NX300h EV Mode/Battery

[NXnoob]

Afternoon all

I took delivery of my new NX three week's ago and so far I'm absolutely loving it! I just have one question for the community regrading the hybrid batteries and EV mode.

Every time I start the car EV mode is unavailable until about 10mins into the journey. I understand they need to charge but I'm concerned the Battery is not holding its charge as it should. Is this standard for a Lexus hybrid?

It feels as though this has got progressively worse since I bought it but that could well be in my imagination.

How does this compare to other people's experience of the NX 300h?

Thanks

[NemesisUK]

Start the car and press the EV mode button as soon as the system is ready, this will force the car into EV mode, unless of course your traction Battery is really low, or you accelerate too enthusiastically...

[Ian J. Parsley]

You've nothing to worry about.

As Peter notes, you do have the option of pressing EV mode immediately after you press the start button, which as we move towards summer should at least get out of the driveway and moving a bit even after an overnight stop.

If you do this during the day, say within an hour of previously using the car, you may find it stays on for a lot longer - potentially up to a mile or so.

If you don't press it, the engine will come on largely to help heat the car and so on (thus disabling EV as an option for a while). The duration of this will decrease in the summer (and you'll notice consumption going up) because the car does not need as long to heat up (ahem, that's not exactly the technical reason but it's more or less what's going on!)

There is an argument that it is unwise to use the EV button; the vehicle does automatically apply EV when it is most appropriate to do so, so by forcing it you may in fact cost Battery life later when you would really be better having it. That said, I must say I generally press it immediately on start-up!

Hope that makes some sense.

[NemesisUK]

Ditto, Ian I also force EV Mode at first start up in the mornings. Gets me off the driveway and well on to the main road before the steep gradient causes the car to cancel the mode. 

If the traction Battery is too low even using the EV button will not force EV mode, the dash simply displays a message EV not available.

Definately noticed a marked increase in mpg and very rapid adoption of EV mode. As you say the cabin doesn't require heating so much, roll on summer!! 

[NXnoob]

Thanks all. Although I didn't really explain myself properly. I do try to force EV mode by pressing the button upon start up but it never lets me and just says EV mode unavailable. Basically the Battery is always too low to go straight into EV mode.

 

It sounds as though you guys all use EV straight away which suggests there may be a fault with mine?

Cheers

 

[NemesisUK]

Do you take note of the charge level when you park up and again in the morning? Does the display show a significant drop in charge level?

 

[rayaans]

33 minutes ago, NXnoob said:

Thanks all. Although I didn't really explain myself properly. I do try to force EV mode by pressing the button upon start up but it never lets me and just says EV mode unavailable. Basically the battery is always too low to go straight into EV mode.

 

It sounds as though you guys all use EV straight away which suggests there may be a fault with mine?

Cheers

 

Sounds perfectly normal. There's nothing wrong with it.

The engine needs to be warmed up slightly before it will go into EV mode - whether the Battery is full or empty has no effect on this. 

[NemesisUK]

1 minute ago, rayaans said:

Sounds perfectly normal. There's nothing wrong with it.

The engine needs to be warmed up slightly before it will go into EV mode - whether the battery is full or empty has no effect on this. 

Except as noted in posts #2 and#3

[NXnoob]

1 hour ago, NemesisUK said:

Do you take note of the charge level when you park up and again in the morning? Does the display show a significant drop in charge level?

 

The Battery always charges nicely and gets to what looks to be around 80% (I've never seen it at max). 

At the start of a journey it is always 2 bars (sometimes 3) and needs a few mins before sufficiently charged for EV mode 

[NemesisUK]

Mine will be the same in the morning as it was when I park up the previous evening.

If yours is dropping, then I'd suspect something is amiss... 

[rayaans]

1 hour ago, NXnoob said:

The battery always charges nicely and gets to what looks to be around 80% (I've never seen it at max). 

At the start of a journey it is always 2 bars (sometimes 3) and needs a few mins before sufficiently charged for EV mode 

Sounds about right. 

Like I mentioned already, if the engine is not sufficiently warm, it won't start in EV even if the Battery is half full. 

Its similiar to how the car won't run on EV if you run out of petrol.

[NemesisUK]

14 minutes ago, rayaans said:

Sounds about right. 

Like I mentioned already, if the engine is not sufficiently warm, it won't start in EV even if the battery is half full. 

Its similiar to how the car won't run on EV if you run out of petrol.

I'm confused, Rayaan. Is your model different in it's operation to the later models? 

In mine I can force EV mode at start up, even in sub-zero temps and a stone cold engine. It will run in EV mode until either the Battery discharges or the load increases above a set level.

If I don't press the EV mode button the engine will always start, to warm itself and the cabin. Using the EV button stops this. 

