Winter Charge Level

[BoilerBruce]

I bought a 2014 C max energy last summer. The dealer had evaluated the battery and said it was at 90% little bits original life. Last summer on a full charge I was easily getting 18 to 20 miles. Now, in the winter, I am only getting 10 miles. Is that typical police cars? 

[C-MaxA2]

'Is that typical police cars?'   Can't answer that one.

 

But C-Max mileage goes down in the winter.  Why?  Because heating the car can't be done well with a battery so the C-Max fires up the engine to give you heat. I keep my car cold (my wife gets irritated) and my mileage is substantially better than my wife's (we both have C-Maxs). 

 

The less you run the AC or the heat the better your mpgs.  And using the terrain (letting off on the gas when going downhill and building up speed before uphills). 

[adam1991]

On 1/30/2023 at 2:27 PM, C-MaxA2 said:

But C-Max mileage goes down in the winter.  Why?  Because heating the car can't be done well with a battery so the C-Max fires up the engine to give you heat. I keep my car cold (my wife gets irritated) and my mileage is substantially better than my wife's (we both have C-Maxs). 

 

The less you run the AC or the heat the better your mpgs.

The problem with that is, the C-Max uses cabin air to condition the battery.  The battery is best in environmental conditions that make YOU comfortable, and the system simply circulates cabin air around the battery, so if you're comfortable, the battery is too.  If you're not, the battery isn't.

 

It's counterproductive NOT to run the climate control, even if that means using gas.  In the long run, it's cheaper to use the gas in winter and make the cabin and the battery happy compared to making the battery suffer.

 

Things are way different on the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, where it uses engine coolant and A/C to condition the battery--and it even has an inline electric coolant heater.  The ECH will take miles off your range, but it will keep the engine from running on a cold day just to create waste heat to comfort the battery.  But that's all a discussion for another day.