Octavia iV (PHEV) disappointingly low range on electric???

[FABvirgil]

On 29/12/2023 at 09:10, Benjybobs said:

As above posters said, it’s the repeated reheating the cabin that is probably taking away a lot of range. 
 

if you’re going to drive a short distance, like 1 mile, then maybe consider pre heating, or just not having any heating at all for that journey. 
 

i can’t imagine you’ll feel much warmth in the time it takes to drive 1.5 miles anyway. 
 

maybe also try turning the regen off. 
 

i find it’s better to coast as much as possible rather than try and regen every time you lift off the throttle. If you plan your braking well then you can get the regen from the brake pedal when you actually need to slow down, very rarely need to actually use the friction brakes in normal traffic.  
 

I find I get better efficiency form coasting rather than cycling between regen, accelerating regen accelerating. 

Thanks.. I have been following your advice and things have improved 👍

[FABvirgil]

19 hours ago, Rooted said:

@SkOmk4I know, and faster then my under 2 kW charging with the 3 pin.

(32.6 kWh battery, 28.9 kWh usable.)

 

Often stuff gets Lost in translation with Skoda / VW Press Releases.  & the term 'Fast Chagers' causes confusion in the UK as it is.

 

50kW Max Charge rate is nice though.  

It is good when they tell you the average charge speed 0-100% 

 

As to Rapid charging it is great if free,

& at 35 pence a kWh then 20 kWh is £7.00 and if you get 2.5 miles to a kWh that is 50 miles worth.

Get to 55 pence a kWh, or 69 or even 75 pence plus and then there is no saving really on longer trips unless you are getting the first full charge at a reduced tariff. 

This is the sting yes. I can only charge my octavia iV at 3.5 kW but with the small better I can get full charge from a socket at 7p/unit overnight. AFAIK 7kW is the maximum rating for a standard domestic install charger so I am limited to not more than 42kWh of charge at the cheap rate. If I were to opt for an EV I would have to pay the very high rates at public charging stations. This will not encourage the public to go green.. The cost of the EV is prohibitive for most people and you can't turn round and say "ah but it runs much more cheaply than petrol". 

[Ootohere]

Yes max 7 kW for a standard domestic, other than when you upgrade and can have 11 kW.

 

Many used EV,s are not prohibitive now to the general public, it depends what you want, then the Business users like those that go PHEV can benefit in their pocket as their employers do going BEV. 

[flyingscot]

12 minutes ago, FABvirgil said:

This is the sting yes. I can only charge my octavia iV at 3.5 kW but with the small better I can get full charge from a socket at 7p/unit overnight. AFAIK 7kW is the maximum rating for a standard domestic install charger so I am limited to not more than 42kWh of charge at the cheap rate. If I were to opt for an EV I would have to pay the very high rates at public charging stations. This will not encourage the public to go green.. The cost of the EV is prohibitive for most people and you can't turn round and say "ah but it runs much more cheaply than petrol". 

 

42kWh is a fair chunk of most EVs batteries (50/60kWh) and you'd need to do a fair daily distance to be not able to keep it topped up at a home charger for cheap rate. Public EV charge costs have gotten ridiculous in some cases;  when I first had the PHEV, I was charging for free at loads of places, which was unsustainable and a host of issues. I now won't charge in public unless it's around the home price. In Canada and the US I had a Tesla on rental and the network of supercharging was great, dead easy to use and cheap (compared to UK rates).

 

In terms of my PHEV I tend to get 30-35 miles in summer and 25 miles in winter. My commute is hilly and stop start which is terrible even in an ICE (the Karoq gave me awful economy at times) and I think the EV has saved me a good chunk of cash. 

 

[SkOmk4]

22 minutes ago, flyingscot said:

42kWh is a fair chunk of most EVs batteries (50/60kWh) and you'd need to do a fair daily distance to be not able to keep it topped up at a home charger for cheap rate.

Exactly!
The 10 kWh (usable) I have on my Formentor are now (at negative temperatures and with cabin preheating from the battery) just enough for me to drive home-work-home - about 26 km distance. In spring and autumn 1 charge might cover 2 days, at the limit...
Other users might have longer distances for the daily drive, but as long as it is (quite)-short personal use and not longer business daily trips, the 40-42 kWh should be more than enough. If I'd have an EV with the largest capacity battery on the market, I'd still be using 10-12 kWh per day (in winter, less otherwise), such that with the 40 kWh of charge at cheap rate from Monday to Friday, I'd start the weekend with a full battery. That's not such a bad scenario, is it?

[wantaskoda]

So this morning I did a 50 mile round trip, and I decided to play with the settings.

 

About 30 miles of the journey was motorway.

