Outlander’s clever…but charging can be shocking
TO anyone thinking of buying a plug-in electric car or a plug-in hybrid, let me tell you one thing.
Forget the three-pin domestic plug charging option. It’s useless. The process is unbelievably slow.
Having just spent the past week with Mitsubishi’s Outlander PHEV I’ve learned something else as well…
Where I live is rubbish when it comes to public electric car charging points. The nearest one is 16 miles away. In an Outlander, that’s nearly its full electric range.
But by using an overnight charge – long extension lead run out of my house – I’ve used the Outlander every day for short-hop trips and burned (and bought) absolutely no petrol.
I can’t tell you what it’s done for my electric useage until I get my next bill but it’s not something I’m looking forward to.
Eager to understand what it’s really like living with a battery-powered car, I contacted EV Charging Solutions who install domestic charging points.
“If you run an electric car every day, you can pretty much consider it being like running another house in that it will double your electric bill – more than double it if you’re running a Tesla,” said the firm’s MD Chris Everitt.
“Obviously, you have to counter that cost with the money you save from not buying petrol or diesel.”
The firm can install a 3.7/7kw domestic unit from as little as £185 plus VAT, using a £500 government grant.
This has to be a sensible way forward, as long as you’ve got the space (or a garage) where you can charge your car securely.
My 13 Amp plug and long extension technique took over two hours to give me just six miles range. Rubbish. But at least there’s a good old petrol engine to help you out in moments of need.
The car’s brain decides when the 2.0litre petrol engine should chime in to help the two 60kw electric motors, and when the motors should be used as generators to top up the batteries. The combined power is a useful 200bhp.
The whole petrol/electric process is seamless and smooth. You can also override this automation by turning on fullelectric mode or telling the car to charge the batteries by using the buttons on the central console.
Full electric range is around 25 miles depending on useage. Fill the interior with rugby prop forwards and drive like your pants are combusting and it’ll probably halve that range.
Unlike BMW’s i3 which uses a small petrol engine as a generator, the Outlander can use its petrol engine as a form of propulsion by driving through its CVT gearbox and clutch to the electric motors. At 70mph on the motorway, petrol is your only form of propulsion but floor the accelerator and the electric motors kick in to provide more acceleration. Lift off the gas or brake and the motors become generators, topping up the batteries.
Performance is surprisingly sprightly for a two-tonne car, it’s also quiet and refined. This facelifted model has also cut 0-25mph times by two seconds.
But it’s the financial proposition of the Outlander PHEV that has seen it take over 50% of the UK market for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Why the popularity? A Benefit in Kind rate of just 5% is really attractive to company car users. Ultra-low CO2 figures allow it to avoid London’s congestion charge but you must preregister with London Transport for this to take effect. That costs £10. Thieves.
Stir in a reputation for reliability, a five-year warranty and a proven hybrid system and the Outlander’s popularity starts to make sense. Its eco-credentials depend on its usage.
If you do massive mileage a diesel will probably be cheaper to run but, as I’ve proved to myself this week, if your trips are mainly short, mainly urban it’s possible to use it as a fully electric car. And that’s the future isn’t it?