On 17/09/2020 at 12:26, girvatron said:

Thanks for the info, really appreciated.

 

 Lots of things to consider. Be interesting to see how it does with my long journeys. 

 

just back from my first long journey in my iV.

 

Filled to brim and fully charged before setting off for drive to South coast for work. Stuck to speed limits, drained battery and filled up on arrival. 304 mile and only took 5.03 gallons, so 60.4 mpg.

Then about 40 miles in and out of office for a few days before same drive home, this time with a flat battery all the way. 342 miles and 7.1 gallons. So this time 48.2 mpg. Overall 53.2 mpg.

 

On the trip South in hybrid mode it seemed to eek out the battery useage in the most economical way. Presumably running on battery when the engine was least efficient. It didn't go to zero until I was well over 200 miles from home.

 

So, much better than I was expecting, particularly as I had boot full of heavy stuff and its brand new. Was expecting about 45 mpg at best. My Diesel 2.0 Pasatt would do about 57 mpg on the same trip. So with petrol being a bit cheaper than diesel not that much worse really

 

Think I have also sussed out how to boost the battery while driving...

 

In E mode - hybrid. uncheck Auto and up/down arrows appear adjacent to the battery status. Click the up arrow a few times and It will then start charging the battery back to the level just set using engine power. It seems to recharge the battery very quickly but at a cost. The instantaneous MPG dropped a lot while doing this. I assume this mode is also used to hold the battery at a set level.

 

Thanks for the update, very interesting.

No problem tbh, It only takes seconds to plug in.

 

The main issue I have is my charger at home. I went for the Rolec and it does a smart charge overnight but seems to conflict with the SKODA app. Got up this morning to a flat battery and no overnight charge!

 

Messed about with settings en route and managed to get back to 35% battery and still managed about 40mpg on a 35 mile stop start journey so not bad

So what would you say are the best drive mode to get the regeneration for the battery while driving?

 

I don’t have mine yet and see they offer;

E Mode (Full Electric)

Hybrid Auto & Hybrid Manual not sure what’s the difference.

 

be great for some insight and also what settings would be best for long daily journeys.

Manual to set the minimum charge level or to recharge to that level

Auto to run in hybrid mode where the battery will almost fully discharge.

 

Even when the battery is flat it still runs in hybrid mode. Presume its getting topped up a little all the time when braking. It uses the battery power for initial off the line starts and manoevering in car parks etc.

Hi,

 

here are my findings, though not in the manual so may not be the same on the newer version.

 

I always give the gear leaver a tap back once in drive which changes it to regen braking (you either like it or not) this will change the display of current gear from a D to a B

this is my normal driving mode weather in electric or hybrid mode. However I found that if I selected Sport mode but still gave the gear leaver a tap to move to B mode it then used the engine/momentum to re-charge the battery, this upped the charge from the end red marker to 50% in the space of 25miles though I think it did use a fair bit of extra fuel. As for normal charging I have an OpenEVSE charger setup that works great for using spare solar power to charge and also can be set to continue to use cheap overnight power. I have the car timers off as I think otherwise as yo have found you could have a conflict It also has a demand shaper function which uses the cheapest 30min slots from my mains supply as I am on Octopus Agile, they also have a GO tariff that has a cheap 5p overnight time slot for charging. If any one is interested PM me for a link where we both get £50 if you sign up.

 

John 

Hi. Had my L&K IV for 2 weeks - done almost 700 miles so far. Charged up in a number of places including supermarkets where you get FREE power for 90 mins. Been charged at home most nights to get full battery. Average mpg currently shown on the connect app being  75mpg. Still on 1st tank of petrol. Been mixed driving with some long trips where all battery power used up, plus some on electric only.

Just thinking about all that charging in bad weather. All the commercial charge points that I seen are out in the open which is bad news, and potential allow water to get into the charging hole on the car.

I'm just considering a car port at home to make it safer and less messy in the winter.

Thanks @ERIK99.  Aside from the weather considerations, how have you found plugging in every night?  Is it much of a hassle?  I am really keen to get rid of my diesel Octavia and a PHEV really sounds to be a great stepping stone for me.  I just want to better understand the day to day living pattern.  If I can set up the charging from an app rather than it charging as soon as I plug in.... stuff like that really.  It would be a big change to my daily routine.

I have had to install an outside 13 amp waterproof point on the wall outside my garage to be able to plug in each day.  This is on a 30 amp circuit just to be safe but in theory it should be ok on normal 13amp ring main.

If you can park your car inside and leave you cable ready to plug into the car it will be very easy to plug in everyday without much of a problem.  The cable is a bit of an issue for me since I need to find somewhere to store cable because is heavy and is quite long.  There is a 2nd cable for use at fast charge points when you need to charge whilst you're away from home which is also quite bulky and is kept in a shallow hole underneath the rear luggage space floor.

There is an app for you phone which is really useful. It will allow you to plug in and set a time for the car charge, also you can set the car to re-heat or cool at a set time.If you do this inside a garage I thin you will need to selec the "use battery for heating" option in the app otherwise it might start the petrol engine to do the heating.

