Which EV mode to use

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Jeffn31l

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Joined
Dec 31, 2015
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10
My commute is 43 miles round trip, currently no charger on the other end (even public). It is on the highway but usually in pretty heavy stop and go traffic both directions. Wondering if anyone has thoughts on the best mode to go with to maximize efficiency.

Could use EV until it drains, and hybrid the rest of the way. Or hybrid the whole way?
 
In theory, hybrid auto should be more efficient for any trip significantly longer than EV range. However, I'd love to know how it works out for you. Try both modes and see which one uses the most gas.
 
I would say go hybrid mode. In hybrid the car does a good job of staying in EV mode as long as you stay below 30% power during acceleration and 45 mph overall (that seems to be about the time it wants to switch to gas). Once you get on the highway you conserve your battery by using gas and once you hit traffic or city driving again, it's back to EV. My wife is netting about 70% battery/30% gas this way. Plus as long as you don't rapidly accelerate in stop go traffic you can go a few miles on a 1 mi equivalent charge. Just depends on the road conditions (hills, etc)
 
Jeffn31l":3k4s4ora said:
My commute is 43 miles round trip, currently no charger on the other end (even public). It is on the highway but usually in pretty heavy stop and go traffic both directions. Wondering if anyone has thoughts on the best mode to go with to maximize efficiency.

Could use EV until it drains, and hybrid the rest of the way. Or hybrid the whole way?
My commute is 50 miles round trip (mostly LA stop and go freeway traffic) but I charge at work. I usually just drive until EV miles run out and just drive with the default "hold battery" mode that is switches over to. Frankly once your EV miles are used up I don't see the difference between Hybrid and Hold Charge modes. They seem to work the same. The car uses electric motor when you accelerate modestly up to a certain point then switches over to gas engine. You can see this in the Energy Flow Indicator in the Driver Information System. So far I get anywhere between 80-100 MPGe.

These are my short term (1) and long term trips(2):
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80-fullsizerender_2_f0582ad82a21d7135348ddd66ca65c0c99c281b8.jpg

-Ben
 
I have a 50 mile round trip and am currently only charging at work as my home charger is a type1 tethered connection - £500 to change it to type2!

I find it best to stay in EV mode when I leave work until I hit motorway speeds, I then change to hybrid mode.

I make sure I've got a few bars of battery power when I get home so that I can pre-condition in the morning.

Then, going back to work, I do the same again but force it back to EV mode so that I utilise all the electric and have an empty battery when I get to work.

At weekends I don't generally touch the modes, I just let it sort out it's own mind.
Sometimes I'll use charge mode on the motorway though if I'm heading for a city so that I can EV while I'm there. Again, I might use charge mode to give me a few bars to pre-condition on Monday morning :cool:
 
I'm looking at that as an option Jerry.

Trouble is whilst I park on my driveway, I have no cover, so it needs to be weatherproof. I also need to meter the use.

I'm thinking that since my type1 charger is on its own dedicated circuit I could pull an outside socket off it and put an in-line meter inside by the fuse box. I could then use the domestic charger supplied by Audi as I understand that it is weatherproof. Slow charging would be no problem as it's mostly overnight.

As you can probably tell, I'm not an electrician! I'm hoping to run this idea past an electrician mate at the Rugby club tomorrow though.
 
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