Long Trip - First thoughts

[LA551E]

Hi all,

I'd thought I'd post on my experiences with my first long trip. I have an EHS PHEV (luxury).

We travelled 600Km to Poland from Germany and I can report that the fuel consumption is quite high. In Hybrid mode with the setting set at high for charging the battery I used 9,1l/100km. The batttery charging did work really well which turned out to be a really good thing as Electric charging in Poland was non existent. The car was very comfortable for the 7 hour journey there and the 6 hour return journey back to Germany. Fuel consumption remained 9,1l/100km even though I stayed around 140 kmh on the way back.

Biggest pain in the proverbial is the fueling (petrol). Just what is the correct sequence to be able to get the fuel cap to open in under a minute. Extremely frustrating. The suspension was a little soft for some of the less well maintained roads and at times I felt like a noddy dog on a parcel shelf.

All in all though a geat trip and I'm not unhappy with the overall drive experience.

Seriously though, if anyone knows how to get the fuel flap open in a proficient manner I'd be grateful for the info.

 

[Jto]

Hi
it takes a bit of practice but switch of car press button for 2 seconds then wait for screen to say start refuelling.

 

[GCB]

Hi
As Jto says, you must press the stop button to turn the system off. Then press and the refuel button for 2 or 3 seconds, let go and you should get the 'wait' and then 'refuel' prompts almost immediately. I've never had the sequence take longer than about 10 seconds.

Your fuel consumption looks very high. It equates to 26mpg according to an internet converter. I leave the system in auto mode for battery charging and on a mainly ICE powered journey get between 40mpg and 45mpg. A continuous fast cruise at 70mph will tend to give just over 40mpg. If it's more of a mix of fast roads and town it will be higher, sometimes in the 50's mpg. I can still achieve over 40mpg after several days (say on holiday) when the battery hasn't been charged.

Do you think setting the system in high to charge the battery is killing the fuel consumption? On the face of it, it would be better to leave it in the default setting, let the battery slowly get depleted but still get around 40mpg.

 

[Jto]

Yes GCB is correct tuning the system to high brings down MPG I tried it on a trip to Norfolk using EV to 0% which got to Bladock then used the ICE to recharge the battery until got to my destination east of Norwich and got 70% back in which was about 75 miles.
MPG was 35, just note you are only able to get 79% back in you will see a pointer above battery squares when high is on.

 

[LA551E]

Thanks all for the infos. I managed to get the filler cap to open quicker now. I was holding the "button" for too long but after trying the methods you have described it works muc´h better.

 

[hermitdave]

As mentioned by everyone leaves charge settings to default. High is specifically for heavy loads. No point charging the car with petrol. Might as well use petrol at destination.

140 kph is about 87 mph. I’d expect 30-35 mpg though

 

[GCB]

I hadn't noticed the almost 90mph cruise! I only have experience of cruising at 70ish where I get 40mpg+. We British aren't allowed to travel at such dizzying speeds .