I started in Hybrid setting, but on a couple of occasions (when I left the destination for my return I chose electric until the motorway)

 

It was mainly around 4 degrees out.

 

I managed 87mpg over the journey with 2 miles of electric left.

 

I am really happy with that as if I were running a diesel, I may have got 65mpg tops.

 

Annoying thing was I at my destination (Gillwell scout camp) they have chargers (which are free) but the are Tesla chargers, so my car would not charge... shame.

 

 

[Edela]

2 minutes ago, wantaskoda said:

but the are Tesla chargers, so my car would not charge... shame.

I tried Tesla type 2 chargers. Some of them worked, some didn't. I couldn't figure out what was the difference, but perhaps owner of such charger may decide if it is available to other cars?

[tricol]

On 13/01/2024 at 12:59, wantaskoda said:

So this morning I did a 50 mile round trip, and I decided to play with the settings.

 

About 30 miles of the journey was motorway.

I started in Hybrid setting, but on a couple of occasions (when I left the destination for my return I chose electric until the motorway)

 

It was mainly around 4 degrees out.

 

I managed 87mpg over the journey with 2 miles of electric left.

 

I am really happy with that as if I were running a diesel, I may have got 65mpg tops.

 

Annoying thing was I at my destination (Gillwell scout camp) they have chargers (which are free) but the are Tesla chargers, so my car would not charge... shame.

 

 

 

It all depends on the p/p mile. If charged at home on a standard rate then it might only be slightly cheaper overall. I'm on a standard tariff and it's about 12 per mile for the electric portion. 

[vRSPHEV]

I've got a vRS PHEV Est and battery shows 21/22 miles when fully charged. I can get to work (18.5 miles) on a full battery with a couple left over. Doesn't seem to make a difference whether I'm in sport/normal mode. Rural driving, some long straights and a few hilly bits, mostly on the cruise control at 55 and it still doesn't make much difference. Will see how it changes as the weather gets warmer. fuel tank range has gone up from 350 when I bought it (late Nov 22) and now states 410 when full. I'm getting nearly 500 (495) between fills.

[tricol]

It usually displays 34/35 miles for me after a full charge. But I'm not pre-conditioning, so I immediately lose 2-3 miles within 0.5 mile. I've not driven it on EV mode only, but I'd say maybe 20 miles in this current weather.

[vRSPHEV]

On 19/01/2024 at 10:33, tricol said:

It usually displays 34/35 miles for me after a full charge. But I'm not pre-conditioning, so I immediately lose 2-3 miles within 0.5 mile. I've not driven it on EV mode only, but I'd say maybe 20 miles in this current weather.

As I didn't buy mine new, nor from a franchised dealer I had pretty much zero explanation. Is there a way I can pre-condition the battery?

[Benjybobs]

2 hours ago, vRSPHEV said:

As I didn't buy mine new, nor from a franchised dealer I had pretty much zero explanation. Is there a way I can pre-condition the battery?

if you set a “leave time” on the charger schedule it should do it i think, or if you just drive it right after it’s been charging. 
 

You’ll know it’s not pre conditioned when its when it’s not plugged in or not been charged for a number of hours and you just get in and drive in e mode, you’ll notice the power availability isn’t as high, and the amount of available regen is also lower. 

[wantaskoda]

Living near London, last week I went into town and charged at £0.64pkwh but you don’t pay for parking so it actually worked out cheaper.

 

my goal Is to get a combined 50mpg or above as that for me is economical against a diesel.

[FABvirgil]

4 hours ago, wantaskoda said:

Living near London, last week I went into town and charged at £0.64pkwh but you don’t pay for parking so it actually worked out cheaper.

 

my goal Is to get a combined 50mpg or above as that for me is economical against a diesel.

I managed to get over 70mpg on Hybrid over a longer journey (90 miles).

The trick is (as posted elsewhere on this thread) to have:

 

hybrid selected +

untick the auto box +

sports mode (not entirely sure if this is required - I need to experiment) +

set your required charge level high (e.g. 80%) +

lots of coasting + drive conservatively (i.e. try to avoid using the brake = look ahead, which is a responsible driving style anyway)

..... and it works!!! At times I was close to 80mpg.

 

This was actually the first time I have had the opportunity to try this out since having the car. Re my original question, again, on pure E coasting helps, as does pre air con ..  but for lots of short winter journeys, any EV is going to struggle to get a good return; thankfully I can top up the battery every night on my 7p/kWh Octopus intelligent go tariff so I am very happy with how it is all working out now and it will only get better as we move out of winter.

[Edela]

3 hours ago, FABvirgil said:

untick the auto box +

set your required charge level high (e.g. 80%) +

Not sure what is the idea behind this.

I did a few rather long road trips on mine (2 to 7 thousands km) and I found out that leaving battery management on auto gives better mileage overall, even if battery is fully discharged and never charged again.

