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2016 GOLF GTE - Battery Life in Hybrid Mode

10K views 33 replies 8 participants last post by  MrPaulus 
#1 ·
Hi guys - currently weighing up my options with getting the Golf GTE and haven't been able to find much info on the Battery life when using hybrid mode. From what i've read it will last about 30-40 miles on EV only but im curious as to how long it would last if i'm also using petrol and what kind of MPG I could expect. Basically weighing up between this and a Diesel.

I'm also curious on your opinions of whether a GTE would be suitable for me.

Current commute: 120 miles per day (60 miles each way)
Charging point at work only
Mostly motorway with some country roads for the last 20 miles

Does anyone have experience with this car? Cheers!
 
#2 ·
MY16 GTE will not do anything near 30 EV miles.

Best will be 24 on a good day.

Now with the efficiency (get a charging point installed at home!), you will get about 80 or 90mpg on the 100-0% run. On the EV empty run you can probably get something like 50mpg.

If you get charging at both ends, the GTE will easily win over a diesel. With only one charge, you will need to be very good with your EV use and optimise it. I still think the GTE will be better, but it will be close especially in winter.
 
#5 ·
Think of the electric motor in hybrid mode as a ‘fuel multiplier’, ie it will make the most of your fuel by assisting the ICE when driving.

Depending on how you drive, you should achieve 45-50mpg.

However, you can get that sort of mpg from a regular petrol Golf (or other modern ICE car) albeit without the performance of a GTE. If you use that performance then you’ll not get the 45 mpg either.

The key thing is, you really need to be able to plug it in at home as well, otherwise you’ll be relying on just the work charger to help with your journey home or even worse using petrol to charge the battery, which is nonsense.

Plug in hybrids need to be plugged in and charged as much as possible, otherwise there are better options.
 
#4 ·
It will depend on the exact one you get, they range between 8kwh and 13kwh battery packs. The 13kwh one get about '30 miles' (VW quote) .

My 225xe is 10kwh and I used to get the 25 miles to work and 25 back just about (warm months) and it's range is around that, but that's not motorway speeds that's backroads with little traffic.

I'd say on motorway (judging from mine's range at motorway speeds is about 15ish) I'd say 20ish miles on motorway.

Then it has the standard VW 1.4, which isn't bad on efficiency.

So If you get a 13kwh one that's what you will get, if getting the 8.7kwh one then extrapolate down...
 
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#9 ·
For a 120 mile daily I would stay away from Phev. If you have guaranteed charging at work you could get about EV from Leaf30 to e Golf etc. If you don’t want to be bothered with work charging I’d get Leaf40, Zoe40, MG ZS etc.

You could always get petrol / diesel if you don’t want a full EV


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#11 ·
All depends, if you can charge at home (even off granny) and at work it may be a bit better, and you get the instant torque of the leccy motor. On the 225xe I get 50's on average (but that's a turbo 3 cyl not a 1.4) and when you want fun sport mode is proper quick to 80 (where electric turns off)

So all about what you want.
 
#14 ·
E gof has 140ish mile range quoted, so think of it as 100 in winter, so should be ok for you as long as you can charge both ends. Look into the olev grant to see if they would cover install of charge at the back of house.

Or outside of VW lots of options for 150ish mile range cars.
 
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#17 ·
Ouch no olev grant then. But I'm in same situation can't get grant and chargers are not super bad. But like everything, have to do what's right for you. If you go with something with decent range though, you could charge at work and not worry about home, then use fast charger around you for other times?

Suppose depends on budget and whether you really want a VW or dont mind.
 
#18 ·
Ouch no olev grant then. But I'm in same situation can't get grant and chargers are not super bad. But like everything, have to do what's right for you. If you go with something with decent range though, you could charge at work and not worry about home, then use fast charger around you for other times?
Yeah something like an ID3 would work because it has such a high range - But then the car itself is going to cost a whole lot more :D All fun and games.
 
#24 ·
Remember the cost benefits of not using petrol. But that's money over time, vs money out of pocket right now. But its all down to personal circumstances.

I'm happy with my 225xe and glad I bought it, but it just proved to me (even though I have a challenging home charge situation) that I should have gone BEV instead, fortunately all the times linked up, so the iX3 is now launched, but gotta do what's best for you and your personal finance / situation
 
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#31 ·
@Robbze the high miles per tank are down to multiple charges before you use any fuel. So driving 20 miles a day as I do I can charge at home and drive to work and back and then to the shops at the weekend. All without using a drop of Dino juice. In theory you can get many thousand miles from a "tank" but you are still filling the battery multiple times.

For your use you could get good overall mpg (including ev cost) if you pay attention to where you use the battery charge. I tend to put it in battery hold mode for high speed sections. I find it uses the same fuel as hybrid mode but you don't lose any charge. Then switch back to ev for the off motorway sections.

It's not just about outright cost though. Potentially better for the environment/health. You can pre-heat/cool the car. I came out to my car last winter and jumped into a warm, defrosted box and drove off.
 
#33 ·
The issue is hybrid mode will use the battery at vastly different rates depending on how it's driven, terrain, roads used, etc. The rate of battery use is far more sensitive in my experience than how a diesel uses fuel in similarly varied use cases.
It's a difficult question to answer which is why the discussion went the way it did.
 
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