EV usage in the spring/summer months, but as it stands, I would say the PHEV would just have even more aggressive battery only modes as the electric motor is more capable. Vehicle loads being similar. But i think the additional cost savings would only pay itself back if you were doing a lot of city driving.. UBER/taxi usage..
the trip meter resets every time i drive, but I want to see how i can set this to average out over a full tank of gas.
My driving patterns are 1. kid chuffer around a bedroom community where everything is about 10-15 mins away (mall, restaurants, grocery, etc)
2. highway is regular as we venture out to more mall/restaurants/grocery
3. office is about 13 mins away from home, backroad or highway - i am curious how that fares once things warm up as i can maintain 40km/h-80kim/h along the entire route.