Things I’ve learned from a 2017 Volt. Keep it in electric only mode when you are going slow or when your round trip is less than your range. Use Regen braking all of the time. For longer trips and when you are on the highway, save the battery and run on gas because you’d otherwise use the battery range up faster. Also, you’ll get better mileage in the flats. If you have a lot of hills you will use your battery quicker. Also, besides heating the cabin while you’re plugged in, put a couple of pounds of extra air in your tires.

With the way ev sales are going i think phev is the way to go, public chargers are not springing up fast enough and tesla aside don’t appear to be that easy to use, so given i do less than 20 miles a day with the odd long trip every 3 months or so i think phev is the the safest way to not be stressed about range for those long trips.

Thank you! As an American, it baffles me that more people don't use these cars!! My boss let's me charge at work, so I use VERY LITTLE gas. I fill up once a month. (And it's 27 miles to work.)

Great Video for those who are sitting on the fence about whether to go ev or phev Very informative

A very good informative video for the unitiated. I use the same tactics on my PHEV to get the best results and of course always plug in at home. Thanks.

"Arriving home with a half full battery is ridiculous". 100% spot on! Similarly, preserving charge in case you might LATER go into a Zero emission zone is ridiculous (where in the UK do we have zero emission zones?). I typically do under 100 miles per day in my PHEV, so rarely do I leave EV mode. I charge up every night and my Mazda CX60 delivers at least 88 MPG even on my longest (100 mile) regular journey. My one caution with PHEVs; do check before signing up to an EV electricity tariff that you will genuinely benefit. A PHEV has a small battery compared to a full EV. In my case, it was cheaper to stay on a 37p/kWh tariff than switch to 12p/kWh overnight and 40p/kWh daytime as my other electricity requirements are disproportionately higher than those for charging my car. To be fair, I do have a hot tub, and a large house, but do the sums.

An excellent video :) After four years with a Leaf last year I had to get an Outlander PHEV as that was what was offer with Motability. I drive it mostly as an EV, over the last 18 months and 16,500 miles I’ve averaged 230mpg which isn’t bad from a large tractor :)

Very well done and helpful. Our first PHEV arrives next month! Appreciate videos that explain the “why”.

I'm going to pick up my Passat GTE next week and what you're trying to explain is more or less what I had figured out on my own. But I did pick up a few tips here and there that I'll certainly use. Great video

Greetings from Ireland - many thanks for the informative videos. Subscribed !

I have a PHEV and I regularly do a 100 mile round trip journey ( no ability to charge for the return journey) and I get depending upon the time of year between 75 to 85 mpg, using the petrol engine when the car is moving at a steady constant speed and the EV mode during acceleration, or otherwise when the engine would be working hard ( on hills etc). The advertised electric range of the car ( Ioniq) is 39 miles the best I have done is 35 miles ( non motorway mix of urban and single A roads). The display only registers up to 99.9mpg so can never see how much better I could do.

Great vid. Thanks. I got my Rav4 today so your content is very welcome!

Lots of helpful tips here. thank you. looking forward to my phev.

Great video! We've had an '07 Toyoda Camry hybrid, it was good for what it was. Now we have an '18 530e we've had for a month. Daily commute ~22 miles. Almost every day electric mode only. I didn't think to take it out when on hwy where gas engine would be very efficient. Thanks

Thanks so much I’m just looking at a prev and this is great advice

When I had my Volt (Ampera to you chaps) I drove almost exclusively on battery. I typically only visited the gas station once every 1500-2000 miles. That is basically what is known as "maintenance mode" (running the ICE enough to keep it from seizing up) and I had a 80 mile per day commute at the time.

Picking an outlander up this week so enjoyed watching this one and great mpg

This is SO helpful. Thank you!

After watching a couple videos and being on the fence about going electric or not, I think you've convinced me, hybrid is the way to go. Thanks man, now to see what PHEV is right for me.

