Hyundai Tucson Plug-In Hybrid - real-world fuel economy test with empty battery 

Thank you very much!

Thank you very much!

Thank you!

You're welcome!

You're welcome!

I guess 100% indicate the gross capacity and what stays in is there for maintaining the health of the battery. Around 40 % at HEVs and 20 % at PHEVs is normal as a safety buffer.

Not sure whether I can get one, but I'll try.

Thanks. I'm waiting hard on the RAV4 Prime. Here in Austria it hasn't been introduced officially, hopefully within the next 2 months or so. I've been promised to get one as soon as the dealer gets it.

Hi, thanks. You either can use the satnav-function (I don't know how exactly it works with the Tucson, but most PHEV have this) which decides which mode is used and will arrive with empty battery. My experience is that this works well most of the time, you just need to find out. With my Volvo (which has this function but leaves a bit too much juice in the battery) I normally use EV-Mode when going at slower speeds, 80 and below, above that I set it on hold to preserve the energy for when it makes more sense to use it and if I haven't used all the energy I use it towards the end of the trip.

Hi Andreas, you're welcome. I can't comment on any PHEV from Volkswagen-Group, as I haven't got any one yet. Sorry.

Hi, for effciency I'd go with Kuga all day long, other aspects (such as cargo room, passenger space, design, etc.) are too individual for every user so I can't comment on that.

Thank you for your reply and for what you do. I had the car in test for 3 days. I liked it very much. The fact that it has a heat pump seems like a big plus to me. The price by the way is a good one. I think in two days I will pay the deposit and then the long wait follows, unfortunately.

I'm talking about the Kuga here

I'll try to get one, however I'm depending on the dealer to have one available. My guess is it will be around 5,8-6,0.

Thank you for the quick reply.

Rated values can easily be beaten when you understand the technology, know how to use it and have the right driving style. Most people don't use their brains when they drive. I also blame car manufacturers and sales people, as they keep telling their customers that hybrids or EVs can be driven like conventional ICE-Cars. Most people don't have the slightest clue of how to drive ICE-cars and all of a sudden the got something even more complex (at least with hybrids). Motorway here is restricted to 100 kph (62 mph), I got 5,7 l/100 kms, 41,3 mpg.

@@ecodriver1746 thanks! What tips do you have to take advantage of the technology then? I'm pretty light on the pedal and try to maintain cruise control as long as possible. FYI, our speeds are 80mph so I am looking for results from 75mph or above. I've only seen one review mentioning it and they claimed 29mpg on the hybrid version, so presumably even less on the heavier PHEV in this video.

You can influence with your right foot when the petrol engine goes off, when you see you don't need power in lets say 200 feet then make sure that the engine goes off by lifting the foot quickly, you still can use the electric motor to get a little bit of power to cover the next bit. Cruise control is not very good for driving efficiently, as it keeps the speed at all cost, even if there is the slightest incline where it would make sense to reduce the speed by just one or two mph and reaccelerate when its flat again. The adaptive CC are also not helpful for driving efficiently (although great for safety and comfort) because it just reacts of what the driver in front of you is doing and therefore often uses the brakes or reduceds the speed unnecessarily, whereas a good driver looks much further ahead and smoothes out the behaviour of the car(s) in front of him by going much more steadily. About higher speeds I can seriously not give any verdict (except that the consumption will go up...), as I have no chance to test them at higher speeds myself.

The model I've tested would have used the engine to heat the interior. This is always quite inefficient. And if the battery is full then it can't even increase the load by charging the battery. Personally I don't think this is a clever way of doing this, but it might well be that there are options available, like external heater or heating by traction battery.

Hi John, it depends on the PHEV. There are some out there which give you probably close to 100 kms or range, like the RAV4. If you get an efficient-in-hybrid PHEV, like the Ford Kuga/Escape, which gives you around 70 kms of electric range and a very good fuel economy in hybrid-mode (check out my videos for this car) then a PHEV might be better. If you consider a PHEV with a small battery (around 10-12 kwh) and an inefficient drivetrain (like the Jeep Compass) then you probably better go for a diesel. Which PHEV are you considering?

Ecodriver Thank you for coming back to me. I want to go for the Tucson as it has 5 years unlimited warranty which at 40 kilometres a year it is important

The Tucson would be a good compromise, as you probably get 60 kms of electric range out of it (but make sure you preferably use electric mode at lower speeds), whereas in hybrid-mode it's medium efficient. The only issue with with Hyundai's hybrid is in the cold weather the heating is done by the petrol engine.

