Information on switching between battery and ICE power

[Bobharford]

I can’t seem to drive on battery for long as it switches itself to petrol. I guess this is to conserve the battery if a lot of power is needed. This seems to happen on a short run around town. Also when the battery is on zero, it doesn’t seem to take any charge while driving. It is my partners car and it I can’t really explain it. I wondered if anyone knows of an online article or similar which explains clearly the operation of the battery/petrol system?

 

[jem111111]

Hi Bob one thing to remember is that if you have not selected EV only mode on ( EV button by the gear stick) then at 24mph it automatically starts the ICE( or if the heater is on , as it needs the heat from the ICE to work , like a normal ICE car)
If you do a long journey in ICE then when you are coasting / going down hill it will charge the battery a little ( I did 150 ish miles to the lake District on the motorway and it charged the battery for about 8 miles range in EV mode only.
Really you do not want the ICE to charge the battery as that is expensive and inefficient, it's better charging it via electric ( granny charger / EV charger).
There is a setting that allows you to charge the battery via the ICE but the mpg from the ICE will be affected badly( I got 40 mpg ) I think someone found in the early days of this forum.
So basically charge the battery via home electric, then it's up to you to either let the car do it's turning on the ICE at 25 mph, or manually press the EV button, and you will be locked in EV mode .
I hope that helps

 

[shahsthegreat]

Try switching off the hvac system and driving in EV mode to see if it still happens.

 

[SteveJ]

Hi Bob one thing to remember is that if you have not selected EV only mode on ( EV button by the gear stick) then at 24mph it automatically starts the ICE( or if the heater is on , as it needs the heat from the ICE to work , like a normal ICE car)
If you do a long journey in ICE then when you are coasting / going down hill it will charge the battery a little ( I did 150 ish miles to the lake District on the motorway and it charged the battery for about 8 miles range in EV mode only.
Really you do not want the ICE to charge the battery as that is expensive and inefficient, it's better charging it via electric ( granny charger / EV charger).
There is a setting that allows you to charge the battery via the ICE but the mpg from the ICE will be affected badly( I got 40 mpg ) I think someone found in the early days of this forum.
So basically charge the battery via home electric, then it's up to you to either let the car do it's turning on the ICE at 25 mph, or manually press the EV button, and you will be locked in EV mode .
I hope that helps

What setting to charge from ICE ?

 

[Cafeg]

Drop the heater temp down for passenger and driver. The Ice starts up when heat is needed in the cabin. Mine used to be on 22deg, I dropped it down to 19deg or 20deg and now Ice only starts up briefly for a couple of minutes, then I can switch to EV mode and stays in it.