I've got a bmw 330e, I use the battery save function (set at 100%) as a button to switch to petrol when I think I need to. This is important because I know what other journeys I'm going to make in the day, so sometimes I switch to petrol even when hybrid mode doesn't want to, but it means I've got battery available for my journey home later in the day. As you said, I always make sure I get home with minimum battery left, very important that. Last week I had to fill it up for the first time since August, I got 199.2 mpg, but mind I hadn't been very far due to lockdown etc, just work and back mostly. And all this switching modes is good fun, it adds a whole new dimension to driving when you can totally change the car's behaviour from smooth electric, to eco-hybrid, to hybrid, to petrol, to sport (which is petrol and electric together). Other cars can't do that!

The best video I have watched so far,giving me the best information that I actually need and use. Iam part exchanging my xf 2.0 diesel which is very good on fuel 60mpg

Thanks for a superb vid very helpful, trying to decide to buy a PHEV and video like this really helpful thanks

Just got kuga hybrid and wondered how was best to use the driving modes. This video was very informative without all the jargon. From one Yorkshireman to another thanks for the heads up.

Being a Scotsman I totally agree with you, Plug the car in............

Just bought a PHEV and appreciate this video. Thanks mate! 👌🏻😎👌🏻🇨🇦

As a Lacashire lad now living in California, it was great to hear a lad talking proper. Although the comments you make are obvious to most who take the time to watch the video, the point you make about plugging it in, using all the electric up before you at a point where you can charge it up, is why the video was very well received. Its common sense that way too many people just ignore, and then complain they don't get good enough mileage. I have ordered a BMW X5 45e plug un hybrid just waiting for it to come in. In the US the PHEV get a $7500 tax credit, because its assembled in the US, making the car cheaper than the none PHEV X5 40i. Very good video.

Extremely useful primer on how to use my new PHEV. So, I found it quite informative.

Excellent video. Thank you 🙏

Awesome video! Thanks for taking the time to put this together!

I love my Ford Escape (kuga) PHEV. I commute between 20-30 miles each way to work in Los Angeles. My latest tank of gas ( 89 octane) was Feb 4th. It is now May 21st. I still have 51 miles on the gas tank. I drive in eco mode always. I use the regenerative braking and engine as much as possible. I drive between 55-65 miles per hour unless I have traffic. Currently, I have 2374 miles on this tank averaging 247 miles per gallon. The escape was supposed to get 37 miles per battery charge but I seem to be doing quite a bit better. I drive it in a normal fashion but I am still careful like I was with my Ford Taurus. I got a fully loaded Ford Escape for the price of a base, plain Toyota rave 4 prime and I couldn’t be happier with my choice. I drove the rav 4 and didn’t like the feel of the transmission. The ford is smoother. And I got all the goodies I wouldn’t have gotten with the Rav 4

This is really useful. I’m considering a 550e BMW hybrid and this helps me understand how to exploit it fully.

Very useful video, gave me a good head start using my new (ish) phev.

During lockdown I got over 500mpg on my Outlander PHEV. Commute 8 miles each way. Love your reaction when the engine started, not range but fuel anxiety, a common experience with PHEVs.

I've had an Outlander PHEV for 2 and a half years and over that time it has returned an average of 52 mpg and 3.7 miles per kwh. Its plugged in overnight and much of my driving is short local trips. I've been using it as described in this video. Currently part exchanging it for a new all electric MG5 Long Range

Waiting on my Merc B Class 250e. Nuff said. Great video @Electric Vehicle Man

Good job! I 100% agree with you!! 👏🏻

Excellent review you made it so easy to understand.

