[Roman126]

Hello fellow 330e owners / drivers

I’m curious as to how the Self Charging Battery function vs Charging at home affects fuel economy.

E.G if it cost £2 to charge the battery at home, would the car use more or lest than £2 in additional fuel charging the battery.

What impact on MPG does the self charging facility have?

[Jim_330e]

As in, put it in Sport and try to recharge the whole battery by driving/braking?? I think you'd use more than a few quid in petrol!

[Roman126]

Originally Posted by Jim_330e

As in, put it in Sport and try to recharge the whole battery by driving/braking?? I think you'd use more than a few quid in petrol!

Not really in sports mode, i drove 100 miles in Eco Pro on a full battery which was depleted at my destination , and returned in Hybrid with maintain battery at 100% which slowly charged on my return journey, in hybrid mode. Obviously there must be a penalty to pay doubt it this way, I just wondered at what cost.

[HighlandPete]

Converting petrol (using a generator and ICE) to electrical energy, then to charge a battery, is not very efficient. There will be a penalty.

Best try and repeat the trips, using both methods. Plug in and ICE only.

As to costs, some of the equation will depend on the unit price of your electricity supply.

[petejigsaw]

Typical domestic electricity cost (not incl Octopus Ho type tariffs) is 15p +VAT per KWh. Full battery charge therefore costs approx £1.80.

Driving with battery control set to 100% and from empty takes, from my experience, approx 50-60 miles, but increases fuel consumption by around 30-40%. So a full battery charge using the ICE costs approx £2-3 in extra fuel based on average fuel consumption of the engine alone.

Therefore, charging from a socket rather than the ICE is more economical, and the above is likely to be an underestimate of the actual cost of using the engine to do the charging.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by petejigsaw

Typical domestic electricity cost (not incl Octopus Ho type tariffs) is 15p +VAT per KWh. Full battery charge therefore costs approx £1.80.

Driving with battery control set to 100% and from empty takes, from my experience, approx 50-60 miles, but increases fuel consumption by around 30-40%. So a full battery charge using the ICE costs approx £2-3 in extra fuel based on average fuel consumption of the engine alone.

Therefore, charging from a socket rather than the ICE is more economical, and the above is likely to be an underestimate of the actual cost of using the engine to do the charging.

Great post, having run the experiment and comparing costs.

[Roman126]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

Great post, having run the experiment and comparing costs.

Yes, exactly the answer I was looking for and suspected tbh, will have to carry out some trials myself. 👍

[NanasBack]

Is there no setting that will just use the regenerative energy (braking) to charge the battery?
The cost of that would be 'free'.

[petejigsaw]

Originally Posted by NanasBack

Is there no setting that will just use the regenerative energy (braking) to charge the battery?
The cost of that would be 'free'.

There is - just use Hybrid mode. That captures all the regenerative braking energy. On roads around here, long downhill stretches can see the electric range go up by a mile or two.