450h+ Battery Range etc.

[Alan Thompson]

I must same I am impressed by the Battery range on my car.

Today I did a mixture of driving (some good, some bad - no, that's supposed to be a joke, 😁) I meant some motorway, some A & B Roads and in a bit of traffic.

I started with an expected range of 44, I didn't use the aircon/heating, I had the sunroof open on tilt all the time - It's sub-tropical in West Yorkshire, I also had the radio and sat nav on plus plugged in to Android Auto so my phone was charging too! I actually achieved 46 miles before the engine kicked in.

Now I've got the app working fully, the range is based on 70% usage of the Battery (the remaining 30% is reserved for other things?), so I can accurately calculate my electricity charging costs using the formula                               =(18.1*0.7)*0.1989 where 18.1 is the full Battery capacity, 0.7 is the amount of Battery used and 0.1989 is my current electricity cost per Kwh. When this goes up in April I will amend that.

I hope this is helpful for some people - pre-app I would have been assuming that 0 range meant I had to charge the Battery 100% to full

Hopefully that makes sense? 

[Spock66]

18 minutes ago, Alan Thompson said:

I can accurately calculate my electricity charging costs using the formula                               =(18.1*0.7)*0.1989 where 18.1 is the full battery capacity, 0.7 is the amount of battery used and 0.1989 is my current electricity cost per Kwh.

You are assuming charging efficiency is 100%, whereas it will be in the range 70-90%.

[Alan Thompson]

13 minutes ago, Spock66 said:

You are assuming charging efficiency is 100%, whereas it will be in the range 70-90%.

I didn't pass GCSE physics, so I struggle with all this 😁

So are you saying my 70% to full is actually somewhere between 49% & 63%?

My calculation is close enough for me - maybe i should remove the word accurately?

[Spock66]

Just now, Alan Thompson said:

So are you saying my 70% to full is actually somewhere between 49% & 63%?

No, what I am saying is to achieve your 70% charge you will actually have to put more energy in, the wasted energy during charging becomes heat. So if charging efficiency is 80% you would need to divide the cost figure from your formulae by 0.8.

[Alan Thompson]

4 hours ago, Spock66 said:

No, what I am saying is to achieve your 70% charge you will actually have to put more energy in, the wasted energy during charging becomes heat. So if charging efficiency is 80% you would need to divide the cost figure from your formulae by 0.8.

Understood, thanks for clarifying, Andrew.

[DanD]

You shouldn't really switch the aircon off. Nowadays, climate control systems are meant to be left on all the time and are designed to have limited impact on fuel consumption while optimising temperature, humidity and general air quality. You probably use more petrol by the additional drag of your open sunroof than by letting the system do its thing.

[NiCoRe]

2 minutes ago, DanD said:

You shouldn't really switch the aircon off. Nowadays, climate control systems are meant to be left on all the time and are designed to have limited impact on fuel consumption while optimising temperature, humidity and general air quality. You probably use more petrol by the additional drag of your open sunroof than by letting the system do its thing.

+1 , and both 350h and 450h+ have a heat pump system instead of a classic HVAC and is much more efficient 

[NemesisUK]

6 minutes ago, DanD said:

You shouldn't really switch the aircon off. Nowadays, climate control systems are meant to be left on all the time and are designed to have limited impact on fuel consumption while optimising temperature, humidity and general air quality. You probably use more petrol by the additional drag of your open sunroof than by letting the system do its thing.

That's very true of petrol driven engines with 'normal' a/c compressors but when considering electrically driven compressors, as fitted to hybrids and EVs, running the a/c will have a significant effect on Battery range.

That said I personally wouldn't turn off the a/c simply because I value the comfort afforded by a well control cabin environment more than range.  Also keeping the a/c running will ensure the seals remain well lubricated and intact.

[Ken R]

Ran the ev Battery to nil yesterday and then travelled in hv/charge Battery mode. In 13 miles I gained 7 miles of ev charge. Downside is that I was getting a reported 30mpg. Quite impressed at the rate of charge. 

[Ken R]

I actually achieved a total distance of 51 miles in ev mode with a fully charged Battery in my 450h+  yesterday. Half of the distance was motorway driving at 60/70mph. Impressive.

[Alan Thompson]

29 minutes ago, Ken R said:

I actually achieved a total distance of 51 miles in ev mode with a fully charged battery in my 450h+  yesterday. Half of the distance was motorway driving at 60/70mph. Impressive.

That's impressive Ken.

I've not been paying much attention recently due to having other things to concentrate on, but mine regularly indicates 49 mile range on a full Battery and I suspect that might grow a little bit as the weather warms up?