Hi Patrick, and you’re
Hi Patrick, and you’re welcome! Here’s what I think may behind your experience: winter, even if you live in a place that doesn’t have extreme temperatures, may reduce your range. If you live in a colder climate, this is especially true for a few reasons: lithium ion batteries are less efficiency in temperatures below 50 degrees F, so you won’t get as much range. If you are using the cabin heat in your Sorento, that turns on the gas engine (to idle) for heat as well, even if you have enough charge in your battery to drive only on electricity.
Another thing that may be affecting your range is the way you drive of course. And I am not saying you drive your vehicle too hard or anything like that, but there are methods you can use to increase your fuel efficiency, whether that fuel is gas or electricity. What the Sorento PHEV shows you, in terms of range or mpg is always based on the recent trends in your driving. For example, after I took a long trip of 210 miles, in which I used almost half a tank of gas, my average fuel economy went down from about 190 mpg (this is a mix of the electric and gas powered efficiency) to just below 60 mpg. After returning to mostly short drives fully within the range of a full battery charge, a few weeks later, my mpg estimate was back up to near 80 mpg.
Some tips if you a re trying to increase your range or mpg/miles per charge: If you can keep the heat off and still drive comfortably, do so. You can set the temperature in the Kia Sorento PHEV to “Lo” and that will just blow unseated air through the vents if you might need to defrost the windows or get some air in the cabin. But if it is too cold not to use the heat, the Kia should just idle the engine when you turn on the heat (and may not turn off even when stopped until you restart the vehicle). If you know that you are going on.a trip that is longer than the range of the battery, you may want to start your trip with the heat off, and as soon as you need the heat, switch the vehicle into HEV mode. This will warm up the engine faster than just turning on the heat, and you can switch the vehicle back in the EV mode later, after the engine has warmed up, and the gas engine may not come on until the engine cools down again.
Other tips: Sport mode is far less fuel efficient, and in in my experience so is Smart Mode and Auto Mode. I have been able to get the best efficiency by manually switching between EV and HEV modes. I try to stay in EV mode whenever I am driving less than 40 miles on a trip, and if more than 40, I prioritize the EV mode for speeds less than 50 mph and HEV mode for prolonged speeds over 50 mph. Go easy on the accelerator. If you keep it in the “Eco” band, it will stay in EV mode until the battery is exhausted (which can be hard of course, especially if going up steep hills, but steady and even pressure is your friend). Try to keep your speed close to the speed limit (because the faster you drive the faster your burn fuel/electricity). These would be the biggest tips I can think of. Of course, these may not all be feasible for you, depending. But following these and a few other minor things is how I am able to get 35-42 miles per charge from my Sorento PHEV and, so far, no less than 39 mpg on longer drives. Good luck to you, and please feel free to ask me more questions about the Sorento PHEVs or other PHEVs and EVs. I am happy to share my experience, and tips.