Hello!

Any quick advice on the best way to get educated on how to maximize using EV vs. gas?

Is the manual the best place to turn, or do any of you have other resources (e.g. an article or blog post) with more/better information and advice? It seems like is full of gurus who often know the car better than the people who built it! lol

I recently heard it’s possible to charge the battery while driving, which I’d like to do just to get it charged up and see how far I can run on straight electrons…

I currently don’t have space in my garage (in process of clearing out to make room and currently my wife gets the one space for her 2022 Ford Escape PHEV (great car so far!). So for now I can’t charge it b/c I park on the street and would have to run an extension cord across the sidewalk and under the car, and the charging plug would stick out on the traffic side…

Thanks in advance!

Mark

Unless you can plug in at all times when not driving, you will not be able to maximize EV use.

 

The PHEV will charge the HV battery when driven in Sport mode, but the most consistent charging is when traveling 40-60 MPH on an open highway/freeway. Just driving around town won't add much charge to the battery. Driving in Sport mode will also decrease your MPG, so it's not "free" charging.

Running an extension cord out to the street is a very bad idea, and likely illegal because of the possible tripping hazard on the sidewalk. Having the cord on the street side is also a bad idea, as it could become a target for someone to come along and try to knock it off, causing damage to the charging port and possibly the car body.

As @Techy said, without plugging a PHEV in consistently there's going to be little to no EV range to maximize. The computer will keep the HV battery around 16% state of charge to allow the car to operate in hybrid mode, so you'll get some EV driving that way. But it's not going to help a whole lot until you can charge it more.

There certainly are ways to maximize your EV range in a PHEV, but it all starts with being plugged in whenever possible.

 

You might be able to find local businesses to patronize that have nearby L2 charging available. Public charging is occasionally free but usually costs close to the same, maybe a little less than, using gas on a per mile basis.

Check PlugShare app and filter to J1772 plugs to find where those chargers are in your area. There may be some at a local grocery store, mall, library, etc.

 

We have a 1-car and 2-car garage. The 14-50R receptacle was in the 1-car garage. My wife said "What a dumb decision to put the plug in the single car garage". She saw the future. I didn't. We got the EV6 later. So for a few months we kept swapping cars in and out of the 1-car garage to keep our cars charged. So it's doable.
-Barry
-Keep on charging

 

Juggling who gets the one plug works fine for 2 full EVs, but OP situation is 2 PHEVs so they’re more likely to want both getting charged every day. When the cars are next to each other switching the plug over isn’t too inconvenient but moving both cars between the one space and the street is more hassle—probable enough hassle to not bother most days.

In my 1-plug/2-EV driveway the Niro EV just charges on weekends since it rarely does over 100 miles a week, and the Ioniq charges on weekdays to cover its up to 100 miles per day routine.

 

Hello!

Any quick advice on the best way to get educated on how to maximize using EV vs. gas?

Is the manual the best place to turn, or do any of you have other resources (e.g. an article or blog post) with more/better information and advice? It seems like is full of gurus who often know the car better than the people who built it! lol

I recently heard it’s possible to charge the battery while driving, which I’d like to do just to get it charged up and see how far I can run on straight electrons…

I currently don’t have space in my garage (in process of clearing out to make room and currently my wife gets the one space for her 2022 Ford Escape PHEV (great car so far!). So for now I can’t charge it b/c I park on the street and would have to run an extension cord across the sidewalk and under the car, and the charging plug would stick out on the traffic side…

Thanks in advance!

Mark

I just keep it simple. EV around town HEV on the highway. H drive 50/50 EV and HEV.

 

Thanks much to all of you for the superb info, really appreciate it!

So, I’ll plan to try to keep it charged fully as much as possible.

Just as important as maximizing EV range, I want to maximize the overall mileage, regardless of the source (gas, EV, or combo). What’s the best source of that info? Is the manual the best or at least very good, or is it not great or only ok, with much better advice/sources?

 

Just as important as maximizing EV range, I want to maximize the overall mileage, regardless of the source (gas, EV, or combo). What’s the best source of that info? Is the manual the best or at least very good, or is it not great or only ok, with much better advice/sources?

The manual is not a good source of info for maximizing overall mileage.
Best source is probably right here on this forum.

 

Yes you can charge your PHEV while driving in Sport mode. The downside is that your gas MPG will decrease and you will not see a net gain in miles per gallon running in Sport Mode (heat/friction losses will reduce energy efficiency, so better to keep it in ECO mode and not try to use the ICE engine as a generator). I have a 2022 Niro PHEV as well and can get 25-28 miles on 100% charge--that's a bit more than how many miles I can get from a half gallon of gas. Depending on where you are that is equivalent to $1.50 to a bit over $2 (minus the cost of electricity). The cost of electricity in our state continues to increase, and to put salt in our wounds, more fees are added to folks who generate electricity.

In order to take advantage of the PHEV set up would be to charge it whenever it is at work (if the cost is cheap) or at home. Level 1 charging takes over 5 hours to fully charge, level 2 half that time. Seems like connecting to the free level 2 chargers while shopping at Costco only gives me 2-4 miles of range.

If you look at the instructions that come with the KIA charging cable (or any EV charging cable for that matter) it will say NOT to use any extension cords. My aftermarket Schumacher level 1/2 cord has a 25 foot length, so I can charge the Niro on my driveway when my garage is occupied. I only have 1 20A 120V circuit in my garage, so I don't think I can charge more than one vehicle at a time on that circuit.

If you can't plug your car in at home, I would suggest just driving it like an HEV and not worry about charging it up. Plug it in when you can, but don't fret if you can't.

 

So for now I can’t charge it b/c I park on the street and would have to run an extension cord across the sidewalk and under the car, and the charging plug would stick out on the traffic side…

In many jurisdictions it is either legal to park facing the wrong direction, or customary such that police are not going to ticket. My very small village is one where it went from illegal to customary and common in my lifetime. It is illegal to obstruct a sidewalk although many car owners with driveways think they can block the sidewalk with a vehicle (very rude for sure) and never have an issue with police. Likewise, RV owners and contractors often run a cable across a sidewalk for several hours a day or long term without an issue. There is a liability issue where if someone trips on a cable and is injured, they can sue you successfully. You can mitigate that risk by purchasing a rubber cover that ramps up and down over the cable. I would assume you can buy them from RV or contractor supply outlets.

But wouldn't it be easy to simply alternate your two PHEVs between street parking and your charging spot? It is probably just three or four hours to charge each one fully. That doesn't seem to to be a lot of hassle to save a half gallon of fuel per day for each PHEV.