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The advantages of the Plug-In Hybrid concept with the Mitsubishi Plug-in Hybrid Outlander, model year 2016
Outlander plug-in hybrid - the first real eco-SUV?
With the Outlander Plug-In Hybrid, Mitsubishi was the first manufacturer to offer a family-sized SUV in a hybrid-drive variant with an externally rechargeable battery. Until this first plug-in hybrid SUV In Germany, the market for practical crossovers was mainly dominated by diesel versions. Of course, the NEDC consumption is 1.9 liters per 100 kilometers and thus also the associated CO2-Emissions are initially a purely theoretical value, but also one that can be beaten. And this makes the Outlander Plug-In Hybrid – once you use it in everyday life – the first real “Eco-SUV”.
And the target group for it? And there are mainly families who drive less than 15.000 kilometers a year. This is exactly where the Outlander PHEV is really worthwhile. And that's more the rule, because the exception, if you look around the family cars.
The Gasoline hybrid SUV is the right alternative. For a diesel SUV may still be normal, but ao's plug-in hybrid combines such a family SUV the benefits of electric operation with the normal range of a conventional automobile.
The advantages of the 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. And that too the PHEV outlander can do in perfection.
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 steering wheel. What looks like gearshift paddles and is used like that in “normal cars” are, in the case of the Outlander Plug-In Hybrid, the paddles for adjusting the recuperation performance. Left typed 5 times and the Outlander plug-in hybrid delayed with maximum recuperation. That is enough in everyday life to hardly have to use the brake pedal. Moved a little with foresight, you basically only drive the plug-in hybrid Outlander with the “power pedal”. With the right paddle you can reduce the recuperation power in 5 steps, down to “0”. That is the “sailing function”. This makes sense on motorways when you don't want to accelerate further, don't need any more power, but braking maneuvers don't make sense either. In theory, one would just roll out at some point in this situation. Whereby it takes a really long time. Here you can see the enormous efficiency of the Outlander PHEV, because the rolling resistance and the entire bearings (e.g. wheel bearings) have also been massively optimized.
The 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 only a support and the battery not only a buffer to save the kinetic energy. A plug-in hybrid is the clever bridge between a pure electric car and a classic gasoline engine. Plug-in hybrids will accompany us over the next few years and enable the switch to pure electromobility.
In the case of the Mitsubishi Plug-in Hybrid Outlander, this is called a serial AND parallel hybrids. (The detailed 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 or less, others such as Outlander plug-in hybrid, have a range of over 50 kilometers. According to the NEDC standard. If you use the Mitsubishi Plug-in Hybrid Outlander as a family SUV, then the everyday life of the SUV is indeed determined in large part 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, the petrol engine supports and thus extends the radius of action.
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 (aHowever, 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, The Mitsubishi Plug-in Hybrid Outlander is the family SUV with the green footprint!
The advantages 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.