Ev or hev

[plummeri]

Morning I have just took delivery of new mg3 hybrid trophy the car has only done approximately 150 miles but always seems to run on hev mode and very rarely goes into ev mode is this normal,this morning the car started in hev mode and we have driven a out 4 miles and the car has been in hev mode all the time and last night I did about 14 miles and apart from a out half a mile it again ran in hev mode is this normal I was expecting it to run in ev mode nearly all the time as nearly all our driving is around the town any ideas advice etc

 

[salty]

 

[Deleted member 18108]

Hi Plummeri, what was the outside temperature like? In cold weather, the car will start up in HEV mode.

 

[plummeri]

Hi Plummeri, what was the outside temperature like? In cold weather, the car will start up in HEV mode.

Hi declared around 9 degrees this morning and as I say we drove around 4 miles,we have just been out with the car parked for around 2 hours I bright sunshine and when the car started it was on hev I then drove car home in town at slow speed and car stayed on hev.not sure but I think car should be in ev driving mode on that journey any thoughts etc would be appreciated many thanks

 

[MGDriver]

Hi declared around 9 degrees this morning and as I say we drove around 4 miles,we have just been out with the car parked for around 2 hours I bright sunshine and when the car started it was on hev I then drove car home in town at slow speed and car stayed on hev.not sure but I think car should be in ev driving mode on that journey any thoughts etc would be appreciated many thanks

The car will stay in HEV mode until a multitude of factors are met, such as the engine core temperature, also if you have ac or heating running then the engine will stay on until the car has reached the requested temperature, also based on the speed travelling, how much fuel is in the tank, the charge level of the hv battery, and the rate of accelleration

 

[Lovemyev]

A PHEV that offers the facility to run purely on the high voltage EV power, by demand from the driver, is a much better and more flexible system TBH.
The VAG group PHEV’s have had this type of flexibility since 2015.
The technology is a brilliant piece of engineering and the switch from EV to ICE in Hybrid Auto mode, is pretty much undetectable.
You can manually opt to run in pure EV mode from zero Mph to 80 Mph if you so desired.
Also, you are able heat the cabin from the HV battery until the engine reaches normal working temperature, then the heat is provided from water from the cooling system.
All this is totally automated.
The gear changes are handled by a silky smooth 6 speed DSG gearbox, that offers manual paddle shift control intervention by the driver, if desired.
Of course all this technology comes at a higher price point though.

 

[MGDriver]

A PHEV that offers the facility to run purely on the high voltage EV power, by demand from the driver, is a much better and more flexible system TBH.
The VAG group PHEV’s have had this flexibility since 2015.
The technology is a brilliant piece of engineering and the switch EV and ICE in Hybrid Auto mode is pretty much undetectable.
The gear changes are handled by a silky smooth 6 speed DSG gearbox, that offers manual paddle control intervention by the driver, if desired.
Of course this technology comes at a higher price point though.

Please can you point out where in your post you are assisting the OP with their questions about the MG3 HEV???

 

[plummeri]

The car will stay in HEV mode until a multitude of factors are met, such as the engine core temperature, also if you have ac or heating running then the engine will stay on until the car has reached the requested temperature, also based on the speed travelling, how much fuel is in the tank, the charge level of the hv battery, and the rate of accelleration

Hi declan we didn't have ac on the heating was on we were travelling on our homeward journey around 30 mph and the fuel tank is nearly full and driving with steady away acceleration not sure about hv battery charge and how to check that on my wifes I smart app the battery voltage has ranged from 12.5 to 14.3 but that could be the actual main car battery,do u know how to check how much charge the hv battery percentage wise the hv battery has got in it,sorry to be a pain

 

[Lovemyev]

I am purely making the point that buying a HEV at this price point and then expecting the level of control wanted here, is asking too much.
It is not a criticism, it’s pure common sense.

 

[MGDriver]

Hi declan we didn't have ac on the heating was on we were travelling on our homeward journey around 30 mph and the fuel tank is nearly full and driving with steady away acceleration not sure about hv battery charge and how to check that on my wifes I smart app the battery voltage has ranged from 12.5 to 14.3 but that could be the actual main car battery,do u know how to check how much charge the hv battery percentage wise the hv battery has got in it,sorry to be a pain

Hi Mate, the battery voltage is the 12v battery not they hybrid hv battery, theres no real way of checking, My post was not about checking everything, was more to say that there is so many different factors involved in the background, the car will be managing everything, there is also 5 different driving modes that the system will run through,,