Some great advice there on driving a phev, particularly about Pre Heating or Pre Cooling the car, which will stop the Petrol Engine coming on to warn the car on a Cold Day, and also to use the Full EV range every day and plug in again every night. Was doing some calculation and the Ioniq Plug In Pre 2019 model has a rough range of 50km which doesnt sound like much, but i rarely do more than that most days with commuting to work. Thats a potential range on Electric of 350km a week with only charging it once overnight or roughly 1,400km a Month or up to 18,200km a year on Electric potentially. You could also Plug In the Car at work or other Slow Charger locations during the day to extend that range even further. Now most PCP deals give an allowance of 15,000km a year , so you can start to see where it can work. I personally do longer Trips at the Weekend into areas of the West of Ireland where charging is a bit limited, or there may be other reasons like travelling with Time Deadlines where you dont want to stop to charge for 40min or dealing with Broken or ICED chargers. The downsize though is efficiency when using the Petrol Engine isnt going to be great as your carrying around a Petrol Engine, Electric Motor, Gas Tank, Battery and all the Electronics that go to manage all this complexity. Id also imagine Servicing is going to be costly if anything is gone wrong, so id definately be looing fora car well within its Warranty otherwise could prove very costly. Thanks again for a great video.

Great video, well presented too.

Great video. Toyota RAV4 Prime is my PHEV. Great car and with an electric range in the summer of as much as 55 miles. This covers 90 percent or so of my weekly driving, so much that I haven't bought GAS SINCE April. I live where gas is expensive, and electricity is cheap, which makes PHEV an even better option. The ability to charge at home is really important to making PHEV and full EV work best, but I always recommend hybrids over pure ICE cars for everyone.

Enlightening! Thanks.

My last fill up on my Mini Countryman PHEV using the method you describe was 116.42 mpg. One fill up per month!

Great videos to help us make informed choices. Is the petrol consumption high on PHEVs as it may never warm up properly in eco? Not good for petrol engine used in this stop start way especially in cold weather?

Brilliant, you had me in hysterics 😂👍

Thanks for the tips. Looking to buy a PHEV at the moment.

great video and simple explanation

This was very helpful. I am trying to learn how this type of car works as it seems like a good idea. But getting the whole story of Living with a plug in hybrid is not so easy to find out. I learned a lot in this review, thanks.

Finally! Someone who know’s what they are talking about regarding PHEV’s. We have a Kia Niro Hybrid and can’t afford a BEV so I’m thinking a PHEV could be the most affordable option. We only use our car for school runs in the week and the occasional drive to in-laws and family and friends. The weekly school run is a 16 mile round trip. The only downside is we can’t charge at home. I would be interested to see what a PHEV would be like to live with if you can’t charge at home. I’ve subscribed to your channel to see what other vids you have.

Thank you brother. The conditions here in Florida demand more consciousness while driving due to the long distances and the city traffic.

Good video, I’m looking to by a Kia Niro plug in hybrid in the states. I want to get the most of the battery. I especially like the pre heat or cool the cabin while plugged in. Interesting that you suggest making the choice of mode rather than letting the vehicle pick….most videos the YTer says you won’t outperform the vehicles choice. My commute is very similar to yours, 45 miles.

When getting on a dual carriageway I usually leave it in electric mode until getting to speed, because accelerating in petrol is less efficient than on electricity. This also ensures that the petrol engine can warm up in a nice relaxed fashion instead of requiring full power when it's still cold. Average fuel consumption in our Passat GTE is about 70 km/L (1.6 L/100km, don't know what that is in mpg from the top of my head).

I'm planning to buy a plug in Ionic whtin the next few months so this helps. Mainly plan to use it as a daily commute to work (50 miles in total) as well as a shopping runner.

We just got one. It's mainly the wife's but the EV range is more than enough for either of us to go to work and back, haven't used any petrol in the two weeks we've had it! And yet still capable of long journeys as a prime mover. And in traffic or town ... no pollution at all. No need for a £900 charging point, they fully charge in about 5 hours off a normal 13A socket. I think they are excellent. Very comfortable etc. And that's from someone who owns a '96 Z28!

Great review and so much help. I have just bought my xc40 T5 Recharge. (Hybrid). So you have really helped me with it. The only thing is that it doesn’t seem to do that many miles in electric. About 18 so not that many. If I keep it in the battery /electric e.g around 30 mph when its run out of electric if I keep within the blue line on the left side of the speedometer will this recharge the battery and not use the petrol much. Do you know please . Thank you so much for your great video’s.