Ecodriver good to know, thank you. Just looked at price and it is €4K more expensive then Diesel, you would by a lot of diesel for €4K. Also resale value is only about €1.5k. However in 3 years would have about 130k on clock so battery warranty runs out at 160k so hard to sell. Looked at the Ionic 5 but I would be stressed all day as could only afford the 400 kilometres vehicle, so realistic 320 kilometres

Happy to help. You`re right, there are a lot more factors to be considered than consumption only. The only thing to keep in mind with a Diesel is that resale value of Diesels and Petrol-Cars is highly uncertain. They might slump as demand probably will go down as well (but on the other hand some say demand will go up as less new ICE-Cars will come to the market).

On flat roads roughly the same.

I try to show with every vehicle how economically it can be driven. Whether the car is a good offer in general is not topic of this channel. As long as a car is available on the market I try to show what is possible in terms of fuel/energy consumption.

@@ecodriver1746 That actually makes a lot of sense. I've been watching car reviews a lot, and they always talk about how cow comfortable the seats are or how big is cargo space etc but for me the most important part would be the economy (for me at least). Your content is actually filling a huge gap. Its unbiased, and if you make the same test to all the cars, the results will be straightforward. Keep up the good work, and thanks again!

Thank you! ☺️

@@Csubakka1 If you are working 5 days a week and your daily commute is under 50kms (76 kms in this video but realistically 50-60 kms) this car makes a lot of sense. Especially if you can charge at work you will pay almost 0$ for gas.

At least in the US, the RAV4 does not have AWD if the battery is depleted, so keep that in mind. That eliminated it from contention for me.

In theory yes, but personally I find this uncomfortably cold, especially as your feet don't get any heat. It needs to be said that Tucson is only one of a small number of PHEVs which work that way. Most others get heat from either battery or external heater which uses fuel from tank.

@@ecodriver1746 thanks! I'm in Canada so cold weather behaviour is important to me but I find it very hard to find the information. Do you have any other recommended resources to learn about which PHEVs behave in which way for cold?

I understand. The issue here is that many manufacturers have different equipement variants in different markets. It might well be that in Canada you get an external heater, whereas in the US you don't. Here it only helps to check with every manufacturer/dealer and take a proper testride.

@@MarkWitzel Same issue for me trying to figure out which PHEV will actually give me the best efficiency in Canadian winters. If you have found out which PHEVs work for us, please give me a shout.

Hello Mark. Did you find a more efficiently heated Phev vehicle for Canadian weather? I am looking at the Kia Sportage Phev after watching the Motor Mouth review from BC. ( Alternative to the Rav 4 due to the long wait for a Phev) The Mit. Outlanders seem to be having a lot of trouble this winter in the extreme cold. Glen in Parry Sound Ont.

Based on my experience and the knowledge of the technology especially Toyota's and also Ford's Hybrid Drivetrain (which are quite similar) allow to get proper consumption with low to medium revs. Revving high wouldn't even make sense there as the engines work in the Atkinson-cycle, which is most efficient at high loads and medium revs, whereas the Otto-Engine (sometimes with turbo) NEED high revs to deliver sufficient power to move the car. The Issue is not having torque, it's WHEN having the torque. Atkinson Motors are usually bigger with less power (especially given their size), but more efficient output at medium revs. I have tested many hybrids and never was under the impression that Toyotas (or Fords) are getting loud (caused by the engine, Toyotas are a bit louder on the motorway caused by wind). The problem (in my view) with the Hyundai is that the engine firstly is revving to high because its too small and the torque comes too late (which causes the higher consumption) and secondly the management of the hybrid system, which in city let the car accelerate from a standstill with the petrol engine and only at around 20-30 kph it goes off and the electric motor takes over. Purely from an efficiency standpoint that doesn't make sense in a hybrid (and so far no other car I've tested did this) and this is reflected in the consumption. I guess most people buy a hybrid for economical reasons and therefore I'm well of the opinion that the consumption figures reflect the benefit of the hybrid technology. Of course, all CVTs are getting loud if you push it hard, but so do torque-converter gearboxes, it just sounds different as the noise level changes when the gears change.

@@ecodriver1746A turbo engine does need to rev up as it has enough torque at lower revs. There goes your story in the bin. Learn some things before posting nonsense.