Tested out hybrid vs. hold vs. charge modes this weekend

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pjanisch

Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2016
Messages
12
This topic I think is for the US only

On the first real road trip with the new car, I had depleted the battery and I wanted to test out MPGs of the different modes and this is what I found over 20 mile stretches:

Hybrid - 43mpg
Hold - 40mpg
Charge - 21mpg (with 4 miles of EV replenished)

With the drop in mpgs of going from hybrid to charge, I don't see why one would ever drive in charge for the measly amount of EV miles that it adds.
 
Whenever the battery rans out of juice in my commute, I switch over to Hybrid, rather than Hold. I heard somewhere that you can charge the battery to full level after 1 hour of driving with Charge mode, at the expense of fuel economy, of course.
pjanisch":ec5lglfb said:
This topic I think is for the US only

On the first real road trip with the new car, I had depleted the battery and I wanted to test out MPGs of the different modes and this is what I found over 20 mile stretches:

Hybrid - 43mpg
Hold - 40mpg
Charge - 21mpg (with 4 miles of EV replenished)

With the drop in mpgs of going from hybrid to charge, I don't see why one would ever drive in charge for the measly amount of EV miles that it adds.
 
@bruintoo - My experience running at highway speeds while in charge mode (drive select @ auto, interior temp at 67, no seat heaters on) is it takes about 45-50 minutes to recharge the battery to full.

Take this for what it is worth but the Guess-O-Meter says it costs around 2 or 3 miles of gas mileage to regain each EV mile. In other words, when it decrements a 5 mile chunk of gas range, you gain a couple of miles EV range.
 
pjanisch":152xsrir said:
This topic I think is for the US only

On the first real road trip with the new car, I had depleted the battery and I wanted to test out MPGs of the different modes and this is what I found over 20 mile stretches:

Hybrid - 43mpg
Hold - 40mpg
Charge - 21mpg (with 4 miles of EV replenished)

With the drop in mpgs of going from hybrid to charge, I don't see why one would ever drive in charge for the measly amount of EV miles that it adds.

Nice mpg in Hybrid mode! Curious what speed you were averaging, and was the highway relatively flat?
 
dr61":2ixq5ank said:
pjanisch":2ixq5ank said:
This topic I think is for the US only

On the first real road trip with the new car, I had depleted the battery and I wanted to test out MPGs of the different modes and this is what I found over 20 mile stretches:

Hybrid - 43mpg
Hold - 40mpg
Charge - 21mpg (with 4 miles of EV replenished)

With the drop in mpgs of going from hybrid to charge, I don't see why one would ever drive in charge for the measly amount of EV miles that it adds.

Nice mpg in Hybrid mode! Curious what speed you were averaging, and was the highway relatively flat?
Super flat highway in Indiana going 70-75mph with no heat/ac on. I pretty impressed too!
 
estrong":2rpx500c said:
@bruintoo - My experience running at highway speeds while in charge mode (drive select @ auto, interior temp at 67, no seat heaters on) is it takes about 45-50 minutes to recharge the battery to full.

Take this for what it is worth but the Guess-O-Meter says it costs around 2 or 3 miles of gas mileage to regain each EV mile. In other words, when it decrements a 5 mile chunk of gas range, you gain a couple of miles EV range.
But still, why would you ever drive in charge mode? In my example, in the 22mpg I achieved in charge I would of gained an additional 8 of EV miles for a total "mpg" of 30ish when I could of stayed in hybrid mode and achieved 43mpg.
 
There are many cities in Europe (predominantly in Germany I believe) where Low Emission Zones (LEZ) are operating or in preparation.

The level of regulation differs from country to country and city to city but this is where Hybrid Charge mode is likely to be most useful. One can charge up the battery sufficiently to be able to continue ones journey through or terminating in such a LEZ.
 
jerry3561":3f37yhbm said:
There are many cities in Europe (predominantly in Germany I believe) where Low Emission Zones (LEZ) are operating or in preparation.

The level of regulation differs from country to country and city to city but this is where Hybrid Charge mode is likely to be most useful. One can charge up the battery sufficiently to be able to continue ones journey through or terminating in such a LEZ.