My daily commute is between 20 and 35 kms, and my Volvo XC60 has a full electric range of 40 kms. I use it as you recommend, and unless I have to make a long journey, I do not use any petrol at all. For people like me, by the way, I charge it at home every night spending 0,35 euros per full charge, is perfect!! And when it comes the time of enjoying, its 340 hp combined are great too!! I am absolutely delighted with the change from my previous Q5 diesel. But what I like the best is the feeling of driving in absolute silence and the smoothness of the electrical motor. Great “lesson” on how to use a PHEV!!

Had my used 2017 Prius PHV for 9 months. 5600 miles total at average 285mpg. Key tips: Always plug in at home, don't take any unused battery home, use EV in traffic, pre-condition (cool or warm) if you can, keep climate control at a minimum to be comfortable. 4.9miles/kWh is very good - most I have got is 4.4 in the summer.

Really informative. We are about to take delivery of a Peugeot 3008 PHEV on my wife’s mobility. The tips for driving here will be very useful. Thank you.

Best PHEV video I’ve found yet.

I owns a PHEV and fully agree with the concept expressed in the video 💪👍

Thinking very strongly of getting one.

Good video. I think PHEV's are the way to go. Best of both worlds and you won't get range anxiety. I was waiting for you to tell us which make/model of car it was you were driving, and you mentioned it in the 14th minute. Lol!

Ordered a Peugeot 308 Gt Premium PHEV (180). Should get it around September. Can’t come quick enough since I’m stuck doing 60 miles a day in a Volvo S60 T5! Thanks for the tips!

Excellent video

PHEVs are great in the right situation, and if you do the no-brainer stuff in this video. In my case, I generally drive short distances, and by keeping my Outlander PHEV charged and, especially, pre-heating in the winter, I sometimes go months without getting gas. But every year I do a long 10-15 hour drive (I'm in Canada - it's big!) when the fuel economy is still ok, but where I don't need to worry about recharging.

Thanks for the tip to preheat it 👍

I have a Toyota Prius Phev, and i love it! Looking to fill up with petrol every 4 months. Saving a fortune on diesel! Drives superb and excellent in all areas. The trick is, just charge it up, as you state. My last car was a Jaguar.

Considering a Grandland hybrid and I would expect to drive it exactly as per your video, but I'm grateful for your "instruction". For the vast majority of my drives I would be driving battery only, thus keeping the battery topped up at home overnight at under 10p/kwh. I'd take a hit on my more rare long drives, but overall it would be a big money saver, and the Grandland fuel only mpg is only slightly less than my current Mokka petrol. Thanks for your upload.

I have a Mer A250e. It states the electric range is 42miles. My commute to work is 42miles, via 3 motorways. It runs flat as I as park it at work but on the way home I have approx 4miles range left as its mostly down hill home. If you dont have the range then use IC drive to get to dual carriageway or motorways, it uses less power on these roads as the vehicle is in motion. Moving off uses a lot of energy. Also use IC drive on hills to save the battery range and use E drive downhill as you get regenerative braking. Regenerative braking is not a new thing, have worked in the forklift industry for 40years and we used it on electric trucks since then.

very useful video, ty

Thank you for this very helpful video. I’ve ordered a 2023 Hyundai Tucson Ultimate PHEV and want to get the best mileage as possible on the EV mode. I hope you will do a review on this model soon. 😊

Always use the plug-in hybridness at your disposable! haha great content as usual

Tip of the day: I opted for a 100 miles long charging cable so my kuga is always connected wherever I drive. Love the video... 😆 I'm gonna go n get me a PHEV of me own now!

I was planning on buying a second hand plug in hybrid car ( golf gte ), most of my drives are around town and on the weekend some trips to the mountains. How do you think the hybrid system will work on uphill secondary roads ( not much highspeed motorways )? Will the e-motor take some load off the ice if i plan to use e mode on uphill section? Or will that be the most inefficient way to use the battery charge?

