C350e Battery Range

[Blobcat]

So I'm new to the whole Phev malarkey and recently acquired a 17reg 350e. If you only get 9 miles per charge does the cost of the charge and time come down or go up? PS with clean air charges springing up around the country I still feel its a great buy for the future.

I don’t, but best of luck with it

 

[Janchee]

So I'm new to the whole Phev malarkey and recently acquired a 17reg 350e. If you only get 9 miles per charge does the cost of the charge and time come down or go up? PS with clean air charges springing up around the country I still feel its a great buy for the future.

It’d be interesting to see what mpg you get from the car without any electric help and then compare with ie what mpg does the car genuinely add with hybrid part. I like the look of the new mild hybrid cars because it’s the regen in braking rather than wasting energy into discs/pads where I get most efficiency from. 9 miles would get me half-way to my closest supermarket so if it was quadruple that, I’d be interested.

 

[MBDevotee]

Don’t see the point of 9 miles - however if you get decent regen, and then that is put back into pulling away (like a mild hybrid) that’s better than nothing.

Bear in mind that mid- winter like now, range will be 10-20% down. More if you don’t pre-condition properly.

 

[Tony Dyson]

Don’t see the point of 9 miles - however if you get decent regen, and then that is put back into pulling away (like a mild hybrid) that’s better than nothing.

Bear in mind that mid- winter like now, range will be 10-20% down. More if you don’t pre-condition properly.

By "pre-condition properly." Do you mean keep it wrapped up snug and warm in a well insulated heated garage?
The last time I read up about Mercedes regenerative braking it consisted of loading the alternator to provide additional resistance to the engine which doesn't sound to me as though it would inject big amounts back into the batteries, it works in theory but it would be informative to see some real life statistics on the actual efficiency,

 

[MBDevotee]

No lol

Whilst plugged in, pre-heat or pre cool beyond where you need it to be....

So for example at this time of year, I pre heat my cabin to 27 & have the heated steering wheel on, then when I unplug and get in the car, any frost etc has not only gone, but the screen glass has warmed through, all the plastics and leather in the cabin is warm to the touch etc, then I can do a fair old trip with the fan off, and the temperature turned up, but the heater actually off. Last night I did 10 miles like that before the cabin cooled to the point where I turned the heater back on (at 21 degrees tho) this will increase your range considerably.

In the summer, pre cool the car to 16 degrees, for long enough all the cabin materials are cool to touch, this means the air con has to do less work when driving.

 

[Rotorhead500]

Thanks for the reply
it is a phev with a 6.2 kw battery. Reading other reviews on it, some say it's so short a range that it's hardly worth charging, others say they get up to 19 miles sometimes. I wonder if the garage would deny a problem with the battery due to the replacement cost

A friend had one as a company car... saw similar.

As for MB Dorchester... Good luck with them!

 

[MBDevotee]

If it's any help - I have a full electric car.

I've recently re-done all my calculations and found I'm actually getting:-

winter it does 3.8 miles per KWh of electricity - much more than I first thought
In summer it does 4.3 m/ KWh - again better than I thought I was getting.

So even at this time of year, I would expect you to get 3.5m per KWh - so with a 6.2KWh battery I'd want to see at least 20 miles of range and in summer up to around 25-30 miles.

If you are getting 9miles that's 1.5m per KWh - which for a PHEV is beyond dreadful and I cannot imagine what's wrong with it. Do you get in, flick on all the heaters, heated seats / steering wheel etc or do you pre-condition it properly?

What setting (assuming it has settings) have you got the energy recouperation set to, and where do you drive?

I thing if it was mine, I would be throwing that back at Merc as unfit for purpose and not as described if the paperwork / brochure even suggests that it should do 20-30 miles on the battery alone - because I agree it should.

Other big thing - is that 6.2 KW the USEABLE or the TOTAL battery capacity.

My Soul EV has a quoted battery of 64KW which I thought was really good - but then I found out that's the useable battery - the actual battery is 67KWh - which is why it hits 95-120% of it's quoted range in the summer whereas cars like the Nissan Leaf quote their TOTAL battery capacity - so their 50KWh battery is only about 45KWh - hence why their range is so much less.

Did you buy from a Merc dealer? If so I'd be kicking off right about now!

 

[MBDevotee]

There is a trick I saw an Opel Ampera user do that improved his Battery considerably. He slow charged (3 pin socket) his car to 100%

Then he jacked up the front wheels and allowed the car to just click into "Drive" and then ran the wheels up in the air for the full (in his case) 30 miles.

He ran it beyond when the car said the battery was flat until the combustion engine kicked in - because there was no resistance to the wheels turning, this allowed the battery to drain lower than it would have done driving on a real road.

He then trickle charged it to the max again. His battery improved from about 27 mile range back up to the full 40 - I can only imagine it's because it dipped well into the battery's available capacity and conditioned it a bit - not really sure why.

Don't know if it's worth trying that?

 

[Blobcat]

There is a trick I saw an Opel Ampera user do that improved his Battery considerably. He slow charged (3 pin socket) his car to 100%

Then he jacked up the front wheels and allowed the car to just click into "Drive" and then ran the wheels up in the air for the full (in his case) 30 miles.

He ran it beyond when the car said the battery was flat until the combustion engine kicked in - because there was no resistance to the wheels turning, this allowed the battery to drain lower than it would have done driving on a real road.

