How I Acquired 65 Miles Of EV Vary Highway Tripping In My Kia Sorento PHEV

How did I probably handle to double the EV vary of my Kia Sorento PHEV? The reply is that I merely cheated, kind of. I drove myself and 5 passengers as much as about 5,400 ft in elevation on Mt Rainier, southeast of Seattle, Washington. I used roughly 17 miles of EV vary driving to and up the mountain, deliberately sparing the estimated 15 miles of remaining vary for the journey again down. By the point I drove down the mountain, overlaying roughly 35 miles solely on electrical energy, I nonetheless had 11 miles of EV vary displaying, as a consequence of all of the downhill coasting and regenerative braking I did coming dwelling. I managed to go one other 13 miles on that remaining 11 mile estimate although, because of a pace restrict of 45 or decrease and delicate driving. Whereas my PHEV was operating on fuel, I averaged 35.5 MPG spherical journey.

In impact, I largely used fuel to get me up the mountain and coasted/braked typically on my means down and each generated a big quantity of extra vary in doing so and boosted my electrical effectivity significantly. I coated simply over half the space from the mountain again to my dwelling on electrical energy (in comparison with solely about 20% of the space on the best way up). Because of this I contemplate it a type of “dishonest” (much like if I had used the fuel engine to generate electrical cost to the purpose of absolutely recharging my battery), however the actuality is that since plug-in hybrids have considerably bigger batteries than normal hybrid electrical autos (HEVs) that don’t plug in, they excel on this explicit situation and might obtain exceptional effectivity. The identical is true for absolutely electrical autos too, after all.

In a regular hybrid I’d have additionally gotten higher than regular effectivity on these first 35 miles on my return journey, nevertheless the battery in a regular hybrid would have crammed to its full capability throughout the first mile or two of that 35 mile part. At that time, practically all the power it may seize from regenerative braking wouldn’t be captured. This reality is a big benefit that autos with bigger batteries that may draw energy from the grid have over normal hybrids (HEVs) that don’t plug in. Large deal one might say, you possibly can’t drive downhill on a regular basis. Whereas that’s true, anybody that goes up after which down giant or lengthy hills daily may actually expertise the advantages of a bigger capability battery in a plug-in hybrid or EV in comparison with an HEV although.

Talking of normal hybrids, the hybrid model of the Kia Sorento is without doubt one of the most gas environment friendly 3 row hybrid SUVs you should buy proper now, and returns 37 MPG mixed. My PHEV Sorento will get rated at a barely decrease 34 MPG mixed because of the additional weight of its bigger 13.8 kWh battery. Nevertheless, I’ve a lifetime common gas economic system of roughly double the HEV Sorento’s MPG determine in my PHEV Sorento, after I calculated it based mostly on the variety of miles I’ve pushed and the variety of gallons of fuel I’ve utilized in doing so. If we’re speaking about my MPG figures when solely utilizing fuel, my lifetime common continues to be only a skosh above the 34 MPG EPA mixed common. In fact, your mileage might fluctuate, however I drive gently and perform a little over half of my complete miles on quick drives throughout the full vary of the battery in my PHEV.

Whether or not you go up and down numerous hills or not, PHEVs like my Kia Sorento are at their greatest, when it comes to effectivity, on quick to medium journeys which can be not more than 3-4X the utmost vary of their batteries, or when one is ready to recharge them throughout an extended drive. In any other case, one is hauling numerous “useless” weight on an extended journey with a largely depleted hybrid battery. This reality warrants repeating since PHEV and vary prolonged know-how is usually complicated to shoppers and one purpose extra of us might initially go for an HEV as a substitute when buying a extra environment friendly automobile.

Do you personal a PHEV? What’s the most distance you’ve ever gotten from a single cost of the battery? Please go away your ideas and questions under.

Picture courtesy of Justin Hart.

Justin Hart has owned and pushed electrical autos for over 16 years, together with a primary era Nissan LEAF, second era Chevy Volt, Tesla Mannequin 3, an electrical bicycle and most not too long ago a Kia Sorento PHEV. He’s additionally an avid SUP rider, poet, photographer and wine lover. He enjoys taking lengthy EV and PHEV street journeys to lovely and serene locations with the individuals he loves. Comply with Justin on Torque Information Kia or X for normal electrical and hybrid information protection.