Thanks for the video and tips. how many petrol miles needed to charge the battery if I don’t have access to electricity plug. In other words what I will use the car as normal hybrid. Also what if my driving is for long drives around 500-600 km per trip , should I go for the normal hybrid/petrol at least I get the normal gears rather than eCVT?

This is great advice. I assumed this was the best way to use a PHEV. You know more than the car does about your journey ahead. The electricity prices didn't age well though

Great video. I drive a PHEV Volvo XC60. I plug in at home and work and do a 42 mile commute. First 10 miles are country and town roads so full electric. Then dual carriageway way for 20miles and finally 12 miles on slower roads. By forcing the car to stay in electric I arrive at both destinations with 0 range but average 85mpg!

After 12 months with a Corsa e BEV I made the decision to change to an Astra PHEV which I pick up next week. Loved the Corsa ( except perhaps the appalling winter range) but couldn't stand the stress of worrying whether a Rapid charger would be either working or not in use. Spending time in the pouring rain trying to nudge a charger into use is no joke. Clearly the infrastructure has not kept pace with the increase in EV ownership. So until that improves, for me PHEV is the way to go . As usual, good clear video - thanks

Good vid, mate. You're quite right. But I think I can speak for some of the folks you address. I drive a Volvo V60 d6 2016. I always try to use it as efficiently as possible but it's quite demanding, not a relaxed drive at all. I'm continuously calculating range, pushing buttons and tripping the computer to work around software bugs. Example, when the batteries are fully exhausted (pure mode) the diesel engine will kick in and begin to recharge the batteries, at a whopping 12-13 liters to 100km. There is no way around it, I assure you. Which is why I only use pure mode when I know my round trip is shorter than 25km. Anyway, my point is that especially on older phev's, the software can be buggy or was poorly designed. And after a while a guy gets tired driving his car as if it were a space shuttle. I just want to get home from work. So I do charge it everyday and then just leave it in hybrid. And btw, my preheater will always use the batteries first, even when it's plugged in. Another fancy feature, on paper, but completely useless in practice.

I don’t always get the chance to charge the batteries. Interested to know how the car performs if you just run it on petrol - would it be similar to the 1,5 tsi from a power an economy standpoint?

Great video mate, I at least learned something

My strategy for longer trips is "EV mode" below 40 mph and engine on above 40mph in "Save" or "Charge" mode on my Outlander PHEV.

You mention in your video about pre-heating from house wall box to utilize power from house to do this. Obviously car needs to be plugged in, but does it need to be charging also? Will this still happen if plugged in but fully charged overnight say ?

I have a 30,000 mile test for you in a Mitsubishi PHEV. manufacturer said 150 MPG. I got 105 MPG the battery degradation on these is awful it dropped from 34 miles to 22 otherwise it was a lovely car to drive and own with no other issues. I've had my new i3s for 5 days now and love it. 150 MPG equivalent. Lol

I just keep it simple. Charge whenever possible and keep it in EV mode until the battery is out. I can't be bothered to fuss beyond that. I burn less than half the gas than I did in my last car and that is good enough for me.

I have a PHEV, it’s brilliant! I get 80km in summer range and just under 70km in winter. I have filled the very small petrol tank 3 times since I bought it in July. I drive the vast majority of the time on electric power, charging it every day from only the normal 3 pin plug at home.

Work is really pushing EV and hybrid vehicles but not installing chargers at the work place. So I have ended up picking or rather pushed to get an Audi A3 tfsi e (nice car). I live on a street and i don't always get to park outside my house and if I did someone would either trip over the cable or cut the cable as it would be laying across the pavement if I could plug it in at home. I do live 5 mins from a charger bank point . But I don't feel I'm going to be able to make the best out of the EV side of the car. Hopefully work will come around and fit chargers at work in the future. Great information .

On the Chrysler Minivan PHEVs the computer makes the choices for you so you don't have settings on when you can manually choose when and when not to use any battery. It just wants you to drive how you prefer to and the computer will make the changes. Also the Ford Escape has settings on when to use the battery like you can use the battery much later in the trip to preserve the use, but if you step on the pedal no matter the setting the engine will take over.

