Every week there is a new article here in the blog about our current long-term test vehicle. Of the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid was the first SUV to hit the road as a plug-in hybrid. The small Japanese automobile manufacturer Mitsubishi has thus turned its nose at the big Fords, VWs, Mercedes, GMs, BMWs and Toyotas of the world. Who would have thought that 10 years ago? Mitsubishi as an innovation engine and “early bird” of electrification in automobiles.
Equipping an SUV with two electric motors, a petrol engine and a power generator and then placing a large 12 kWh battery deep between the axles - nobody had tried that before. Many emails from readers show that Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV arouses great interest and asks many questions.
Answers to reader questions about the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid
Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid as a towing vehicle
Question: The Outlander as PHEV can pull 1.5 tons of trailer load. How does a caravan on the hook of the Outlander PHEV affect volume and consumption? There is currently not much concrete on the Internet.
According to Radio Yerevan, I would like to answer: It depends. If the drive to the next campsite is only 40 kilometers away, I would not worry. The Outlander PHEV probably doesn't manage this route with a 1.5 ton trailer purely electrically - even if it ideally comes over 50 kilometers. But as long as the 12 kWh battery is charged, pulling a trailer with the Outlander Plug-In Hybrid should turn out to be a quiet task.
After the battery is empty, however, it gets louder. Due to the system, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV can only connect the petrol engine with its 121 PS directly from about Tempo 65 directly to the axle. Then the gasoline engine comes in its most efficient area. Between 65 and Tempo 120 works the gasoline engine, he acts directly on the axle, quiet and unobtrusive. Unlike other hybrid vehicles can then be quite properly accelerate, without the engine to howl and get those rubber band effect of a continuously variable transmission.
We haven't driven a PHEV trailer ourselves yet, but the topic is on the "to do" list. In particular the question of the pulling power and the possible battery range with and without a trailer.
As I said: a trip to the hardware store, the local building yard and a simple trailer at the rear? No thing. Not even across country. With the residential trailer across the Alps? Tel.
Of course it is PHEV Outlander as an SUV just right for this job. But: Especially in the mountains and overland, if you are not always faster than 65 km / h, the gasoline engine will have to provide electricity. For a lot of electricity. And you will hear that and you will see it in the consumption.
We will definitely go into this point again! Promised!
Until then, my answer would be: Once a year, a longer route with a trailer? That's OK. But you should remember that the plug-in hybrid Outlander is primarily designed for short trips. For commuting to work, for driving electrically from home to the nearest supermarket. The real system advantage of the PHEV can only be exploited by those who actually use the PHEV's battery technology. Not just as a “buffer battery” in daily hybrid life, no – the Outlander PHEV is a plug-in hybrid and that means: you should use the charging function!
Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid as an athlete with three hearts
Question: Do all engines perform at the same time? Can you use the 80 + 80 + 120 PS at once?
A typical “men’s topic” 🙂 and probably came up at the regulars’ table with a delicious cold bowl of hops. The short answer is: no. So, follow your neighbor in the Porsche as you leave the traffic lights? Rather not. This is due to the system structure of the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid. The front electric motor acts directly on the front axle, the rear electric motor on the rear axle. Both produce a maximum of 60 kW of power each. However, the rear electric motor has more “power”, it has 195 Nm of torque, the front has 137 Nm.
The battery of the Outlander PHEV can only provide 60 kW of power itself. As a top performance. If you get more power from the two electric motors, the necessary difference is provided by the gasoline engine and its generator.
This, in turn, is only possible if the petrol engine is not yet acting on the axle, i.e. below 65 km / h, and is less sensible from the point of view of efficiency. The gasoline engine is the weak point in the Outlander PHEV. The efficiency of a petrol engine is less than 30%. In other words, a good 70% of the energy of gasoline is lost in waste heat and other power guzzlers (frictional resistance etc.). The efficiency of an electric motor is around 90%, and the braking energy is also fed back by a generator. At least partially and in terms of performance, around 80% of the efficiency.
What I'm getting at: The Outlander PHEV's drivetrain is quite complex. The interaction of the energy sources and the motors is a little more complex. The goal: Maximum efficiency in everyday commuter life when using charging technology. Yes – when the batteries are full, the PHEV pulls well out of the starting blocks. This is simply because an electric motor provides its power from zero speed and so “theoretically” 332 Nm are available from the first revolution. But that's really just theory. In practice, it pushes the PHEV forward silently, but if you fully demand the two electric motors, you let the gasoline engine start so that it delivers the “delta” of the missing amount of energy to the drive train. That may be “sporty”, but from a consumption perspective it is completely nonsensical.
From speeds of 65 km/h, all three engines – theoretically – work directly on the propulsion. The petrol engine was switched to the front axle via the clutch, the front electric motor and the rear electric motor are in use. If you accelerate sensitively, you will accelerate with the power of “three hearts”. However, if you give it “full throttle”, you challenge the two electric motors and they can only deliver “full power” if the petrol engine works as an “electricity unit” at the same time. Therefore, the PHEV will decouple the gasoline engine again, the engine revs up and produces electricity and the two electric motors push the Outlander PHEV forward.
You can do it. You don't have to.
The Outlander PHEV has been designed with an extensive and very modern powertrain to offer the safety, comfort and space of an SUV - without consuming it. As long as you understand and use the idea of the plug-in!
You can see what it feels like with “max acceleration” in this video:
You can see it quite well: the electric motor revs up completely and produces electricity so that the electric motors receive enough “juice”. It's no longer efficient! If we think about the power loss of a gasoline engine, then converting gasoline into electricity is the less sensible option. It is better to let the petrol engine act directly on the axle from 65 km/h and let the PHEV control the engines.
Next week we will focus on the topic of “bi-directional charging” and we will also offer an extensive photo shoot of the PHEV.
Until then!