Hi. I'm the owner of a Tucson PHEV in Premium trim: ordered in March 2021 and delivered in late June. Generally I'm very satisfied with the vehicle and happy with my choice. Being retired and living in rural Northumberland, a PHEV was attractive as a way of combining EV mode for local trips (typically one mile to the nearest village and four miles to town) without EV range anxiety for regular longer trips to the Lake District, where charging facilities are limited.
All was well in summer and autumn. I left the car in default mode (EV priority) for local trips and put it in Hybrid mode (HEV) for longer trips, so that it prioritised ICE power (with EV support from self-charging, braking and coasting) whilst retaining battery charge (35 mile range) for local use at the other end.
As others have observed, things change dramatically with colder winter weather. Most short trips now predominantly use ICE power, with EV mode coming in intermittently only once a few miles have been covered. I changed the dash display so that the rev counter is shown in Eco mode as well as Sport mode. On very cold days (hovering around freezing) I see a constant 1500 rpm, reducing to 1100 rpm once things have warmed up after a few miles. Bizarrely, at the end of very short (eg one mile) journeys the ICE continues to run at 1500 rpm but the revs reduce to 1100 rpm if I switch the vehicle (at standstill) into Sport mode. I have also noticed that an exhaust plume remains evident (via the rear-view mirrors) in ICE mode, even on a longer drive. Perhaps this is related to the relatively low-temperature engine running that others have commented about?
Someone wondered if the Bluelink app would support remote control of vehicle pre-heating / pre-cooling using charger power. It seems that this feature is not supported for PHEV models. A response to an app user by Hyundai Motor Europe said that "remote AC control is only allowed for EV, not for PHEV in the EU due to CO2 regulations". Elsewhere it states: "We are providing remote climate control exclusively for battery electric vehicles. Additionally idling engines is prohibited by law in some EU countries". I can see there may be an issue with having an idling ICE powering the climate control system remotely but surely it should be possible for the control system to place the vehicle in EV charging mode (ICE forced off) and to power the climate control unit from the mains charger. Given that other PHEV makes/models in the UK apparently support this useful feature it would appear that its lack of support on the Tucson is a corporate choice by Hyundai rather than because of any specific EU/UK legislation.
MPG
Thanks for detailed post it answered a lot of questions I had. I also live in Northumberland and I am waiting for my Tucson Phev! I would be interested to hear about the typical mpg you get. Has it dropped a lot with the cold weather and the need for ICE to run? I plan to use mine to commute to work a journey of about 20 miles primarily on A1.
Glad my post was useful - hope it hasn't put you off! It's really quite difficult to come up with a "typical" mpg figure as it seems to depend on many things. Most definitely worse in colder weather than the 999 mpg (!) obtained for short runs in warm / milder conditions. I've seen anything from 20 mpg through to 160 mpg recently, for various short journeys. A return run to Sheffield and back (165 miles each way) a couple of days ago in 2C - 3C temperatures gave an average of 40 mpg in HEV mode - seems reasonable. Another observation for short trips is that EV range drops more dramatically than actual mileage in cold weather, even though EV mode is only being used for part of the time.Scotsman wrote: ↑Fri Dec 24, 2021 10:33 am Thanks for detailed post it answered a lot of questions I had. I also live in Northumberland and I am waiting for my Tucson Phev! I would be interested to hear about the typical mpg you get. Has it dropped a lot with the cold weather and the need for ICE to run? I plan to use mine to commute to work a journey of about 20 miles primarily on A1.
And - just to be clear - if you turn off the climate control system (no interior heating / no screen de-misting) but enable the heated seats and/or heated steering wheel (and use headlights) the vehicle will run continuously in EV mode for the whole of any short journey.
it seems this new EV future is going to cost a bit, like having a house gas and electric bills low in summer but rank up a lot as soon as jack frost turns up.
I got my Hybrid in June and as winter moved in mpg has gone down I just hope it does go back up again when the summer arrives.
I got my Hybrid in June and as winter moved in mpg has gone down I just hope it does go back up again when the summer arrives.
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leicesterrule
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2022 8:36 pm
It should go up in the summer @NoTwOld . The colder weather affects the batteries hugely. As things stand, it’s much cheaper to run a PHEV or full electric, but we’ve got to generate more electricity to charge them up somehow… expect prices to charge, will increase dramatically over the next few years. Also, it’s still much more expensive to purchase a fully electric car, over a hybrid. Hope this dramatically decreases in the future too!
I wonder if there are any plans for a fully electric Tucson, or whether they’d bring out a brand new model, just like the Enyaq or EV6?
I wonder if there are any plans for a fully electric Tucson, or whether they’d bring out a brand new model, just like the Enyaq or EV6?
The AC on ours works for cooling when in EV mode I haven't actually tried turning the heat up on the climate control to see what happens, the annoying thing is on the PHEV the battery is liquid cooled and the pipes as far as I can see run to a fan at the front of the car so could have easily been used to warm up the interior without using the ICE,
I also was under the impression that the plugin hybrid would have pre heat as Monday to Friday the car is only ever in EV mode
Tucson ultimate plug-in with tech pack in Dark Knight grey pearl, not our first colour choice but it was available straight away instead of waiting till next year
That’s a shame but also to be expected. The 1.6 engine without the full hybrid is small and low on power, combine that with all wheel drive and I’m not surprised that the mpg drops quite low.
It’s also consistent with other ‘mild’ hybrids. My dad had a Volvo XC40 that struggled to get to 30mpg, he’s never been impressed with it either.
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That’s a shame but also to be expected. The 1.6 engine without the full hybrid is small and low on power, combine that with all wheel drive and I’m not surprised that the mpg drops quite low.
It’s also consistent with other ‘mild’ hybrids. My dad had a Volvo XC40 that struggled to get to 30mpg, he’s never been impressed with it either.
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To which extend does the electric motor runs in parallel with the petrol engine to provide power/torque? 3 months ago I got my HEV N Line but haven't seen how these runs in parallel as the EV "light" only shows when in full electric mode.
That’s a shame but also to be expected. The 1.6 engine without the full hybrid is small and low on power, combine that with all wheel drive and I’m not surprised that the mpg drops quite low.
It’s also consistent with other ‘mild’ hybrids. My dad had a Volvo XC40 that struggled to get to 30mpg, he’s never been impressed with it either.
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To which extend does the electric motor runs in parallel with the petrol engine to provide power/torque? 3 months ago I got my HEV N Line but haven't seen how these runs in parallel as the EV "light" only shows when in full electric mode.
N Line HEV Red
