I was on a road trip, had no access to my home charger, and decided to try charge mode as an experiment.

EV range was 0km, and I drove 123km on the highway with no traffic in charge mode, HV was used to get on and off the highway but was only a couple of km. Speeds ranged from 110-130km/hour on the highway which was mostly flat with no major hills. The car told me I got 8.2L/100km.

Then I drove in EV mode while in a city. The engine didn't come on and I got 41km of range before the car automatically switched back into HV.

So I used 123 km * 8.2L/100km = 10.086L of fuel.

I drove 164 km using that fuel, for a total L/100km of 6.15L/100km

This is probably pretty similar to if I just drove in HV the entire time... While I do prefer driving in EV mode while in cities, driving in charge mode had less power on the highway. It felt like it wasn't using the electrical motors as much.

Another thing to note is that I typically get about 7L/100km at those highway speeds so I used about 1.2L/100km of extra fuel in charge mode, or 1.476L for 41km of EV range.

In Ontario, where I live, that fuel cost is about $1.68/L for premium right now or $2.48 for 41km. In Ontario, many public chargers are $2/hour and I get about 30-35km of range per hour. So charge mode is competitive with many public chargers in Ontario at current gas prices since I paid $2 in gas for 33km.

Would I do it again? Nah probably will just stick to HV mode and just drive without thinking about it.

 

Very interesting info. Thanks for sharing.

 

It's definitely cheaper where you are in Ontario for Premium gas. It's $1.899 where I am today in Richmond Hill. At night it's cheaper and it can get down to $1.809, but still more than where you are. I only use Charge mode when I want to use up the gas tank.

 

I only buy gas from Costco. Today it's $1.59 for 91 Octane in Etobicoke https://www.gasbuddy.com/station/128990

Charge mode is indeed a good way to use up gas to prevent stale gas but you should only use it on highways at highway speeds (not bumper to bumper) for the highest efficiency.

Using charge mode keeps the engine on during braking, but can't generate energy during braking because of the way the power split device works. Charge mode also keeps the engine on when stopped, in the lower RPMs where the engine is less efficient. It also uses the engine to start moving the car, where it is also less efficient than the electrical motors.

 

Thanks so much for this post. I am in a condo that only has regular plugs. The problem is that charging my NX 350h+ keeps tripping the breaker even at 8A! There are only 2 other plugs on the circuit and they are not used. So I have a few questions. Is this common? Is there likely something wrong with the electrical system? I was considering abandoning the plug and just using charge and HV and EV only for city. The HV mileage is typically 5.5L/100 km. I am curious why the original writer would not use charge again?

 

Not sure why your car is tripping the breaker even at 8A. Speak to an electrician.

Note that I said I used charge mode on the highway while you mentioned you do city driving. Charge mode in the city is definitely not worth it and very bad. Stick to HV in the city.

The reason I said I wouldn't use it again is it there is no advantage and it's more to think about rather than just driving in HV.