Hybrid battery- achieving best range

[Simon703]

Can I gather some thoughts please on what people consider the best way of working with their Hybrid to achieve best consistent range.
- With temperatures at c. 7degees do you precondition the car? If you do what benefit do you gain?

- With full EV the advice is to charge to 80% to maintain battery life/ ongoing range. What do you charge to with hybrid (80% will reduce range even further on what is already quite light.

- Pure seems to give me other mile or 2. Is there anything else you do to push the range.

Thanks.

[sk546]

Originally Posted by Simon703

Can I gather some thoughts please on what people consider the best way of working with their Hybrid to achieve best consistent range.
- With temperatures at c. 7degees do you precondition the car? If you do what benefit do you gain?

- With full EV the advice is to charge to 80% to maintain battery life/ ongoing range. What do you charge to with hybrid (80% will reduce range even further on what is already quite light.

- Pure seems to give me other mile or 2. Is there anything else you do to push the range.

Thanks.

Which car and what year do you have as this makes quite a difference to your above request.

Pre-conditioning will help as it gets the hybrid batteries to the correct operational temperatures however, depending on if you have a fuel fired or High Voltage coolant heater will differ on the best method to pre-condition will be (which is why it helps to know what year and what car you have) and the biggest benefits it will give.

I always charge to 100%. These are not full EV's and do not have charging limiters that can be set like some EV's have but neither of my 2 PHEV's have reduced their range due to charging the battery to 100%.

The biggest factors for battery range are, by far, outside temperature, cruising speed while in EV driving and (if you have the High Voltage Coolant Heater) having cabin heating on when driving in EV mode.

[Simon703]

Thanks for the input. The car is a my24 XC60. I suspect it has the electric heater?

[sk546]

Originally Posted by Simon703

Thanks for the input. The car is a my24 XC60. I suspect it has the electric heater?

You are correct, it will have a High Voltage heater.
The best option for pre-conditioning is to do it with the car plugged in and charging so the heater doesn't deplete the battery.
Having done the heating by pre-conditioning, the battery range will not be as reduced as if you request cabin heat from ambient temperatures.

If I forget to pre-condition before I leave the house, I will usually loose 2-3 miles of range by the time I leave the estate as the heater warms the cars coolant and provides heat to the cabin and the battery systems.

[chrisrixy]

Originally Posted by sk546

You are correct, it will have a High Voltage heater.
The best option for pre-conditioning is to do it with the car plugged in and charging so the heater doesn't deplete the battery.
Having done the heating by pre-conditioning, the battery range will not be as reduced as if you request cabin heat from ambient temperatures.

If I forget to pre-condition before I leave the house, I will usually loose 2-3 miles of range by the time I leave the estate as the heater warms the cars coolant and provides heat to the cabin and the battery systems.

So I assume this would also apply to a MY23 V60 T6? Hadn’t seen that before.. Thanks

[Philip Fisher]

I have always charged to 100%. Car has now done 170k miles. Stated range this morning in Pure mode was 20 miles. Most I ever saw as stated range when car was a lot younger and weather loads warmer was 25 miles. So battery range has reduced but not fallen off a cliff.

[rhd443]

Originally Posted by Simon703

Can I gather some thoughts please on what people consider the best way of working with their Hybrid to achieve best consistent range.
- With temperatures at c. 7degees do you precondition the car? If you do what benefit do you gain?

- With full EV the advice is to charge to 80% to maintain battery life/ ongoing range. What do you charge to with hybrid (80% will reduce range even further on what is already quite light.

- Pure seems to give me other mile or 2. Is there anything else you do to push the range.

Thanks.

Never really worried about this, I have a 2020 S60 T8 and it stays plugged into the granny charger for weeks/long periods, been doing this for 4 years now, never worry about reducing its charge before it hits 100%, the hybrid system never lets you run it totally flat so I expect it does the same when charging to full.

I have the older petrol heater, which I prefer because I can run heating and not hit range in winter or when sitting in traffic, the range doesn't drop due to heating.

I just jump in and go, life's too short to faff with changing modes and driving it within electric only mode all the time.

I precondition to save me scraping and getting into a warm car without a coat/gloves, not because of any other benefit of range or engine coolant warm up, though thays probably better on the engine wear (heated steering wheel and winter pack so wipers are kept warm too).

It sounds like you're expecting too much from a hybrid, just get in and press your pedals and go 🙂

[kan8p]

Do you guys precondition via the app?

I have a 2022 XCC60 T8, and when fully charged it always shows 20 miles in hybrid mode, or 25 in Pure. Drops quickly if its cold outside as the car heats up.

[sk546]

Originally Posted by kan8p

Do you guys precondition via the app?

I have a 2022 XCC60 T8, and when fully charged it always shows 20 miles in hybrid mode, or 25 in Pure. Drops quickly if its cold outside as the car heats up.

Yes, via the app but remember to have the car plugged in otherwise pre-conditioning will drain the Hybrid battery just the same as if you are driving off and the car heats up so there is no benefit.