Great video - very informative but I’ve got a question? Is it possible to select electric only mode manually in any modern PHEV vehicle or are most automatically controlled by the car itself? Ta

Hi EVM, this is a great video you have done. My question is, which would be more economical to drive btw this phev car and a similar diesel car, if you do a journey of 160 to 320miles per week on highway but you only charge your car at home? Thanks

I'm glad you explained this. I have a 2008 hybrid that doesn't have different modes to choose from. It seems to get the same gas mileage as the 2013 gas car. I don't know whether I'm doing something wrong or if it is just old.

From a fellow Yorkshire man, how much did it cost to top the battery up.

Never been quite sure about “save” mode. If I engage it in my MiniCountryman when the battery is part depleted, it seems to use part of the engine power to recharge it (in addition to regen braking). I don’t know if the reduced mpg as a result is a price worth paying for having a full battery to use in stop-start conditions later in the journey?

If you don’t use full electric mode what’s the mpg? Is it the same mpg as the regular hybrid? Is the only added benefit to a phev the first 30 miles or so on battery power alone? How often do you have to charge using eco mode

I filled up my phev the other day (it starts complaining if I haven't in over 3 months), put in 15l, i'd traveled 2400+km, or 370+mpg. plug it in

My issue is that I do a lot of long distance drives that are mainly motorway. 180 to 250 mile round trips are the norm with many others a lot longer. The mpg plummets with a PHEV when doing this kind of driving and makes a mockery of the phev’s green credentials. I had to go full electric. Tbh I’m glad I did. I might need to public charge on the longer runs but it has saved me so much money

Although I agree with most of your concept, it should be noted by the individual with the PHEV, how much it cost to charge. If it's a flat cheap rate for energy per kWh, I agree 100%. In San Diego, CA charging between the hours of 4pm and 9pm would be worse for your wallet because the cost per mile is much higher than what the hybrid cost mer mile is.

The problem with PHEV's is they are neither 'fish nor fowl'. I understand they are a stepping stone to a BEV, but they are woefully inefficient. Whichever way you look at it, they are either a ICE vehicle that has to carry around a heavy under ranged battery pack or a short ranged EV that has to carry around a heavy petrol/diesel engine. They only exist to fill a regulatory requirement-and according to the latest info-they do not even do that without fiddling their emissions figures. I also understand that they are a necessary evil until battery prices come down and EV's get cheaper. I think what they should have done with PHEV's is give them a minimum battery range of 70+ miles. I know most PHEV's are based on ICE vehicle chassis, so to do this they should remove the ICE power pack from the engine bay and replace it with a full electric power train and a compact efficient petrol generator unit that can act as a range extender/charger if required. The space created in the engine bay and by the reduction in size of the vehicles fuel tank could then be used for extra batteries and a 7kwh charger unit. I know this is similar to vehicles like the Prius, but that vehicle is still too much of a compromise. The engine is still too big and is sometimes used to drive the vehicles drive train directly. It is far more efficient to have a small generator that runs at a constant rpm to charge the batteries as required and let a fully electric power train propel the vehicle. So in summary make PHEVs into a true stepping stone to a BEV. A lighter generator instead of a heavy engine, faster charging and a moderately sized battery pack that gives you a reasonable commuting range. You can then run on electric most of time on your average journey, but if your battery range drops below 15 miles on a journey for example the generator could switch on and at least give you the ability to reach a charge point.

Question. I have a Hyundai Ioniq PHEV and there is no cabin electric conditioning. All cabin heat requires the engine to run. Are European PHEV models different? BTW, this car does deliver 29 to 32 EV range as per advertised and 57-63 mpg in hybrid mode. Thanks

Good video

what range would it give on auto for a route we see what you got by you telling it i just wonder if the car auto system would do better or worse and if worse by how much if you look at the number of times you changed by pressing a button to go electric Is it not more boring having to change gear at some point you dont notice you are doing it