If you think there is an issue then I would suggest speaking with your local MG Dealer, however it sounds like normal to me, the temperature is also on the cold side, the heating was on so that would be part of it as well as the temperature of the engine

I am purely making the point that buying a HEV and this price point and then expecting the level of control wanted here, is asking too much.
It is not a criticism, it’s pure common sense.

but you were making a point that had nothing to do with the original post,

The original poster was also not mentioning anything about controlling how the car works like a PHEV can be told whether to be in EV or HEV mode,

If you feel that strongly about VAG products then good for you, but it has nothing to do with this forum

 

[Lovemyev]

Of course you are fully entitled to have your own opinions on what is right or wrong to comment on regarding this forum.
But this does therefore apply to everyone of course and forum does include PHEV’s.
I apologise if I missed something in the OP’s first post, but their observation was that the ICE was running most of the time when the ambient temperatures are low and offered very little to no pure EV driving.
My point is that this is unavoidable on this MG model, as it does not have the facility to run on pure EV by request, which is unfortunate but true.
So to try and bluntly answer the original question of “is this normal behaviour” - Yes.
Also then tying to anticipate the following question of - “Why ?” with my own experience of owning a PHEV for over four years before going full EV in 2019 and todate.
Both MG’s by the way !.
Pro’s and Con’s between both manufacturers are for another day .

 

[Cooperman]

Hi declan we didn't have ac on the heating was on we were travelling on our homeward journey around 30 mph and the fuel tank is nearly full and driving with steady away acceleration not sure about hv battery charge and how to check that on my wifes I smart app the battery voltage has ranged from 12.5 to 14.3 but that could be the actual main car battery,do u know how to check how much charge the hv battery percentage wise the hv battery has got in it,sorry to be a pain

Hi plummeri, the only way I know how to see the charge in the EV battery is from the Regen graphic in the instrument display shown below. If you search the Forum I think you will find this has been described in other threads but the 8 blocks at the bottom give a rough indication of the EV battery charge state. This is a dynamic display that changes as you drive along, but as MG4Driver and others have pointed out the EV/HEV mode is completely under the control of the cars engine management system so the charge state of the EV battery is purely academic anyway.
If its anything like mine the car does switch in & out of EV mode quite often which its not always noticeable. Maybe you can keep an eye on your fuel consumption to indicate if you have a problem. Again I think there may be a thread somewhere where Members have recorded their consumption for a comparison?

 

[Deleted member 18108]

The car will stay in HEV mode until a multitude of factors are met, such as the engine core temperature, also if you have ac or heating running then the engine will stay on until the car has reached the requested temperature, also based on the speed travelling, how much fuel is in the tank, the charge level of the hv battery, and the rate of accelleration

Hi Plummeri, as MG4 has said there are many factors that will affect the car running in HEV v EV. I would suspect the ambient temp being the biggest one. Also if you were using lights, heating etc the night before that will factor in as the hybrid battery feeds the 12 volt battery. The heating is via the combustion engine. So it sounds normal to me. The combustion engine runs on an Atkinson cycle which is thermal efficient, meaning it takes a while to give off heat, unlike a normal petrol engine. The Atkinson cycle engine is more like a diesel engine in that regard.

A PHEV that offers the facility to run purely on the high voltage EV power, by demand from the driver, is a much better and more flexible system TBH.
The VAG group PHEV’s have had this type of flexibility since 2015.
The technology is a brilliant piece of engineering and the switch from EV to ICE in Hybrid Auto mode, is pretty much undetectable.
You can manually opt to run in pure EV mode from zero Mph to 80 Mph if you so desired.
Also, you are able heat the cabin from the HV battery until the engine reaches normal working temperature, then the heat is provided from water from the cooling system.
All this is totally automated.
The gear changes are handled by a silky smooth 6 speed DSG gearbox, that offers manual paddle shift control intervention by the driver, if desired.
Of course all this technology comes at a higher price point though.

The DSG is a lovely gear change, the downside being that it's reliability is questionable when it gets a bit older, and is notoriously expensive to repair. But on a car purchased under PCP and changed every three years, it is a lovely drive.

I am purely making the point that buying a HEV and this price point and then expecting the level of control wanted here, is asking too much.
It is not a criticism, it’s pure common sense.

In fairness and I'm not trying to fan the flames, it does come across as, saying if you had bought a phev, it would have been better, which could be interpreted as a criticism, even though that wasn't your intention. I would have purchased a PHEV, for the reasons that you outlined, but it was outside the price range I wanted to stay within. Having said that the MG3 does everything I need it to do and I'm more than happy with it.

