Charge While Idling - Good Idea?

[cousinsfan@gmail.com]

So - on days this past winter when remote starting my car, I've noticed that when I get in the car several minutes later, the AVG MPG hasn't decreased since I drove the car last and yet the battery is quite full/topped up.

 

So....unless it's lying to me (which I assume is a distinct possibility) it hardly needs ANY fuel to JUST charge the battery, why isn't it a good idea for the car to "sometimes" leave the ICE running, simply to just charge the battery?

 

- JC

 

 

[cousinsfan@gmail.com]

Someone is going to reply that it DOES do this, but I'm not talking about when the battery is low, I mean ACTIVELY and PURPOSEFULLY charging the battery...to FULL.

 

I can imagine that in town, I could see driving on battery almost all of the time when the car is moving, and then when stopped, charging the battery with ICE only, and then only on EV again when moving, etc.

 

As it is today, I run as long as I can on Battery, then ICE MUST come on - USUALLY when accelerating and wasting gas, but the new way would be so much better, no?

[murphy]

It is believed that fuel consumed during remote start is ignored in the mpg calculation.

[mwr]

As it is today, I run as long as I can on Battery, then ICE MUST come on - USUALLY when accelerating and wasting gas, but the new way would be so much better, no?

You don't get energy for free. It takes gas to run the ICE to charge the battery whether that happens during driving or standing still.

[cousinsfan@gmail.com]

Well, that would figure - energy used during remote start not used in calc - there you go

And....that's a big :(

 

Overall I'm extremely pleased with the mileage I'm getting but I am about 7-9% off the computer's calculations.

460 miles for 11.5 Gal (40) and computer thought 10.88 gal. Why so far off...

I probably did a couple remote starts...on that tank, come to think of it.

Seems like they could do a f/w upgrade to add that...but no money to be made on that.

[lolder]

So - on days this past winter when remote starting my car, I've noticed that when I get in the car several minutes later, the AVG MPG hasn't decreased since I drove the car last and yet the battery is quite full/topped up.

 

So....unless it's lying to me (which I assume is a distinct possibility) it hardly needs ANY fuel to JUST charge the battery, why isn't it a good idea for the car to "sometimes" leave the ICE running, simply to just charge the battery?

 

- JC

 

 

The car uses about as much energy to charge the HVB as it does to move the car; a lot. It does that because an idling car is very inefficient so they load it up with charging. The objective is to never run the ICE except under considerable driving and or charging load. Remote start is a nice feature for cold or hot days but it goes against the basic philosophy of hybrid design.