[Sacramento PHEV owner]

Hello. New member--if this has been discussed let me know. I did not find a related thread. I have notice that the ICE kicks on when there is about 25% battery capacity remaining. Have other seen this and is there a setting or workaround? If a trip is within the all-electric range I would prefer to use the full battery capacity in all-electric mode.

 

[Starboy]

Hello. New member--if this has been discussed let me know. I did not find a related thread. I have notice that the ICE kicks on when there is about 25% battery capacity remaining. Have other seen this and is there a setting or workaround? If a trip is within the all-electric range I would prefer to use the full battery capacity in all-electric mode.

Mine goes as low as 10-14% and not sure when it kicks on. Its not total ICE until about 33 miles of travel. It goes into Hybrid Mode using both gas and electric and will only pop on EV sporadically when stopped. the engine will try to charge along with braking to keep all functions of the car working but with no real EV power till you give it its battery charged from either a trickle or level 2 charger.

 

[mungo544]

IMHO, you are expecting too much of your PHEV. It is not a pure electric car. At it's core it is an HEV with some added battery capacity that will enable short trips on electric power, as long as you provide a plug in charge. It has a more powerful traction motor that allows a little more electric torque, but if you accelerate hard, the ICE motor will still kick in like any other hybrid. It is likely that as the traction battery discharges, the ICE may kick in a little sooner than at a higher charge. It needs that reserve traction battery capacity to be able to run as a hybrid. Also, the traction battery doesn't just power the electric motor. It also charges your 12 volt system. The ICE has to come on to recharge the traction battery, and in turn the traction battery supplies the 12 volt. If you ran your traction battery down to nothing, the whole system would shut down because the starter generator wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand.

 

[Sacramento PHEV owner]

You are expecting too much of your PHEV. It is not a pure electric car. At it's core it is an HEV with some added battery capacity that will enable short trips on electric power. It has a more powerful traction motor that allows a little more electric torque, but if you accelerate hard, the ICE motor will still kick in like any other hybrid. It needs that reserve traction battery capacity to be able to run as a hybrid. Also, the traction battery doesn't just power the electric motor. It also charges your 12 volt system. If you ran your traction battery down to nothing, the whole system would shut down because the starter generator wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand.

Thanks to both. The Tucson PHEV has 13.8 kWh of battery capacity and the hybrid has 1.49 kWh. So the hybrid is 14% of the PHEV, which is consistent with what Starboy has seen. I have been driving a CMax PHEV since 2013 and that vehicle provides the stated electric range before the ICE turns on. I am surprised that the Tucson is described as 33 miles electric. Just to be clear I really like the vehicle anyway.

 

[mungo544]

Thanks to both. The Tucson PHEV has 13.8 kWh of battery capacity and the hybrid has 1.49 kWh. So the hybrid is 14% of the PHEV, which is consistent with what Starboy has seen. I have been driving a CMax PHEV since 2013 and that vehicle provides the stated electric range before the ICE turns on. I am surprised that the Tucson is described as 33 miles electric. Just to be clear I really like the vehicle anyway.

True , the PHEV has a bigger battery, but it also has a much bigger traction motor, (almost double) which allows much more torque before the ICE has to kick in.

 

[Starboy]

True , the PHEV has a bigger battery, but it also has a much bigger traction motor, (almost double) which allows much more torque before the ICE has to kick in.

I think you still get the 33 miles of electric. When its warm out and no heater on I will fully charge it and check it against the the tripometer and see just when the Green EV light goes out.

 

[mungo544]

From what I have read, here most owners are happy with the EV range and performance.