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But: Why would filling it to 100% not be as bad as it is in a BEV? Full is full; only the battery is smaller than most BEVs?
To my understanding PHEV batteries are designed to be charged more frequently and with less degradation than larger BEV batteries. Even BEV batteries are still able to be charged to 100% without much degradation but most stick to the 20-80% rule because it still gives them plenty of range for day to day commutes. Also, the charging time is significantly slower from 80% to 100% for BEVs
Just checked on the phone app and it says it's set to max out at 80%...but the car itself says 100%. Also, I can't see in the app how to change the maximum. I'm not so good with apps....
I have attached screenshots below. If you hit the little grey box where it says "Max 100%" you'll get a drop down menu that allows you to change the max percentage. This of course only works when the battery is lower than your set percentage so you'll need to use up your fully charged battery before you try this
I also read up a bit on the PHEV battery % thing and understand that the battery's total capacity is 31.2 kWh and the plug-in portion of that 31.2 kWh is 23.3 kWh (the latter being the capacity announced in North America; the former in Europe - but it's the same battery!).
So 75% of the total battery capacity is plug-in and 25% is regular hybrid. Roughly half of the regular hybrid battery capacity is normally empty (because that's how they work, apparently) and so it means that even at 100%, this PHEV will only have 87.5% total charge. Or maybe 90%.....far less than 100% anyway.
Some, if not all, electric vehicles have buffers at the low end and high end of the batteries. In other words, there is capacity below the indicated 0 level and above the indicated 100% level.
That being said, VW advises us owners of ID4s not to charge over 80% unless you are going on a long trip and then you can charge to 100% if you take off soon after charging, so as to not sit for a long time at 100%. But maybe Mercedes has a large buffer where 100% charging is OK?
I haven't found a setting that allows you to change the default drive mode but you only have to press one button to change to Hybrid from Electric mode. Also, why would you want to start in Hybrid mode vs Electric?
I prefer to drive on gas when on the freeway and if you are in Electric mode the car will use battery, but it's more economical to use gas at freeway speeds. So if I could have Hybrid as a default mode then I don't need to change from Electric to Hybrid when going onto/off the freeway.
The Type 1 120V charger is slow (1.2-1.3 kW), but in one sense slow is good, as slow means cool (or less hot) and heat is not good for batteries. But I'm still thinking that a Type 2 for home - which we don't have yet - would be good.
For anyone with a Type 2, can you throttle them back a bit, reduce the charging rate a little?
My car seems to constantly default to 100% full no matter what the car or phone setting is at (usually 80 when I have tried), which seems a bit odd.
I prefer to drive on gas when on the freeway and if you are in Electric mode the car will use battery, but it's more economical to use gas at freeway speeds. So if I could have Hybrid as a default mode then I don't need to change from Electric to Hybrid when going onto/off the freeway.
Unless you live right beside the highway, you'll need to drive on city roads to get to the highway so being in electric is going to benefit you more than being in hybrid mode. Once you're closer to the highway, you just have to press the right side of the drive select button once and you'll be hybrid mode. Its pretty simple. Are you driving more than 80km for your daily commute? My commute involves a little bit of highway driving and I always leave mine in electric because its still cheaper per km/mile than being in hybrid mode (that is, if you're driving less than 80-100km).
Unless you live right beside the highway, you'll need to drive on city roads to get to the highway so being in electric is going to benefit you more than being in hybrid mode. Once you're closer to the highway, you just have to press the right side of the drive select button once and you'll be hybrid mode. Its pretty simple. Are you driving more than 80km for your daily commute? My commute involves a little bit of highway driving and I always leave mine in electric because its still cheaper per km/mile than being in hybrid mode (that is, if you're driving less than 80-100km).
I have to drive a short distance to get onto the freeway, but in Hybrid mode the car would use battery on normal roads and automatically switch to gas when I speed up after getting onto the freeway, no button pressing required.
I waxed the car for the first time today. Smooth!Taking it to Vancouver tomorrow and then to Penticton, 500 km away, on the 11th, for a mini-holiday and Granfondo bike race.
Just curious, have you tried restarting the vehicle? Were you able to return home before you turned it off? Weird meesage for sure, curious to see what Mercedes says
The car popped up with this fun message on the drive home and we had been planning to stop at a grocery store but headed straight home and shut it off in our driveway.
I didn't want to "disobey" a clear warning not to restart. To put the car in neutral, it had to be activated briefly this AM, but it was not driven.
The car was winched by the towing eye onto the flatbed this AM and the dealer can figure it out.
It had better be an actual component failure because ghosts in the machine (no error code stored) have been the bane of all cars since the check engine light was invented. As disappointing as this early problem is, I am hopeful that it is not representative of the years to come. I will have little tolerance for an ongoing problem like this in any new car.
I can't log in and I can't create an account there - I get an error.
Didn't hear anything by day's end. The car probably only got into the shop in the late afternoon.
I was on a road trip in the 19 year old smart convertible (that's never broken down) today so was able to snoop on the app and I found this thing. Sounds like they're having lots of fun with it.
I can't log in and I can't create an account there - I get an error.
Didn't hear anything by day's end. The car probably only got into the shop in the late afternoon.
I was on a road trip in the 19 year old smart convertible (that's never broken down) today so was able to snoop on the app and I found this thing. Sounds like they're having lots of fun with it.
Sorry for the confusion, that remote diagnostic is not for customers, it is used by the dealership, what I meant was ask your dealership to remotely diagnose the vehicle if you don't want to bring it in or can't bring it in yet.
a number of these cars in Canada have had the same issue, and been updated
continue to drive and monitor
I'll pick it up late this afternoon if I can bum a ride from one of my daughters.
Frankly I'd have preferred that it was a failed component. If the self-protection software cries wolf too often, it starts to remind me of the HAL9000 predicting a failure in the AE35 unit, and being wrong, and then murdering Frank Poole .
Thanks for the update! Glad to hear it was nothing too serious. It sounds like a lot of the new GLC problems are software related. I don't understand why the dealerships don't update all the software modules prior to delivering these vehicles. Pure laziness. I had a sensor air message last month that is likely software related but I haven't had a chance to drop off the vehicle yet. The error message hasn't happened for the past several weeks though.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
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