Warming up plug-in hybrids?

[blueline]

We've been driving a 2016 Audi plug-in as our primary car for 7 years, and I'd be really surprised if the Porsches behaved any differently.

In our Audi, when we drive until the EV battery reaches the depletion point (~7kWH of the total 8kWH capacity), the ICE powers up. But it does not begin driving the car immediately. Instead, the car continues on electric while the ICE runs at a steady 1700 RPM while disconnected from the transmission until it reaches what Audi considers to be safe operating temp. Generally several minutes. Only then does it take over from the electric motor.

That's pretty cool, plus it makes sense that there would be some sort of smooth hand off like that for the majority who will probably always (or mostly) stick with the default start-up/drive-off routine.

[Arne2]

That's pretty cool, plus it makes sense that there would be some sort of smooth hand off like that for the majority who will probably always (or mostly) stick with the default start-up/drive-off routine.

Yes, it works well for those few of us who actually use them as intended, on EV as default and recharge when depleted. For us, both retired and no longer any commute, we find that the EV range is enough to cover 90% or more of our around town driving, especially given that I can recharge in the garage on 220v in 2 hours even if empty. That allows multiple trips per day. Over the first 6 years or so, that equated to 66% of our miles as EV, with the vast majority of the ICE use for highway trips, where it averages ~40 MPG. The last year or so the overall EV percentage has gone up as we have been using the Cayman for road trips. (The 2.0T in the Cayman with PDK gets mid-30s on longer road trips.)

But based on things I've learned from Audi during our recent warranty battery replacement is that now that most of these PHEV A3s are on their second, third or more owners, many of them never get plugged in, and their owners treat them like a Prius. Audi's US Tech Center basically admitted that our A3 had a lot more charge cycles on the battery than they are used to seeing, and they actually had to contact Germany to figure out how to test the battery capacity.

IMG_0154.jpeg (401.83 KiB) Viewed 417 times

[blueline]

That's pretty cool, plus it makes sense that there would be some sort of smooth hand off like that for the majority who will probably always (or mostly) stick with the default start-up/drive-off routine.

Yes, it works well for those few of us who actually use them as intended, on EV as default and recharge when depleted. For us, both retired and no longer any commute, we find that the EV range is enough to cover 90% or more of our around town driving, especially given that I can recharge in the garage on 220v in 2 hours even if empty. That allows multiple trips per day. Over the first 6 years or so, that equated to 66% of our miles as EV, with the vast majority of the ICE use for highway trips, where it averages ~40 MPG. The last year or so the overall EV percentage has gone up as we have been using the Cayman for road trips. (The 2.0T in the Cayman with PDK gets mid-30s on longer road trips.)

But based on things I've learned from Audi during our recent warranty battery replacement is that now that most of these PHEV A3s are on their second, third or more owners, many of them never get plugged in, and their owners treat them like a Prius. Audi's US Tech Center basically admitted that our A3 had a lot more charge cycles on the battery than they are used to seeing, and they actually had to contact Germany to figure out how to test the battery capacity.

IMG_0154.jpeg

Good looking car Arne. I am an Audi fan - the brand would be my first choice if not for Porsche.