For a place like London,UK , people would qualify for the congestion charge exemption, meeting the 75 grams per km of CO2. Netherlands goes even further by only allowing sales of ONLY EV's by 2025. The Dutch already have some of the best bicycle networks,guess it makes sense. North America needs to increase charging station availability in,and between major cities,similar to the commitment with the Westcoast electric highway. Add diamond lane access for EV/PHEV only,that could bring more people to wanting one :mrgreen:



I love driving in EV mode,just hate running out of juice when I can't find a charger because I've gone beyond my city zone.
 
Yes and it would have been good if they added fast DC Charging to the A3 e-Tron!

I know the argument for not including it is that the battery is too small and you have the ICE for when you run out. But to me I would say the opposite, I preferred that I can fast charge in 10 minutes and get another 38KM of EV range, this feature would have made the car perfect.
 
pjanisch":65usa431 said:
This topic I think is for the US only

On the first real road trip with the new car, I had depleted the battery and I wanted to test out MPGs of the different modes and this is what I found over 20 mile stretches:

Hybrid - 43mpg
Hold - 40mpg
Charge - 21mpg (with 4 miles of EV replenished)

With the drop in mpgs of going from hybrid to charge, I don't see why one would ever drive in charge for the measly amount of EV miles that it adds.

Notwithstanding the suggestions about low to no emission areas, the charge mode is worth using if you will be entering low speed driving areas, where driving on electric power is more efficient than driving with fuel. As I've been given to understand, the ideal cutover (from electric to ICE) speed is between 40-50 MPH.
 
rfortson":3sgfg7yd said:
If you listen to/read this review, he has some situations where charge mode makes sense.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=175

I asked him if I was going to travel from LA to Palm Springs, what is the best mode to use? Basically, Wayne said use the EV miles until that is all used up then use "Charge" mode to charge then "Hold" until I get to Palm Springs, then use EV while in the Palm Springs proper. Wayne also said that the MPG calculated by the e-tron's on board computer is fairly accurate and probably a little conservative (you actually my be getting more MPG).
-Ben
 
bruintoo":3an1hq5k said:
rfortson":3an1hq5k said:
If you listen to/read this review, he has some situations where charge mode makes sense.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=175

I asked him if I was going to travel from LA to Palm Springs, what is the best mode to use? Basically, Wayne said use the EV miles until that is all used up then use "Charge" mode to charge then "Hold" until I get to Palm Springs, then use EV while in the Palm Springs proper. Wayne also said that the MPG calculated by the e-tron's on board computer is fairly accurate and probably a little conservative (you actually my be getting more MPG).
-Ben

I've found that if you will be traveling enough low speed miles, it's worth taking the hit on high speed efficiency to charge. It wouldn't be worth charging the battery just to drive in EV mode at 40+ MPH.
 
I'm about to drive from Houston to Atlanta, so I'll be driving a lot of hybrid miles. But I'll probably charge at least once before I get to Atlanta so I can drive EV there. Also, not sure I have a place to park/charge once I get there. We'll see.
 
It seems that the 2017 does not have the charge mode. I only have EV, Hybrid, Hold. Unless charge mode is somewhere else...
 
OverSpun":jiha846a said:
It seems that the 2017 does not have the charge mode. I only have EV, Hybrid, Hold. Unless charge mode is somewhere else...
Others have reported that as well, but seems like just Canadians so far, US 2017 e-tron deliveries seem to be lagging. Are you in the US or Canada?
 
arne":jecvwtsc said:
OverSpun":jecvwtsc said:
It seems that the 2017 does not have the charge mode. I only have EV, Hybrid, Hold. Unless charge mode is somewhere else...
Others have reported that as well, but seems like just Canadians so far, US 2017 e-tron deliveries seem to be lagging. Are you in the US or Canada?

I am in the US. Perhaps I can enable it with VCDS but my VCDS is too dated to scan the etron.
 
Ok, good info for new buyers. In my case, the charge mode isn't all that useful for how I use the car, so I personally wouldn't miss it. But that might not be true for others.

But perhaps Audi felt the systems were too complex, too many choices for drivers to mess with. If so, this might be an OK way to simplify things a bit.
 
The e-tron guy at my local Audi dealership told me they'd got rid of charge mode because they didn't think it was really necessary.
 
Felix":31xhuv04 said:
The e-tron guy at my local Audi dealership told me they'd got rid of charge mode because they didn't think it was really necessary.

My dealership said the same when I recently stopped by. I will investigate with a vcds to see if I can enable it. :)
 
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