[NXnoob]

1 hour ago, NemesisUK said:

Mine will be the same in the morning as it was when I park up the previous evening.

If yours is dropping, then I'd suspect something is amiss... 

Mine will certainly not be the same in the morning, charge is always lost to some extent. 

I should imagine a Battery health check is easy to do so will take it back to the dealer when I get a chance. 

[rayaans]

1 hour ago, NemesisUK said:

I'm confused, Rayaan. Is your model different in it's operation to the later models? 

In mine I can force EV mode at start up, even in sub-zero temps and a stone cold engine. It will run in EV mode until either the battery discharges or the load increases above a set level.

If I don't press the EV mode button the engine will always start, to warm itself and the cabin. Using the EV button stops this. 

Both my wifes IS and my RX won't start in EV. It'll just say "EV not available" or something of that effect until the engine has warmed up and regardless of how much charge there is in the Battery.

Think it might be to do with AC as well. I always have it on Auto. 

[NemesisUK]

14 minutes ago, rayaans said:

Both my wifes IS and my RX won't start in EV. It'll just say "EV not available" or something of that effect until the engine has warmed up and regardless of how much charge there is in the battery.

Think it might be to do with AC as well. I always have it on Auto. 

Yup, me to. AC always set to auto,,  

Lexus must have altered how this function operates

[tayaste]

Both of mine will go straight into ev mode if pressed immediatly after starting without running the engine. Regardless of temp. Only if Battery is low will it refuse.

[NXnoob]

8 hours ago, NemesisUK said:

Yup, me to. AC always set to auto,,  

Lexus must have altered how this function operates

To clarify, if I've been driving for a while and then stop for a few minutes it will go straight into EV mode upon start up. 

So it is most certainly an issue with the Battery not holding sufficient charge over night and not a deliberate change by Lexus in the way EV mode operates. 

I guess my main question is should the batteries be holding charge better. I know the Lexus hybrid tech is getting quite old now with their nickel batteries so assumed mine was operating correctly. However it seems a few of you have a different experience to me. Will get it checked out.

Cheers

 

[NemesisUK]

9 hours ago, NemesisUK said:

Lexus must have altered how this function operates

 

56 minutes ago, NXnoob said:

To clarify, if I've been driving for a while and then stop for a few minutes it will go straight into EV mode upon start up. 

So it is most certainly an issue with the battery not holding sufficient charge over night and not a deliberate change by Lexus in the way EV mode operates. 

I guess my main question is should the batteries be holding charge better. I know the Lexus hybrid tech is getting quite old now with their nickel batteries so assumed mine was operating correctly. However it seems a few of you have a different experience to me. Will get it checked out.

Cheers

 

My comment was in respect to Rayaan's older models (2012)

Your 2016 model should behave as my 2016 car..

 

[Goggy]

22 hours ago, rayaans said:

Both my wifes IS and my RX won't start in EV. It'll just say "EV not available" or something of that effect until the engine has warmed up and regardless of how much charge there is in the battery.

Think it might be to do with AC as well. I always have it on Auto. 

Me too, my NX will not go to EV mode on start up, or be forced into it by me manually pressing EV mode, it needs to warm up first. It takes longer in cold conditions. 

[Ian J. Parsley]

That's odd. Both my IS and my wife's CT do go straight into EV mode, though it doesn't last long early on a winter's morning. 

They are usually in Normal mode with auto AC typically as 22.5C. 

[NemesisUK]

If the engine has already started (from a cold start) the EV mode cannot be forced. One has to press the EV button in the short period (approx 30sec in my experience) between the Ready light showing and the engine starting. Also using the windshield defogger will prevent EV mode.

[Ian J. Parsley]

Yes, to be clear, that is correct - EV mode must be selected (pressed) immediately after start-stop. Once the engine is on, it's game over for a while!

[C Mclean]

Normally I just jump in, stick it in reverse to back out the drive and the engine starts up within about 10 seconds. Today I put it in EV mode, reversed out and drove about 300 yards before the engine started with a message indicating that it started due to excessive throttle position, you have to be extremely gentle with the right foot. The Battery level at switch on was about 60% and I would reckon it's about the same level every morning as my daily usage hardly varies.

[paulrnx]

Sometimes my car will start up in EV mode on the driveway and go to the end of the village in EV mode. Other times it will start up in EV mode and start the engine even before I've moved off the driveway. At all other times, somewhere in between these two extremes. There are so many variables at play here that it is impossible to compare one day to another let alone to try to compare one person's experiences with another person's experiences with different cars on different days with different patterns of driving and different states of Battery charge when switching off the day/night before. First thing to do is to ignore it and consider it normal but if you can't consider it normal get it into a dealership and have it checked out to make sure nothing is wrong with it. Then, if all is ok, ignore it and accept it. Or buy a plug in hybrid that you can charge up every night and start every day with a full charge I suppose