I have just bought a 1.4 Octavia Hybrid..   So have not had a chance to drive a distance to check the charging of the high powered battery with the petrol engine...    I did picked up the car,    and the battery was zero  in red....Travelled the 69 miles to home and it had not charged virtually  any %      ....I can not find anything on the manual re how long it will take to charge while driving...    So I am not sure if there is something I have to set?....All I have in the info net  is ELEC or HYBRID choice.....My understanding is the car on Hybrid will use elec first then charge from brakes/engine.....But so far other than a quick boost showing in the dash seems its not charging....Anyone know if there is some other switch or Elec switch I don't know about....?   I get 21 miles on the battery @99% house charge.

 

I don't have an Octavia iV but have been reading up on them as it's a car I might consider to replace my Mk3 Octavia.

As I understand it you can request it to aim for a certain level of charge by clicking to the side of the "battery" symbol as demonstrated half way through this video here (someone driving down a hill in a non-UK spec car):
https://youtu.be/C2QZD_4xHcE?t=50

However it may not be the most efficient way to use the car. Converting petrol energy to kinetic energy to battery energy so that later the battery can turn the electric motor to make kinetic energy is several steps all of which lose energy.

 

I believe that charging the car by plugging in, then going on a journey which ends with an empty battery means you have made most use of the (cheaper) electrical energy so isn't a bad outcome.

 

I don't think I would deliberately change the settings to charge the battery while driving unless there was some specific reason I wanted to save some battery energy for the end of the journey (eg. to drive through a town with zero emissions/ getting back home at 3am without waking the neighbours / etc.).

 

This may be what the car is trying to do too, so it will naturally want to use up the battery, not to charge it, as this is probably the most efficient use of energy.

@Biggles33  Why had the car not been charged before you collected it, was it a new car from a Dealership?

It doesn’t charge off the engine - it’s a plug in hybrid not a Prius type. It will top up the battery from braking so how much it charges while driving is entirely dependant on driving style and the route, rather than being time based. Otherwise it needs to be plugged in to charge. (Apologies if I’ve misinterpreted the question). 

The car can charge the battery while driving.

 

But depends on the settings.

 

But as above it isn't the nose efficient way to use it.

 

It's probably in ECO or auto mode which will only put power back into the battery while braking and coasting etc.

 

There should be other modes in the settings. Battery hold will not use the battery and keep the level.

 

There should be one that charges the battery. Can't remember what it's called.

Thank you for the replies...    Yes I don't know why they did not charge it at the dealership they had plenty of time...  However, I don't think they know much about this model.   My training was just set it to Hybrid and drive......the  car willdo the rest!.   I will have a look to see if I can find another mode.....Have not seen it and nothing in the manual.    

 

Edited 23 May, 20215 yr by Biggles33

Thank you David Y just seen your post    will try that thank you.....al

I did find a page for it in the online manual:
https://manual.skoda-auto.com/210/en-gb/Models

 

Sadly I've not worked out how to link directly to the manual page (when I try to copy and paste the URL, I get a page in German which looks like it's asking for a user name and password), but I've tried to attach a screenshot. Note the warning that changing the desired battery level can lead to increased fuel consumption.

The issue with the Dealership is that a Tech should be trained.

If a Skoda Dealership then someone needs to be familiar with Plug In vehicles, they are going to sell them and be servicing them.

  A PDI had to be done on the car and that involves having the battery charged. Checking the charging, &  someone signed the car off as checked.

Edited 23 May, 20215 yr by e-Roottoot

I have the regeneration set to 2, ie maximum. This recharges the battery when coasting and it will hold the car back on hills and keep to the speed limit. If you watch the amount of regen (LH display) you can adjust the amount of regen on hills so you don't slow too much whilst stll regenerating, with a light touch on the accelerator as needed. On a 3-mile slope in N Yorkshire it added 0.6 kWhr.

 

E root...The battery was flat on Red and mileage was 10 miles which was on the factory invoice..    David,    brilliant very helpful finding that page    also   Jim      I will set it as you suggest    thank you..  I will go for a rest drive tomorrow and test it out thank you so much for the help...Its a lovely car... 

7 hours ago, Biggles33 said:

Thank you for the replies...    Yes I don't know why they did not charge it at the dealership they had plenty of time...  However, I don't think they know much about this model.   My training was just set it to Hybrid and drive......the  car willdo the rest!.   I will have a look to see if I can find another mode.....Have not seen it and nothing in the manual.    

 

Ha! Tell me about it (dealer knowledge, that is). I was surprised how little they appeared to know, as I have posted elsewhere in these forums. You will see my car in the panel on the left and I did exactly as you were instructed by the dealer - make sure it's on Hybrid, drive, and let the car do what it is designed to do. So far I have been impressed with the drive, the range (32 miles from a 5-hour full home charge) and the regen capability. I don't want to know how it works, just happy that it does work. But the infotainment system - that's something else!

The sales manager was well-informed and showed me the set-ups, which went in and out of my brain immediately, but after I sat on the drive at home and went through it all again, it was fairly straightforward.  As Sir Ron states, it's easy to drive with minimal instruction, but I want to find out everything it can do and despite the many training videos and the online manual, I'm struggling with the sat nav. I can navigate to places but cannot find out how to save favourites as it seems to freeze up. However, the Octavia estate is a beautiful design, so I'm in a forgiving mood!

5 hours ago, Jim2015 said:

I have the regeneration set to 2, ie maximum. This recharges the battery when coasting and it will hold the car back on hills and keep to the speed limit. If you watch the amount of regen (LH display) you can adjust the amount of regen on hills so you don't slow too much whilst stll regenerating, with a light touch on the accelerator as needed. On a 3-mile slope in N Yorkshire it added 0.6 kWhr.

 

I assume this is controlled from the setting described in the manual as per screenshot below?

There's also a mention of an automatic recuperation mode - is that linked to the "Eco Assist" which is mentioned? And is it standard on UK iV models?

(I did see a video of someone testing a vRS which had it, I believe in the UK.)

 

My current diesel MK3 Octavia has a "Coasting" feature built into the DSG which (as I don't have the beauty of North Yorkshire hills where I am) suits the rather flatter local roads quite well. It will coast for long distances without using the engine (which is the best use of energy), so I probably wouldn't want to have the regen set to maximum all the time, but I would want regen to kick in when a junction is approaching for instance.

 

Hello David Y. The automatic recuperation was set when I collected the car and it provided some resistive braking. However when I set it to maximum, it was far more effective in our hilly part of the UK.  It holds the car back on hills and in fact I use fine touches on the accelerator to keep the speed up whilst still regenerating. At junctions. I hardly need to use the brakes except at the last minute, so it's very effective. In your situation, with flatter roads, auto would be preferable.

In my case I've set it up in auto and with flatter roads it works perfectly. I can do around 60 kms easily. On the other hand I won't expect to much regeneration but enough to stay in those numbers, there is another hidden feature that supposedly set the gear in n automatically to save some battery/fuel.

 

One question for those of you with the plug in model. While you're charging which icons do you have in the VC? I'm seeing apart from the green plug and the expected time to full load a yellow warning triangle.I've not clue if it's normal as the car charges properly with no issues. I've checked the manual and it says nothing. I contacted skoda yesterday but they told me to wait to the next working day for a proper answer...