[FABvirgil]

16 minutes ago, Edela said:

Not sure what is the idea behind this.

I did a few rather long road trips on mine (2 to 7 thousands km) and I found out that leaving battery management on auto gives better mileage overall, even if battery is fully discharged and never charged again.

sounds like your data is likely to be more reliable! I've only done one "trip" of 90 miles so I can't be sure.

[MickyD44]

2 years of running a VRS IV Estate, and I have recorded all my mileage, all my petrol and charging (a bit geeky I know), but based on all charging, petrol and mileage over 22k miles the car has averaged 61.2mpg. Thats on my records not what the car thinks.

 

I have only ever filled up with Super Unleaded and I do charge from home on the British Gas EV Tarrif now so 0.09p per KwH between 12.00 - 05.30, so it cost around £1.00 to fully charge. I get between 18 - 28 miles on EV mode, depending on the outside temperature.

 

When possible I pre-heat for cold mornings while its plugged in to maximise the battery (as long as the poxy app is working of course !!)

 

I do a mixture of local driving at the weekends which is mostly in EV mode, but my office is 100 miles door to door, so EV mode doesnt last the distance obviously. Theres been some long trips up country and back as well.

 

Compared to the Superb 2.0 TSI Sportline I had before, its averaging around 10mpg more over a years worth of driving. The Superb averaged 51mpg over a year.

 

I dont drive like I am trying to save the world (sorry Eco minded people) but I also dont hack around like a looney everywhere.

 

I have tried the Octavia in Eco Mode, and yes the mog over 200 miles was a little higher, but not enough for me to not want to enjoy the cars performance. I have tried it with the regen turned up, turned off, ive driven in Sport mode, set up individual modes etc.

 

I find it just works best if left in Normal Mode with Regen set to Auto, and thats where the 61.2mpg comes from.

 

 

 

Edited 22 January by MickyD44

[Edela]

Thanks for the insight, Micky.
In my case, I had no opportunity to understand hybrid consumption long term, since all my local trips are electric only and all my long trips are highway speeds with empty battery (except the first road trip where I was charging and it appeared to be quite useless), so kind of gasoline only. I learned that on long trips I reliably have 6 liters or less (39 mpg or more) without charging and electric only gives me 40-50km on average (25-31 miles). However, some short countryside trips give me pretty much the same figures - 3.5 to 4 liters (67-58 mpg), it's just usually short trips where any measurements are not quite reliable.

Edited 23 January by Edela

[jpg86]

On 19/01/2024 at 10:33, tricol said:

It usually displays 34/35 miles for me after a full charge. But I'm not pre-conditioning, so I immediately lose 2-3 miles within 0.5 mile. I've not driven it on EV mode only, but I'd say maybe 20 miles in this current weather.

Wow I’ve never seen 34/34 miles after charging. My seems to default to 22 miles every time. I charge daily.

[PoloGaz]

Yesterday I only managed 17 miles on electric (2 very short journeys plus 2 longer ones. Heaters used, seats, wheel, etc

Today I got 32 miles on elec. 22 miles in one journey and then 10 miles on another until the battery was empty. I only used heating on the 2nd journey. Had I not bothered I probably could have added another 2-3 miles on there

 

i was trying pretty hard to be efficient. Regen on auto and taking it fairly steady (60-65) on motorway)

 

I’m hoping in the spring I can achieve the advertised 40 miles out of it. Have done a couple of trips on electric which were above 4 mi per kWh average so it looks quite possible

Edited 28 January by PoloGaz

[classic]

On 22/01/2024 at 19:56, MickyD44 said:

2 years of running a VRS IV Estate, and I have recorded all my mileage, all my petrol and charging (a bit geeky I know), but based on all charging, petrol and mileage over 22k miles the car has averaged 61.2mpg. Thats on my records not what the car thinks.

 

I have only ever filled up with Super Unleaded and I do charge from home on the British Gas EV Tarrif now so 0.09p per KwH between 12.00 - 05.30, so it cost around £1.00 to fully charge. I get between 18 - 28 miles on EV mode, depending on the outside temperature.

 

When possible I pre-heat for cold mornings while its plugged in to maximise the battery (as long as the poxy app is working of course !!)

 

I do a mixture of local driving at the weekends which is mostly in EV mode, but my office is 100 miles door to door, so EV mode doesnt last the distance obviously. Theres been some long trips up country and back as well.

 

Compared to the Superb 2.0 TSI Sportline I had before, its averaging around 10mpg more over a years worth of driving. The Superb averaged 51mpg over a year.

 

I dont drive like I am trying to save the world (sorry Eco minded people) but I also dont hack around like a looney everywhere.