 

If you do mainly short trips (upto 40 miles return) you will be able to do almost all of the driving on battery.

 

The battery will drain quickly when using all the cars electric functions in cold weather (lights, heated seats, mirrors, A/C etc) s the petrol engine will most likely get used much more.  The regeneration function (If you select) will not add a great deal to the battery on short trips.

 

On my new iv the 100% charge started out with an estimated 26 miles range. After about 10 full charges it had gone up to 29miles, and I'm hopeful that it will get a bit closer to the supposed 35 miles soon (as noted in one of the Skoda help pages).

 

If you're going to do longer trips you will need an app called zap map that will show you where you can get charged up when away from home.

 

On a 13 amp supply at home it can take up to 6 hours or more t charge. On a commercial fast charger it is only a little better at around 5 hours.

 

Hope that helps.

Thanks that very much helps.  I keep changing my mind away from a PHEV (mainly looking at the sportline iv) due to the environmental impact of the manufacturing side and the fact you have both systems to look after.  I really do think that having the ability to run most of my daily trips in an EV and having the long range/fun factor with the engine just makes sense for me right now.  Where I live now I can store the cable just inside my garage door and grab it under the door to plug in or find a way to hide it in some fake guttering or something.

 

I think I am leaning again towards this even with the high tax as you have mentioned in another thread.  Unless I can spec an SEL with the right bits......

Specing the SEL could be a better option long term - once I found out about the Luxury car tax I tried rejecting the car, and speced out and SEL with just about all the options that I needed, but since last post my dealer has come through with a compensation amount which keeps me happy.

The downside to extras on any model is that you do not get back the full value when you come to sell.

Everyone is different. For me it was the company car tax on a 2.0 tdi and the weekly fuel costs

 

My PAYE tax band has dropped and for me its a big saving.

 

I travel 1000 miles per month to work and back and we have a charge point at work. I paid £590 to Rolec to have a point installed outside my garage and it's easy to plug in after each run to eitherhome or work. I could have used the 3 pin plug and ran the cable under garage door but for me, that would have become too much of a chew on and not being able to lock the garage at night was a worry. Also, the added time and the "just feeling en easy" leavimg it plugged in to a wall socket was a deciding factor for me to pay for a dedicated smart charger outside the garage. I can set it to charge off peak and a full charge can be anywhere from 40-85p

 

At weekends I travel further afield and use hubrid mode. Still works out very, very economical. 

 

At time of wrinting (Wed 30th September) I filled the car up when I got it on Friday 11th September. I've now done 800 miles and still have half a tank left! The range is showing on the app is 200 mile of petrol.

 

Hi the last 800 mile journey sounds impressive. How many times did you do a full charge ??

 

Do you use the app to tell you how many mile battery you left / start with.

 

On 100% charge how many miles do you show before driving off.

 

My car is still very new and not many full charges yet - but I'm only showing 29 miles at best before I drive off.

 

I've read that it should get better after more charging - is that your experience

Hi ERIK99

 

I charge regardless as soon as I arrive - at home and then at work unless I am away at the weekend. Trip is usually about 20 mile there and 20 mile back

 

At 100% it always says between 26-29 miles range (never seen 34 or 35!) Probably charged nearly 30 times now so not seen any massive increase but the weather has been colder of late.

 

My commute to and from work and the odd journey picking family up after work is all on electric

 

It changes each day on range using the app. Every day I try different stuff - seats on, lights, heating, A/C, steering wheel etc and yes, it will go further with everything off (you can get tips on the infortainment set up which tells you how you could gain an extra 1 or 2 miles and what you need to disable to help this)

 

 

32 minutes ago, ERIK99 said:

Specing the SEL could be a better option long term - once I found out about the Luxury car tax I tried rejecting the car, and speced out and SEL with just about all the options that I needed, but since last post my dealer has come through with a compensation amount which keeps me happy.

The downside to extras on any model is that you do not get back the full value when you come to sell.

 

My aim would be to keep the car for 5-10 years depending on how the EV world gets its act together so I don't expect the car to be worth loads at sale time.  It'll be more of a tool to use for a number of years than hoping to get £xx back at the end.  I imagine the closer we get to 2030 the more expensive fuel will be and more prevalent charging and EVs will be.  

Just specced up an SEL on carwow to what I would want and it comes in £240 under 40k!!

 

28 minutes ago, Richmix said:

Everyone is different. For me it was the company car tax on a 2.0 tdi and the weekly fuel costs

 

My PAYE tax band has dropped and for me its a big saving.

 

Whatever car I get I'll be spending my own money so the BIK doesn't come into it for me.  I understand it's a big deal for many.

Sounds like your usage is similar to what mine would be. 20-25miles a day commuting + some extra miles at the weekend with or without engine help.

Best to consider a 2nd user IV then - if you need new then the price difference for L&K will still be about £3,000 including the extra car tax over 5 years.

