Thoughts on Hybrid Deployment

[dashnine]

After almost a couple of months of hybrid ownership, I'm wondering if the way the Formentor uses its battery could be improved. It seems to me that when in hybrid mode (as opposed to electric only propulsion) the car seems a bit keen to use up it's battery and whilst regenerating when it can, it's still used up the battery relatively quickly and you're left regenerating and deploying for the remainder of the journey.

It primarily seems to use the battery at low speeds, when cruising up to 70/80 mph and for additional boost when driving quickly. I'd like to see a selectable mode (even via the Driving Modes) that let the driver select which of the three uses of battery power are used at any time.

So on a longer journey the battery would last longer if only used at slow speeds through towns perhaps, or not to waste the battery at higher speed cruising on A roads or motorways, or to save the battery and just use it for boosting when you get to a fun road. I'd still keep the current mode as I guess that's what Cupra have worked out is the most efficient use of the battery, I'd just like to tweak it a bit now and again.

Thoughts? Any other scenarios you'd rather save or use the battery for?

 

[dashnine]

Another thought - how about holding back 20% of the battery, and then only deploying it in Cupra mode when you've arrived wherever it is you want to have some fun. Otherwise by the time you've drive 40-50 miles from starting with a full battery, it will have all been used up unless you manually reserve it.

 

[Ninjakebab]

It sounds like those things are already possible, if I understand you correctly.

In Manual Hybrid mode (press the cog icon by the Hybrid button) you can select a battery level to preserve, e.g. 20% so whenever it drops to this it will primarily use the ICE.

Or smart navigation or whatever it's called. You press in the destination and it will stretch the battery over that journey, and should preserve the majority for being within the city limits (haven't tried this function myself yet though).

 

[Cuprakash]

It sounds like those things are already possible, if I understand you correctly.

In Manual Hybrid mode (press the cog icon by the Hybrid button) you can select a battery level to preserve, e.g. 20% so whenever it drops to this it will primarily use the ICE.

Or smart navigation or whatever it's called. You press in the destination and it will stretch the battery over that journey, and should preserve the majority for being within the city limits (haven't tried this function myself yet though).

That's how it works yes,after using quite a few times...very useful.

 

[dashnine]

It sounds like those things are already possible, if I understand you correctly.

In Manual Hybrid mode (press the cog icon by the Hybrid button) you can select a battery level to preserve, e.g. 20% so whenever it drops to this it will primarily use the ICE.

Or smart navigation or whatever it's called. You press in the destination and it will stretch the battery over that journey, and should preserve the majority for being within the city limits (haven't tried this function myself yet though).

Yes, I know you can reserve battery and remove the reservation when you want to use it, but it’s a manual process. I was thinking of some setting whereby a %age of battery was automatically saved until you switched to Cupra mode when it would be released to power boost the engine. Had a thrash in Cupra mode today and it made quite a difference using the battery boost!

I only saw the Smart Navigation when messing with the Quick Menu the other day, but not had an opportunity to use it yet. So if you know where the fun bit of road is, and you can set a navigation point to it then you’ll still have no battery to play as it will have been used up enroute? l’d like to save the battery for performance (at times), not just city use.

 

[Cuprakash]

I've done a series of YouTube videos on my hybrid formentor including the sat nav,battery levels, infotainment etc which may help you..

https://youtube.com/user/kash748

 

[dashnine]

I've done a series of YouTube videos on my hybrid formentor including the sat nav,battery levels, infotainment etc which may help you..

https://youtube.com/user/kash748

Unless you’ve found a way to preserve a variable percentage of battery (easily done manually, I know) and make it available in Cupra mode at the press of the Cupra button, I fear you’re missing the point!

 

[dashnine]

I gave the Intelligent Hybrid function a go yesterday, and it seemed to do what it said on the tin but I'm still not sure it makes things much better in terms of reserving battery to the journeys end. It's meant to spread out the battery usage out over your journey until you return home:

The Intelligent Hybrid App allows the user to save electrical energy until reaching home (charging point) with just “one click”. If this option is not selected, the maximum amount of electrical energy will be consumed until the selected destination is reached. If the user has no active route, the function will offer the activation of a predictive route and BMA mode from the widget itself with just one click.

I turned the function on and selected my destination, the SatNav effectively plots the return home route as well - which means your miles to destination and arrival time are based on your return home, not to your destination (which is now effectively a waypoint).

I did a trip of approximately 30 miles each way primarily via motorway and had 25% battery power left on my return home (including a brief trip out at my destination). I think that is better than normal hybrid mode where it uses as much of the battery as possible even on the motorway as has usually none is left by the time I'm back home.

So apart from the SatNav 'true' destination distance and arrival time being lost I'd say it does work, but still seems variable how much battery would be left if it were a longer trip. So my desire for a set auto reserve of battery power released by the Cupra mode is still unanswered!

PS: anyone know what 'BMA mode' is from the manual excerpt above?

 

[dashnine]

Just as a side note, I hadn't realised until I noticed the Intelligent Hybrid widget that with a SatNav destination set, the car will eke out the battery to the destination.

So this is a little bit better than above (when the 'Save battery until home' is checked) your actual destination is a waypoint, in that your true SatNav miles to go and arrival time are visible.