 

I have tried the Octavia in Eco Mode, and yes the mog over 200 miles was a little higher, but not enough for me to not want to enjoy the cars performance. I have tried it with the regen turned up, turned off, ive driven in Sport mode, set up individual modes etc.

 

I find it just works best if left in Normal Mode with Regen set to Auto, and thats where the 61.2mpg comes from.

 

 

 

Interesting. The 2.0 tsi superb sportline was pretty good on fuel then ?

Back of an envelope calculations, looking at your real world figures, assuming super unleaded costs £1.45/litre the 2.0 tsi cost £12.92 to do the 100 mile journey. The IV costs about £10.81 in petrol plus £1.00 for the full charge at home, which is £11.81 to travel the 100 mile journey, so £1.11 less for the 100 mile journey. 
My 2015 Octavia 1.4 tsi is averaging 42.9 mpg (real world calculations) on normal unleaded. Assuming the current price of £1.38/litre mine costs £14.62 to travel the 100 mile journey so an IV would be £2.81 less for the 100 mile journey.

[xman]

On 11/01/2024 at 11:39, SkOmk4 said:

However, I noticed on the Rescue-Sheet of the Formentor that the HV-battery is under the rear-seats and the fuel-tank in under the trunk floor (spare wheel position)- which kind of makes-sense. The tank is only 40 liters, while the battery with the metal safety-enclosure plus the cooling circuit and liquid should be much heavier... So the heavier stuff is in front of the rear axle. I can only assume it's similar for the Octavia, but I'm not sure.
 

So that is a similar layout to the infamous Ford Pinto.  Pray you never get rear ended.

[MickyD44]

I think the Formentor and the Octavia are quite similar at the rear end in terms of battery/full tank layout. Having seen the two cars next to each other and looking underneath.

 

One of my colleagues had a Formentor Hybrid, and got a glancing offside rear end thump while he was stationary in a lay-by. Learner driver misjudged where they were on the road apparently.

 

It damaged the rear suspension, fuel tank and battery system

 

The insurance wrote the car off, it was 2 months old with about 1200 miles on it. He was gutted.

 

He now has an Octavia Iv Estate, and steers clear of lay-bys where possible.

[Simon667]

On 22/01/2024 at 19:56, MickyD44 said:

2 years of running a VRS IV Estate, and I have recorded all my mileage, all my petrol and charging (a bit geeky I know), but based on all charging, petrol and mileage over 22k miles the car has averaged 61.2mpg. Thats on my records not what the car thinks.

 

I have only ever filled up with Super Unleaded and I do charge from home on the British Gas EV Tarrif now so 0.09p per KwH between 12.00 - 05.30, so it cost around £1.00 to fully charge. I get between 18 - 28 miles on EV mode, depending on the outside temperature.

 

When possible I pre-heat for cold mornings while its plugged in to maximise the battery (as long as the poxy app is working of course !!)

 

I do a mixture of local driving at the weekends which is mostly in EV mode, but my office is 100 miles door to door, so EV mode doesnt last the distance obviously. Theres been some long trips up country and back as well.

 

Compared to the Superb 2.0 TSI Sportline I had before, its averaging around 10mpg more over a years worth of driving. The Superb averaged 51mpg over a year.

 

I dont drive like I am trying to save the world (sorry Eco minded people) but I also dont hack around like a looney everywhere.

 

I have tried the Octavia in Eco Mode, and yes the mog over 200 miles was a little higher, but not enough for me to not want to enjoy the cars performance. I have tried it with the regen turned up, turned off, ive driven in Sport mode, set up individual modes etc.

 

I find it just works best if left in Normal Mode with Regen set to Auto, and thats where the 61.2mpg comes from.

 

 

 

I recently just did my first long journey in the Octy SEL iV a few months after getting it. North Yorkshire to London and back in the day.

 

Battery fully charged, hybrid mode and eco setting on - averaged 64 MPG on way down, but interestingly the whole battery was used by the time i reached central ish London. Way back i got 55MPG with no electric help. Got home with approx 130 miles range - circa 1/3 to 1/4 of tank left.

 

i've only done approx 3K miles in 3 months, so engine is still quite tight. Looking forward to it loosening up!

[AndyRat]

On 22/01/2024 at 19:56, MickyD44 said:

2 years of running a VRS IV Estate, and I have recorded all my mileage, all my petrol and charging (a bit geeky I know), but based on all charging, petrol and mileage over 22k miles the car has averaged 61.2mpg. Thats on my records not what the car thinks.

 

I'd be interested how you record and calculate mpg & overall costs etc.  I have a simple spreadsheet for ICE vehicles, work out MPG/cost based on full tank to full tank, but have got a real convoluted method with charging, have you cracked this somehow?