 

2nd had Ivs are rare by the Oxford Skoda dealer told me today that he has a Sportline Plus - Match 2020, 6,000 miles coming in very soon - priced at about £34k.

Though I would share my charging setup.

 

I knocked a half brick out of the side of the garage and mounted a weatherproof box with a similar hole in the back. I passed the cable through from the inside and when not in use it stores inside the box.

 

So I now don't have to open the garage door to charge up. The box is only 300x200X80 mm so not intrusive. The cable and plug store easily inside it.

 

If I need to take the cable with me I can easily feed it back through the hole.

 

Inside the garage the charger is plugged into a dedicated 13A socket via a smart plug from Amazon. This has the energy monitoring feature so using the app I can see how much its costing to charge. Its a Meross socket from Amazon. I can also turn charging on or off using the app or Alexa.

 

On a recent 640 miles round trip I got about 54mpg. That was just with a single charge up at the start. On the outward leg I got over 60 mpg but the battery was flat when I filled up at 300 miles. These are real brim to brim mpgs. The boot was also full of quite heavy stuff.

 

I decided not to bother with a fast charger. You only save 1.5 hrs to fully charge and they seem to be very expensive.

 

I regularly see 34-35 miles indicated battery range. Just back from a trip to the shops. 9 miles in e-mode and battery at 75% and 26 miles range left.

 

Very innovative! Looks good!

I'm struggling a bit with the Air conditioning part of Skoda connect.

 

It seems you can set the air coditioning temperature to either warm or cool the car and also the window heating.

 

I tried setting the car to warm up but when I went out to it the fan blower was on low but wasn't very warm. Does it take ages? Also tried window heating. I assume this is the heated screen not the blower. Again not much happened. And what exactly does Power source mean. You can flick on 'please allow battery usage'. Can it start the engine and use the ICE to warm the car. I thought it was illegal to leave a car running unattended.

 

Need to get the hang of this before the cold weather starts.

 

 

1 hour ago, stephenlumley said:

Though I would share my charging setup.

 

I knocked a half brick out of the side of the garage and mounted a weatherproof box with a similar hole in the back. I passed the cable through from the inside and when not in use it stores inside the box.

 

So I now don't have to open the garage door to charge up. The box is only 300x200X80 mm so not intrusive. The cable and plug store easily inside it.

 

If I need to take the cable with me I can easily feed it back through the hole.

 

Inside the garage the charger is plugged into a dedicated 13A socket via a smart plug from Amazon. This has the energy monitoring feature so using the app I can see how much its costing to charge. Its a Meross socket from Amazon. I can also turn charging on or off using the app or Alexa.

 

On a recent 640 miles round trip I got about 54mpg. That was just with a single charge up at the start. On the outward leg I got over 60 mpg but the battery was flat when I filled up at 300 miles. These are real brim to brim mpgs. The boot was also full of quite heavy stuff.

 

I decided not to bother with a fast charger. You only save 1.5 hrs to fully charge and they seem to be very expensive.

 

I regularly see 34-35 miles indicated battery range. Just back from a trip to the shops. 9 miles in e-mode and battery at 75% and 26 miles range left.

 

 

Hi Stephen

 

Thanks for info and especially the photos.  I wish I'd thought of that.   I have an outside waterproof 13 amp point but nowhere for the cable.

 

Have you had any issues with rain getting into the front of the car where the rain just runs off the bonnet.

 

Have you tried fitting the silly rubber thing that goes on the car end of the plug.  I got mine on the plug but found that it stopped the plug fitting into the car socket.

 

 

1 minute ago, ERIK99 said:

Hi Stephen

 

Thanks for info and especially the photos.  I wish I'd thought of that.   I have an outside waterproof 13 amp point but nowhere for the cable.

 

Have you had any issues with rain getting into the front of the car where the rain just runs off the bonnet.

 

Have you tried fitting the silly rubber thing that goes on the car end of the plug.  I got mine on the plug but found that it stopped the plug fitting into the car socket.

 

 

 

I forgot about those things so not tried them. Not had any issues with rain so far. Not sure if i've had it plugged in when its raining. I will investigate and also try the seals.

 

 

 

I've just tried the app for starting the a/c and window heater and simply got various error messages when trying it remote.

 

I then tried it a bit latter and the rear window heater switched on - I was hoping that it would be the front screen heater.  But it did ask if I wanted to use the battery, however I'm not sure which battery it means  - basically seems to be quite unreliable.

 

I also have other problems with the app which my dealer does not seem to understand.

 

 

Not just me then. I agree, the app seams very unreliable. And they expect us to pay for this after year 1. I might have considered doing this if you could reliably warm/cool the car and defrost the windscreen. Having said that if you could at least warm the car up the windscreen would defrost anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heating deffo works. 

 

I've used this quite often and it's great and doesnt take long to heat up 

 

Test just now - unplugged from wall charger, started at 19.32 and to 28.5 degrees and went into car at 19.43 and it was nice and warm

 

On the app, I have "Please allow battery usage" on (or set to green)