The odd weakness of the PHEV
As much as I love my new plug-in hybrid, in retrospect, there is a glaring issue for those of living in more northerly climes. Some of these cars (such as mine) require the use of the engine to heat the car. And while this does also help extend the EV mode, it makes a critical mistake.
Before I dive into that though, lets talk about why I'm bringing this up. I don't think it is necessarily a huge problem. I knew about it before I bought the vehicle which may explain my complacency with it.
But, one of my complaints about the current state of full EVs was the charge times. Even with Level 2 or 3 chargers you're still stopping every 200-400KMs depending on your range for 0.5-2 hours to get a reasonable state of charge back.
My argument was that while there certainly exist segments of people that this is OK for, that it wasn't realistic to expect this of say, the typical family. Infrastructure isn't really built around this reality. Add the weight times in with contention for chargers along major highways and you get a difficult situation.
In short, I was arguing both why they didn't make sense for my family today and why there existed a segment for whom they didn't really work. My wife and I wouldn't mind such a lifestyle. But, doing that with a 5 year old is another story.
And, as I thought on it, I was too generous with the PHEV in that respect. If the car uses a gas engine to heat, it disadvantages a particular group as well. And that particular group is also, bewilderingly the otherwise ideal market for these cars. Those who want to eliminate their gas use as much as possible, and have short enough daily demands that 20-60KMs is enough for most days.
I drove my daughter to ballet today. And then on the way back stopped for some groceries. And then proceeded home. The gas engine only shut off on the way home by the time I was one street away from my home. And I've noticed this phenomenon on other such trips. In many cases, the gas engine runs the whole time.
When I'm alone in the car I'll switch to just the seat heaters and steering wheel heater. But, I'm not about to force that lifestyle on my family. Especially my daughter who can't even benefit from the heated seats in her booster seat.
And, we're not in the dead of winter yet. The winter average is a solid 10-15 degrees colder than today with many days heading closer to 20-30 degrees C colder.
In short, Canadian winters combined with a car which relies on a gas engine for heating basically ensure that even though PHEVs are supposed to be best for people making shorter daily trips, so that they can run entirely on battery, it is those same short trips which don't provide enough time for the engine to heat up which ensure I will almost never run on battery alone during the winter.
This in turn means that people who want eliminate gas as much as possible are not well served by this market.
And I want to be clear, this isn't just about comfort. When you breathe in a cold car with the windows closed in the colder parts of North America without a heated interior; the windows fog. To the point that it becomes an extreme visibility impediment. Yeah, there exist less extreme days where, on a short trip, you can get by with the seat and steering wheel heater.
But, it isn't just that people are preferring comfort over the environment. It is a real safety issue.
And it is that argument which supplies my first real strike against certain PHEVs. Not all do this. But, to my knowledge, most do.
A simple work around would be to use a block heater while plugged in for charging to keep the engine sufficiently warmed to provide say, 10-15 minutes of 21C heat at temperatures of up -15C, after which the car could switch to gas for heat.
This would mean that a lot of shorter trips could still be taken, even in the depths of winter, without the need for gas heating. It would also supply more practical solutions to conserving heat. Once the gas is heated up to a reasonable temperature, it is possible to turn off the heat for a while without risking fogging up the car or it becoming perceptibly colder.
The best argument against it that I can think of would be that once you get where you're going the car is going to sit and get cold and your return trip may require gas from the start. But, cutting that gas use in half is no joke.
Before I dive into that though, lets talk about why I'm bringing this up. I don't think it is necessarily a huge problem. I knew about it before I bought the vehicle which may explain my complacency with it.
But, one of my complaints about the current state of full EVs was the charge times. Even with Level 2 or 3 chargers you're still stopping every 200-400KMs depending on your range for 0.5-2 hours to get a reasonable state of charge back.
My argument was that while there certainly exist segments of people that this is OK for, that it wasn't realistic to expect this of say, the typical family. Infrastructure isn't really built around this reality. Add the weight times in with contention for chargers along major highways and you get a difficult situation.
In short, I was arguing both why they didn't make sense for my family today and why there existed a segment for whom they didn't really work. My wife and I wouldn't mind such a lifestyle. But, doing that with a 5 year old is another story.
And, as I thought on it, I was too generous with the PHEV in that respect. If the car uses a gas engine to heat, it disadvantages a particular group as well. And that particular group is also, bewilderingly the otherwise ideal market for these cars. Those who want to eliminate their gas use as much as possible, and have short enough daily demands that 20-60KMs is enough for most days.
I drove my daughter to ballet today. And then on the way back stopped for some groceries. And then proceeded home. The gas engine only shut off on the way home by the time I was one street away from my home. And I've noticed this phenomenon on other such trips. In many cases, the gas engine runs the whole time.
When I'm alone in the car I'll switch to just the seat heaters and steering wheel heater. But, I'm not about to force that lifestyle on my family. Especially my daughter who can't even benefit from the heated seats in her booster seat.
And, we're not in the dead of winter yet. The winter average is a solid 10-15 degrees colder than today with many days heading closer to 20-30 degrees C colder.
In short, Canadian winters combined with a car which relies on a gas engine for heating basically ensure that even though PHEVs are supposed to be best for people making shorter daily trips, so that they can run entirely on battery, it is those same short trips which don't provide enough time for the engine to heat up which ensure I will almost never run on battery alone during the winter.
This in turn means that people who want eliminate gas as much as possible are not well served by this market.
And I want to be clear, this isn't just about comfort. When you breathe in a cold car with the windows closed in the colder parts of North America without a heated interior; the windows fog. To the point that it becomes an extreme visibility impediment. Yeah, there exist less extreme days where, on a short trip, you can get by with the seat and steering wheel heater.
But, it isn't just that people are preferring comfort over the environment. It is a real safety issue.
And it is that argument which supplies my first real strike against certain PHEVs. Not all do this. But, to my knowledge, most do.
A simple work around would be to use a block heater while plugged in for charging to keep the engine sufficiently warmed to provide say, 10-15 minutes of 21C heat at temperatures of up -15C, after which the car could switch to gas for heat.
This would mean that a lot of shorter trips could still be taken, even in the depths of winter, without the need for gas heating. It would also supply more practical solutions to conserving heat. Once the gas is heated up to a reasonable temperature, it is possible to turn off the heat for a while without risking fogging up the car or it becoming perceptibly colder.
The best argument against it that I can think of would be that once you get where you're going the car is going to sit and get cold and your return trip may require gas from the start. But, cutting that gas use in half is no joke.
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