Rx400H On Battery

[Gliderpilot]

Hi All I'm new to Le4xus and Hybrids

I've had my 400H for a couple of weeks now and am just getting used to the hybrid system I find that even when the engine is up to temp and I'm pulling away it seems to start almost imediately even if I try to keep the power meter in the dashed area at the low end of the scale and not rely on electric power. I don't have any fault lights or weird sounds and the batery is always about 80% charged or less. My thoughts were that it would utilise more of the electric traction motors at low speed as the spec of them seems to indicate that there is sufficient power to pull a house down! Is this normal?

Cheers Peter.

[wackyjim]

Not uncommon for this to happen at start up in colder weather especially if heaters etc are being used, although I thought you might have seen at least some Battery useage particularly if in slow moving traffic once the car is up to temp?...

[nelmo]

At this time of year, you've certainly got heating on and that almost certainly means you will need the engine on more just to keep it up to temperature. I also find I can't just use batteries only at the moment so I doubt there's anything wrong with your car.

I think heating is always going to be the bugbear of electric vehicles. Our friends have recently bought a Tesla who claim a 250 mile range on batteries alone. Now, this might be ok in sunny California or the summer here but generating heat to keep occupants warm takes a lot of electricity and I'll be interested in the range they get in winter.

[The Editor]

Bet that quoted 250 is with EVERYTHING in the car switched off !!

And what about the heat in California???..... Thing A/C will take WAYYYY more power than a heater!

[ColinBarber]

This is normal Peter. Even if you turn off your heating and just use the electric seat heater you will still find the petrol engine cuts in without much throttle. It will still use electric power to assist the petrol engine though so you are getting benefit. Once the whole vehicle is warmed up, then you will find you can pull away gently without the petrol engine kicking in.

If you come to a stop and find the petrol engine running you will typically find it is your heating that is keeping the petrol engine running. The 400h doesn't have an electric cabin heater so it keeps the engine running to keep the coolant hot. Turn off the heating/AC system and the engine will cut straight out.

[Romasato]

Ditto, same here - seeing the same behavior in this cold weather - petrol engine kicks in almost immediately after pulling away, so I assume it is normal for temperatures near zero celsius.

[nelmo]

Bet that quoted 250 is with EVERYTHING in the car switched off !!

And what about the heat in California???..... Thing A/C will take WAYYYY more power than a heater!

Good point, forgot about A/C...

[Gliderpilot]

THanks for the posts I'll get used to it eventually, now I've got to get my head around the voice comands!