EV mode in colder weather

[TheHeatman]

2023 Tucson PHEV Ultimate

Since we've headed into Autumn (and the temperature is regularly in single digits now), I've noticed the engine kicks in almost immediately when starting to drive. The car starts in EV mode and I want it to stay in EV mode, especially for very short trips (couple of miles where I am not going over 30mph - I don't want to be using petrol). I'm assuming that when the temperature outside/inside the car is below a certain number, the car automatically kicks the engine in since it never did this during the summer and it remained in EV mode permanently unless the battery charge became too low or I put it in sport mode.

When the engine is running it is, according to the gauge getting around 25MPG (first question - is that normal and what everyone else is getting in terms of MPG?). I have the car in ECO mode, I do have the air con on low set at 20 degrees (Driver side only), my apple phone is connected via USB cable providing carplay to the media unit. The battery is at full charge (so the engine isn't needed in theory at all to power the car). The display which shows the engine/battery with the virtual picture of the car, and where the flow of energy/electricity is going to and from shows the engine sending energy to the battery (not powering the wheels), why is it doing this when the battery is already fully charged?

I'm also posting this because my wife has an Audi A3 TFSIe, and in the same cold weather conditions, air-con running, phone connected, etc, the engine never kicks in regardless of how cold it is and it remains in EV mode unless you manually switch modes to use the petrol engine (I essentially want the Tucson to do the same). In the Audi, when it is very cold/frosty, this actually works against you, you have to manually change modes to kick the engine in to assist with defrosting the car via the blowers (but I like having the choice of when to do this).

So the question - Is there a way to force the Tucson to stay in EV mode regardless of weather/temperature conditions?

Thanks all

[Berty]

It is normal based on your operation of the AC/Air and you can tell because when you turn off your climate control completely by pressing the small fan until it goes off then the EV mode kicks back in. It is because the engine is cold and needs to run to get the cabin up to your desired temperature. When I'm driving this car the EV kicks in around the exact same spot as my last car(Diesel Seat) would engage stop/start, before that it wouldn't use stop/start again because the engine/cabin wasn't at omptimum temperature for usage.

The manual itself states a good optimum temperature is 22 degrees although I have mine at 21 and I am getting around 3.6 litres per 100 which is around 78.5 MPG(UK) on a short trip, this morning it was 6 degrees and I used the heated seats, steering wheel heater(for a minute or two) and heated rears screen to putting a higher load on the car along with the climate turned on, wireless charging and using Android Auto via a wireless adapter. It is a return trip of about 9km in slow moving traffic. The engine would cut to EV and then back about 10 times on the journey because the engine would get colder and need to come on to counteract the fact the cabin temperature needed to be maintined.

*Such is all my opinion on the matter.

Is there a way to force EV to stay on? Yes, don't allow the climate control to work(not the answer you'd like but that's exactly what would maintain EV mode until discharged).

[alan sh]

My HEV is the same. As soon as the outside temp drops below 11c, the fuel consumption drops about 6-7 mpg.

[Yorkie]

Same here too on my PHEV. I believe it's because it hasn't got a way of heating the car other than the engine. It would need a separate heat pump I think. I have played around, and like Berty if I turn everything off it runs in EV mode.

[DrElectron]

Same here, on cooler days I get away with the heated seat and steering wheel for comfort, but under about 10c the heater is needed and the engine runs.

Strangely in this mode the engine temperature never rises, I wonder if it sends all of the heat to the cabin through a separate coolant loop, away from the sensor.

Usually in this mode I'll switch to HEV on longer road sections for a few reasons.
1) the interior warms up quicker
2) I don't think it's economical to be running the engine for heat, and using electric for driving, I'm happy to be corrected by some maths but gut feeling is it costs more overall than running on petrol.
3) the engine is noisy when accelerating at low speed and I'm now a sucker for the silence and smoothness of electric driving

[Berty]

Tested it again this morning. Temperature began at 7c and ended journey at 9c. Max speed was 50mph(switched car to imperial for larger audience) but speeds were mostly rather low as small city driving through the suburbs, sitting at traffic lights etc where the MPG would drop but quickly catch back up on the move. AC was on for half journey(Tucson's love steaming up windows), passenger heated seat at 2 for half journey, drivers seat at 1 for all journey. Climate set to 21 and auto.

MPG seems fine. Engine kicked in a few times but I could see that the engine temp dropped on the drivers display when it happened.

[TheHeatman]

Thanks for all the answers on this. I will experiement with leaving the A/C off to see if that does the trick of keeping the car in EV mode. Thanks all

[ExTyke]

I've only had short journeys for the last couple of weeks and driven a total of 200 miles. I haven't used any petrol. I just use the heated seats and steering wheel like DrElectron and I also keep a gentle (cold) fan on the windscreen to keep it clear. (Even on very damp days I find a cold blast of the fan can clear it). I've a longer drive tomorrow so that will be in HEV mode so sadly will be burning petrol again.