Hello,

I have been driving my new HCH2 for a week now and I have noticed that the SoC ever seems to reach full (8 bars). It mainly hovers between 6 and 7 bars. My question is, is it normal to not hit 8 bars very often or should this be achieved once or so in a week of driving.

I do not drive in a demanding area in terms of hills or stop and go. I would say my average speed during my 60 minute commute is somewhere around 60km/h. My average fuel economy seems to be lingering around 5.0L/100km.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Once you get over 6 bars of battery, the car tries to use electricity a lot more, so it is very difficult to hit 8 bars without some hills to coast down. Don't worry at all if you're not hitting full charge ever--that just means you are using the electricity that you are generating.

Commuter car, grocery getter, and summer road tripper--average 10k miles per year.


Winter road trips and ski trips, bad weather commuter and my wife's "daily" driver--expected average 4k miles per year.

Thanks a lot for the response. So now I won't obsess over trying to get it to 8 bars anymore

Kristian is right on the SoC.

However...

You obviously have several things going for you.
- A 60 minute commute is an awesome amount of time to build good FE.
- 60 KM/h is an ideal speed and without much stop-and-go or hills, you could easily nail a 4.0 L/100km average (or even less) easily.

It seems that there may be some improvements due in the vehicle setup or driving technique that may be limiting you to just 5 L/100km.

A few things to look for:
- Tire pressure 40 psi or higher provides best results.
- Check out Tarabell's article. It is well worth the read.

Cheers;

MSantos

Yes that is an interesting article. This is all new to me and I am learning as I drive. I am sure my tires are not inflated as much as you suggested as the dealer likely inflated them to factory specs. As for nailing 4.0L/100km I think that is something I can get to after some more practice. Also I have been running the AC as we've had some warmer days this week.

This morning it was cool though and I managed to drive with the AC off and that seemed to help a little.

Also the car only has 2000km on it so it is still not fully broken in and I imagine that also has some effect on it.

Thanks again.

Yes, the AC will have some impact on the FE especially if we "just set the temperature we want and go". However, with a little strategy it is possible to remain cool while hurting the FE very little. For instance, when driving away set the climate control to Auto and initial temp to 28 or 29. Then as the fan begins to slow down bring the temp down by one degree and wait for the blower to slow down again... and keep doing this until you feel comfortable. You'll notice comfort can be reached at a much higher temp value than most people think.

In other words, setting the temperature to too low a value at first will decimate your FE because you'll be using the belt driven half of the scroll AC compressor more often instead of the electric half.

Cheers;

MSantos