[drb227]

PHEV owners - does the gas engine charge the battery at all while driving? If you go on a long trip and deplete the battery after the first 40-50kms, does the gas engine charge up the battery at all and then start using it again? Does it work like the HEV where it will charge the battery at every opportunity?

Obviously, it is a much larger battery than what's in the HEV, so I'm curious what your experiences have been.

 

[Alan Sh]

I don't think so, if it's like other PHEVs. I think braking and coasting does some regen, but not the engine.

 

[stargate125645]

I don't think so, if it's like other PHEVs. I think braking and coasting does some regen, but not the engine.

I'm not so sure. Others on here have said the ICE charges the battery when idling (or when using ICE as climate control but when the ICE isn't otherwise needed), and the vehicle functions like a hybrid when battery gets down to a certain percentage, and that's consistent with reviews I've read. That is, my understanding is that the PHEV battery is never fully depleted so that the vehicle can operate as a hybrid.

 

[mungo544]

It definitely does. Your PHEV behaves exactly like an HEV when you tap out your plug in charge, or if you need heat.

 

[Starboy]

PHEV owners - does the gas engine charge the battery at all while driving? If you go on a long trip and deplete the battery after the first 40-50kms, does the gas engine charge up the battery at all and then start using it again? Does it work like the HEV where it will charge the battery at every opportunity?

Obviously, it is a much larger battery than what's in the HEV, so I'm curious what your experiences have been.

I would say it does charge. On my Florida trip of 1600 miles mostly on ICE it did charge from 15% all the way up to 22% on it would go to EV mode and use it up. Not sure what triggers it into EV Mode as it would at varied amounts of charge.

 

[Robert2022]

It definitely does. Your PHEV behaves exactly like an HEV when you tap out your plug in charge, or if you need heat.

This is correct. The thing is though, you may not notice it. The capacity of the PHEV battery is ~10 times that of the the HEV battery, so you won't see minor charges to the PHEV reflected in the battery gauge like you do in the HEV. I think this is where people get confused.

In our HEV just hitting the brakes for a stop sign I can watch the battery gauge move into the positive; whereas, it's not nearly as noticeable with the larger battery equipped PHEV.