He then trickle charged it to the max again. His battery improved from about 27 mile range back up to the full 40 - I can only imagine it's because it dipped well into the battery's available capacity and conditioned it a bit - not really sure why.

Don't know if it's worth trying that?

Not exactly “green” though is it...

 

[MBDevotee]

No... it will use a whole 6.2KWh of power.......

Not too bad really though is it if it doubles his range (which I doubt but it's gotta be worth a try).

 

[Per Groth Ludvigsen]

19 miles, I would be happy with that

I get up to 14 miles with my c350e, fully equipped with extra's, driving in winter temperatures. But only when I switch off the heater system totally - heater an blower takes a lot in winter times and actually the battery capacity is too small for this. So try this test: when battery is fully charged reset both of the fuel consumption display's (the one showing from reset and the one showing total status) in the dashboard, then switch off the heating system completely including blowers. Doing this you should see that predicted amount of miles in the display increases.

 

[MBDevotee]

OP

Has the range now gone back to a decent number on EV only driving? 20-30m I would expect.

 

[Per Groth Ludvigsen]

Do not expect more than 18 - 19 miles in summertime on pure EV with this type car. The battery is too small and car too heavy. The car is pretty ok in hybrid mode for down town driving and driving on country road's. I can achieve up to 70% of the driving distance (E-mode driving style) on battery. Highway driving in DK, up to 80 mph, is pretty much like driving a normal big petrol car, approx. 31 mpg.

 

[MBDevotee]

Not sure what the point of this is then. MB should have fitted a decent battery to do a sensible job on it.

 

[Per Groth Ludvigsen]

Not sure what the point of this is then. MB should have fitted a decent battery to do a sensible job on it.

In 2016 I think this was the standard for German hybrids at least Mercedes and BMW. Besides that battery range I am very satisfied with the permance of the car. Mine has a swedish BSR engine tuning upgrade giving the car 335 HP.

 

[grayb]

Not sure what the point of this is then. MB should have fitted a decent battery to do a sensible job on it.

Perhaps there wasn't room to squeeze a bigger battery in without completely comprising boot space? The platform wasn't designed from scratch to house a battery?

 

[MBDevotee]

Perhaps, but all they have added is cost and complexity without the true benefit of a PHEV.

 

[Per Groth Ludvigsen]

For shorter trips down-town and in urban area's combined with af few long distance drives every months, which is my drive style, this car actually does the job for me. The new models e.q. 2020 have bigger and lighter batteries due to the development in technology. I will only switch to a pure electric car, when it is possible to charge the battery with same speed as when fuelling the car and with similar fast access to charge stations as fuel stations This scenario might only be 5 - 7 years away. Until that, I am happy with my C350e Estate wagon but ig Mercedes offer an upgrade to a higher capacity battery on thís model, I will of course consider it.

 

[MBDevotee]

For shorter trips down-town and in urban area's combined with af few long distance drives every months, which is my drive style, this car actually does the job for me. The new models e.q. 2020 have bigger and lighter batteries due to the development in technology. I will only switch to a pure electric car, when it is possible to charge the battery with same speed as when fuelling the car and with similar fast access to charge stations as fuel stations This scenario might only be 5 - 7 years away. Until that, I am happy with my C350e Estate wagon but ig Mercedes offer an upgrade to a higher capacity battery on thís model, I will of course consider it.

I get that but you are using your ICE head.... because you are thinking "I dont want to have to stop my journey for 5 hours to charge......"

Thats not how it is, you rarely charge away from home or work so charge times are not that relevant if you have decent range. I've used rapid chargers for one run only in my ownership of my car. Otherwise, I just jump in with a full tank every morning and drive. I never recharge during my driving time - I dont need to - I have 280m range so thats a weeks driving, not a day. I plug in at work, and when I leave i have a full car again.

Even if I did have to use a rapid charger, 20-80% only takes 40 min - time for a pee, a coffee and off I go again....

If you own a decent EV you rarely, if ever, charge in the way you talk about - its just not how you run them. Simple rule with EV's - ABC - Always Be Charing (charged) - so whenever possible, wherever you park, you are on charge...

In fact I've probably spent less time "fuelling" than you have! Its like the fuel station comes to you and fills your car up for you.... for about £3 !!!

 

[Blobcat]

I get that but you are using your ICE head.... because you are thinking "I dont want to have to stop my journey for 5 hours to charge......"

Thats not how it is, you rarely charge away from home or work so charge times are not that relevant if you have decent range. I've used rapid chargers for one run only in my ownership of my car. Otherwise, I just jump in with a full tank every morning and drive. I never recharge during my driving time - I dont need to - I have 280m range so thats a weeks driving, not a day. I plug in at work, and when I leave i have a full car again.

Even if I did have to use a rapid charger, 20-80% only takes 40 min - time for a pee, a coffee and off I go again....

If you own a decent EV you rarely, if ever, charge in the way you talk about - its just not how you run them. Simple rule with EV's - ABC - Always Be Charing (charged) - so whenever possible, wherever you park, you are on charge...

In fact I've probably spent less time "fuelling" than you have! Its like the fuel station comes to you and fills your car up for you.... for about £3 !!!

Interesting how leaving it on charge will work out for you, the i3 (3 year old) I had use of lived on a fast charger and was down to ~65 mile range which dropped to 35 as soon as you set off. Made it only useful for driving around town.