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What is the advantage of a plug-in hybrid?
There are two important goals for the future of individual mobility. On the one hand, we have to minimize CO2 emissions. Keyword greenhouse gas and climate change. Now this is not an eco blog and I really don't want to make the polar bears the topic of the blog, but one thing is clear: Less CO2 is simply better! And on the other hand, there are your own personal costs for individual mobility.
The Gasoline hybrid SUV can be the right alternative. As a plug-in, it also combines the advantages of electric operation with the normal range of a conventional automobile.
Mitsubishi was the first manufacturer to equip a SUV with the technology of a plug-in hybrid. Thus, energy efficiency meets exactly the form of automobile, which is currently in the favor of new car buyers particularly high. No sign of abandonment!
Plug-In Hybrid SUV
Until this first plug-in hybrid SUV The market for practical crossovers in Germany was primarily dominated by diesel versions. Here the efficiency of the diesel engine and the power of a diesel engine met the practical shell of the “off-road station wagon”.
Energy Efficiency
Wherever you can avoid thermodynamics, you should avoid thermodynamics. A principle from physics for many students. If you compare the efficiency of combustion engines with that of electric motors, out of 100% of the “supplied” energy of a gasoline or diesel engine, around 18 to 30% arrives at the wheel as “power.” However, an electric motor achieves an efficiency of around 90%.
In addition, “electric vehicles” can recover energy through recuperation, which further increases efficiency!
Efficiency vs. Battery range and charging infrastructure
The objection of the lack of charging infrastructure is completely correct, we ourselves have ours Experience of the infrastructure and its current problems already published. Relying solely on the electric drive in everyday life causes problems with all the love for maximum efficiency.
So if you want to take advantage of the advantages of an SUV, even without a big wallet and with constant consumption in mind, and are also looking for maximum efficiency and still don't want to suffer any restrictions in everyday life - you should look into the topic of "plug-in hybrid". Especially if you don't use the SUV as a long-distance car, but for everyday use.
Advantages of the plug-in hybrid concept
The idea of the hybrid is the connection of two energy sources and the associated choice of a maximum efficient form of drive. In addition, only an electric motor of a certain size can really recover energy from the movement. Actually, as a driver, you waste a lot of energy every day. Completely useless. The power that the engine previously developed is braked again at the next intersection. The energy generated from gasoline or diesel becomes heat - nothing else. Anyone who has touched the brake discs of their car after braking hard knows what I'm talking about. The whole force is therefore uselessly packed into the wear of the brake system.
Unlike the hybrid. Here, the electric motor works in the push and brake phase as a dynamo. Similar to the dynamo on the bike, this uses the kinetic energy and converts it into electricity. And with a big and heavy car, a lot of energy comes together.
In the case of Outlander plug-in hybrids Mitsubishi engineers have also found a clever way to influence this form of kinetic energy use known as recuperation. Because not always you want to use the full "delay" by the electric motor. It is not always ecologically sensible to immediately convert the kinetic energy into electricity. On highways and highways, it can be ecologically more useful if the hybrid does not recover the kinetic energy, but can roll freely. This process is called sailing.
To quickly switch between maximum recuperation, for example in the city when approaching a red light and zero recuperation while sailing on the highway, the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid two "paddles" behind the wheel.
What looks like gearshift paddles and is also used in “normal cars” are, in the case of the Outlanders Plug-In Hybrid, the paddles for setting the recuperation power. Left typed 5 times and the Outlander plug-in hybrid delayed with maximum recuperation power. This is then enough in everyday life, to pay attention to the brake pedal barely. A little forward-looking moves, you drive the Outlander plug-in hybrid in principle only with the "accelerator". With the right paddle, the recuperation power is reduced to 5 levels, except for "0". That's the "sailing function". This makes sense on highways, if you do not want to accelerate further, no more power needs, but also a braking maneuver makes no sense. Theoretically, one would simply roll out in this situation at some point.
Advantages of the plug-in concept
A plug-in hybrid can do it all better than a hybrid. Plug-in hybrid vehicles are generally characterized by stronger electric motors and larger battery capacity. The electric motor is then not just a support and the battery is not just a buffer to store the kinetic energy. A plug-in hybrid is the clever bridge between a pure electric car and a classic gasoline engine.
In the case of the Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid we speak of a serial and parallel hybrids. (The explanation can be found here ..)
In everyday life, the plug-in hybrid can often be moved purely electrically. There are vehicles that only make good 30 kilometers, others like the one Outlander plug-in hybrid, come across 50 kilometers far. If you use the Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid as a family SUV, then the everyday life of the SUV is indeed largely determined by the power of the two electric motors. The SUV refueled at the house outlet eco-electricity, so it drives the week almost always CO2-neutral and only when we drive longer distances does the petrol engine provide assistance.
In addition to the factor environmental protection (CO2Emissions according to NEDC: 44g / km), it is also an economic factor. With the battery's 12 kWh charge, you can always travel 40 kilometers (but never more than 10 kWh of charge is consumed, the rest is a buffer). The cost calculation for the current green electricity price of 27 is ct / kWh = 6.75 € for 100 kilometers. As an 2 tons of SUV would come in classic diesel operation on the short-haul to less than 5 liters per 100 kilometers. And then there's still that Advantage of CO2-Neutrality ...
PHEV benefits in everyday use
In everyday life, it is above all the silence, with which one quickly befriends. The Outlander plug-in hybrid is just a silent force. Almost noiseless, you will be streaming from A to B. Enjoy the space, the comfort and still be ecologically correct on the way.
And when the battery is empty? Then the petrol engine jumps in and the Outlander plug-in hybrid simply continues as a "serial" or "parallel" hybrid SUV.