 

[Lovemyev]

I found that the big advantage of combining the quick responce of EV power for moving away from the line, then combing this with a quick TSI engine and a smooth DSG box changed the sleeper Golf into a pretty quick four door family hatchback.
They had to detune the power output, in order not to detract sales from the GTI model.
This was my first introduction into EV drive and I became hooked in about 2 hours .
In 2016 VW only offered the e.Golf.
But the range was small and the interior and spec was basic Golf !.
However, the price was expensive.
Hence the move to the ZS EV for my first full BEV.

 

[Lovemyev]

In fairness and I'm not trying to fan the flames, it does come across as, saying if you had bought a phev, it would have been better, which could be interpreted as a criticism, even though that wasn't your intention. I would have purchased a PHEV, for the reasons that you outlined, but it was outside the price range I wanted to stay within. Having said that the MG3 does everything I need it to do and I'm more than happy with it.

I totally agree with your point of view here.
I am a big believer in the sensible approach of :- “Buy what you need and not what you want”.
I did find that PHEV ownership did become more & more costly as time passes by.
Here you clearly have a foot in both camps and therefore essentially two masters to serve.
They both have independent and then combined service needs and therefore the increased costs associated to them.
The benefit of a pure BEV is only a single set of service requirements of course.
I did really enjoy my four years with the PHEV and it was a brilliant stepping stone to BEV.
There will always be a sector of the market for both mid and plug in hybrids, as user cases are so wide and far reaching .

 

[Italy]

A PHEV that offers the facility to run purely on the high voltage EV power, by demand from the driver, is a much better and more flexible system TBH.
The VAG group PHEV’s have had this type of flexibility since 2015.
The technology is a brilliant piece of engineering and the switch from EV to ICE in Hybrid Auto mode, is pretty much undetectable.
You can manually opt to run in pure EV mode from zero Mph to 80 Mph if you so desired.
Also, you are able heat the cabin from the HV battery until the engine reaches normal working temperature, then the heat is provided from water from the cooling system.
All this is totally automated.
The gear changes are handled by a silky smooth 6 speed DSG gearbox, that offers manual paddle shift control intervention by the driver, if desired.
Of course all this technology comes at a higher price point though.

VAG fan

 

[Lovemyev]

In my 50+ years of driving and working on cars, I have been lucky enough to have driven & carried out work on many makes and models, ranging from a Citreon 2CV to an Aston Martin lagonda.
So, it is pretty easy to spot a well engineered and decent build quality in car.
Some cars just feel like they have been nailed together, while the better built cars, just feel that they have been bolted together ( if you get my drift ).
When carrying out any type of repair work, the design / quality of the material in some cars is very noticeable.
Does this make me a VW fan boy ?.
Well I am guilty of being a fan boy of many cars I guess, not just VW’s.
Top tip :- If you are in the market for a new car and the model has already been in production for a couple of years prior, then take out a second hand model with a few miles on the clock for a decent test drive.
How is holding up ? - Does it have any annoying rattles / bangs and faults, what are the materials wearing like??? etc etc.
Why - Because this is what your new car is very much likely to feel like after the same two years in service !.

 

[Mantakas]

Morning I have just took delivery of new mg3 hybrid trophy the car has only done approximately 150 miles but always seems to run on hev mode and very rarely goes into ev mode is this normal,this morning the car started in hev mode and we have driven a out 4 miles and the car has been in hev mode all the time and last night I did about 14 miles and apart from a out half a mile it again ran in hev mode is this normal I was expecting it to run in ev mode nearly all the time as nearly all our driving is around the town any ideas advice etc

Same problem with me mate. Consumption goes up to <6 L / 100 km far away from the 4,3 L that MG claims. I'm talking about 7 miles daily distance to the office with average speed 18 m.p.h.

 

[Italy]

Your real consumption will only be relevant, stabilised and average after the running-in phase of a minimum of 1,500 km driven.
Cool temperatures increase fuel consumption.

I reckon that 90% of MG3 users will achieve MG's predicted fuel consumption of 4.4 L/100.

Don't worry, it'll happen.

 

[Mantakas]

Your real consumption will only be relevant, stabilised and average after the running-in phase of a minimum of 1,500 km driven.
Cool temperatures increase fuel consumption.

I reckon that 90% of MG3 users will achieve MG's predicted fuel consumption of 4.4 L/100.

Don't worry, it'll happen.

Unfortunately I already have 2.300 km and the consumption is 5.4L/100.
I drive very small distances and it goes very high. Example: 1 km distance ---> 14L/100 consumption. Is it normal? Should I worry?

Thanks for replying Italy