Green and 4x4’s – what springs to mind? Pulling horse boxes up green lanes or the transporting the well-heeled kids to school perhaps? Or is the Outlander PHEV from Mitsubishi changing these stereotypes? And showing that there’s an eco-way-ahead for those who need the off road capabilities of SUV’s, and have lifestyles that fit electric hybrid driving habits? Unlike other SUV’s, the Outlander PHEV is driven by twin electric motors, either on battery for short journeys – up to 30 miles – then by a petrol motor which quietly fires-up when your batteries are struggling. Using batteries for most everyday commutes makes travelling incredibly cheap and green (if you’re charging it from a renewable energy tariff). For longer journeys the petrol engine powers the Outlander’s electric motors. The results, potentially frugal everyday 4x4 motoring? We took PHEV on a festive family tour to see how if performed. If you’re worried about space being limited by the batteries, don’t be, this is a full sized SUV, capable of carrying all the kids, the dog and luggage too. The first leg of our journey was a long motorway run to Newcastle, with a planned stop halfway to top up the batteries. Unfortunately best-laid plans fell flat when we arrived at the charging point to find it ‘out of order’! Luckily we were in a hybrid! Or a restless night in a motorway service station would have wrecked our plans. 5 hours later we arrived feeling remarkably fresh having made full use of the cars adaptive cruse control and the well-equipped cabin. Next day – fully charged… having blagged a free battery top up in our hosts garage, we headed off silently to the beach at Seaton Sluice, here they even had EV charging points – well, unfortunately all the signage was there, but no chargers! Otherwise another 25+ miles would have been up for grabs! Windswept and fully fed, we headed back down south to North Yorkshire for another overnight stop. With another overnight charge, we travelled comfortably back to the Midlands where unfortunately the lack of an available extension lead scuppered a final overnight top up at a friend’s house. Better luck was to be had the next morning as the services on the M42 enabled us to use the superfast DC charger and we were 90% charged in no time. Now the big question, what MPG did we achieve on along trip? 37.5 miles per gallon, not too bad for a petrol two tonne SUV and all those missed charging opportunities! And since we’ve been back, over 62 miles per gallon doing normal running about on petrol and electricity. Much better mileage figures would have been achieved again if my Plug-in card membership had worked locally! Will the Outlander PHEV suit your lifestyle? Possibly if: • You’ve got the space for a charging point • Doing regular battery range commutes • You are a company car driver, or live in London and have off-street parking! No • If your only choice is street parking • You are only pounding up and down motorways • Or you’re a technophobe who forgets to charge your phone! My only grips with the PHEV? Switching-off lane deviation system bleeper and curt voiceover on the frustrating to use sat-nav. The biggest issue is not the EV vehicles’ its the rubbish infrastructure for electric car drivers, confusing membership schemes, unreliable and potentially dangerous charging stations, which could leave you stranded. All this needs addressing if pure electric cars are going to be a realistic option for longer journeys. Hybrids still seem to be the most versatile vehicles by miles!

• published: 14 Jan 2015
• views: 21890