We attempt to drive the entirety of the S60's 22-mile electric range without the gasoline engine intervening.
TranscriptBYRON HURD: Hey, everybody. Associate Editor Byron Hurd here. You're joining me in my garage, which, for today, happens to be the Autoblog long-term garage. This is our Volvo S60 T8 Inscription. We're going to do something a little different with it today.
Obviously, with social distancing and all that, we haven't really been able to do the kind of in-car video that we enjoy doing for you guys. So we've had to improvise a little bit. And I'm going to be doing this as a solo project
So what we're going to do is we're going to take the Volvo, which I fully charged-- it has 22 miles of EPA range. We're going to see if we can actually drive it all 22 miles without the gas engine turning on.
Now, this may not seem like much of a challenge. You just drive it until the battery runs out. But, with some cars, especially this one, there is no way to actually force it to stay in electric mode all the time. If you ask too much of the throttle, the gasoline engine will turn on to provide that extra oomph you need.
So what we're going to do is we're going to put it in pure mode, which is as close as it gets to a dedicated-ED mode. And we're going to see if we can drive all 22 EPA-certified miles without the gas engine turning on. Will it do it? We'll find out. This might actually end up being more a test of my ability to control my right foot than a test of anything mechanical going on with the car. We'll see what happens.
All right, guys. So, getting this all fired up here, I topped this off at home using the 110 volt charger that comes with the car. For an EV, that's not really ideal. But, for a plug-in like this, it can actually get the job done fairly effectively.
The range estimate for the battery is currently showing 23 miles, which is actually one better than the EPA rating. And I'm going to go ahead and switch our drive mode here to pure, which is the ECO drive mode. This is as close to a dedicated, electric-only mode as this particular car has. So, with that, let's hit the road.
One of the trickiest parts of this is making sure I don't accidentally activate the gas engine. This thing has a twin-charged engine that produces more than 300 horsepower all by itself. The rest of the punch comes from the electric axle. They combine for 400 horsepower.
I have a very heavy right foot. I like to go fast. I like to accelerate quickly. The temptation exists for me to do that at every opportunity. Resisting that will be difficult. There's a reason we're not going on the highway.
Because really what we're doing here is playing a little game with the S60's computer. We want to get strictly electric mileage out of this, if possible. So, in order to do that, we're just taking it as easy as we can, avoiding too-brisk acceleration, making use of braking and regeneration built into the hybrid system.
You can see here, we're leaving downtown Berkeley. You might be able to see the mural over my left shoulder there. Heading north on Coolidge. And we're going to cut over to Woodward. And this test will officially begin, E36 four-door M3 sedan.
My colleague Joel recently did a write up on this where he described this power train and how it operates in normal driving. One of the downsides to this otherwise wonderful car is that the power-train refinement could use a little work. Today, that actually kind of works in our favor because, when the gas engine turns on, the sound and the vibration are so pronounced that it's virtually impossible not to notice. So, if-- let's face it, when I eventually screw up and accidentally activate the gas engine, we're going to know immediately.
OK, I've made it onto Woodward, here in Michigan, the land of no left turns. I'm going to hang out in the right lane for much of this drive. First of all, the electric motor in this is good for about 100 horsepower, and this is a 4,000 pound car. f If I don't want to tax it too much, I need to be a bit chill. So, normally, I would be among those who, let's say, commute assertively. That will not be the case today.
This also gives me the opportunity to really drink in just how quiet this cabin is. We're in electric mode. There's just the barest hiss of road noise, a little bit of engine noise and wind noise from passing cars. But, honestly, it's just incredibly serene in here.
And this is on winter tires. We actually replaced the factory rubber with winter tires when we added this part to the fleet. So this isn't even the ideal spec for a quiet interior.
On a normal day, I would be thankful for all of these green lights. But, today, we're missing out on opportunities to recharge the Volvo's battery, which could cut this test a lot shorter than I bargained for.
Passing the Autoblog corporate office here in Birmingham, Michigan, bit of a ghost town right now. I hear there's nothing inside but zombies and the ghost of Steven Ewing. Now passing through Birmingham, Michigan on Woodward Avenue.
Birmingham, under normal circumstances, is a car-spotting dreamland. If you live in the Detroit area, you probably already know this. If you don't, well, this is an area where summer toys are on display the instant the weather turns nice.
We had 70 degree temperatures yesterday. It was sunny and beautiful. And you can hear engines howling from a mile away, a beautiful area, an expensive area, but a very pleasant distraction if you're into cars.
We are now making our way out of Birmingham. And, again, there are not too many red lights on Woodward. And we're starting to feel it a little bit. The range indicator has now dropped to just 17 miles of electric availability, and I'm skeptical that we're going to be able to make it all the way through our loop.
I was hopeful before, even though we were pushing it a bit. The loop on Woodward from Berkeley to Pontiac and back would have been approximately 24 and 1/2 miles. So it was a little ambitious even from the jump, but I'm feeling even worse about it now.
We just entered Bloomfield Hills, which is the town immediately north of Birmingham. We are now seeing just 16 miles of electric range remaining. And, at this point, we should still be at least, I want to say, seven or eight miles from our turnaround point. So it's not looking great.
I wanted to be clear that I'm not engaging in any mileage improvement things, no hypermiling tactics. My goal here, again, not to stretch the range, just to get all the way through it without turning on that engine.
On any other day, doing the speed limit even in the right lane on Woodward Avenue would be a great way to get killed. Here, during a coronavirus lockdown, the weather turning south yet again, it's empty out here. It feels very strange, even for Detroit.
Well, we're now somewhere north of Bloomfield Hills. And we effectively run out of stoplights. The weather has turned, to say the least. We've gone from a sunny 40-ish to-- well, what is falling looks like snow, and it's hitting the windshield like rain. So, in other words, it's gross. We're now down to just 13 miles of available electric range. The engine has still not kicked on, so things are going well enough.
OK, good news-- we've reached our turnaround loop here. We are at the terminus of Woodward, which is just a-- it literally looks like the eye of a needle, great big loop. So I'm going to do the loop, and we're going to head back south.
We've reached Pontiac with nine miles of electric range remaining. Pontiac's a fascinating place. I've only been here once, and that was to go to a FCA event at the M1 Concourse, which is a racetrack that's just kind of tucked into the little town here. It's in a weird spot, to be perfectly honest.
It's not the best track in the world. It's pretty small but enjoyable enough, technical, tight. Imagine if the park next to your house were a racetrack.
And we are at the top of our turnaround loop, and we will now be making our way back south toward Detroit, toward our final destination. And we have eight miles of our trip remaining.
So there are two indicators for the remaining range in this vehicle, one for electric battery and one for total reach. Both are represented like digital fuel gauges here in the cluster. I'm noting that, as we sit here with just seven miles remaining, the battery depletion gauge is actually showing about a third. So, technically, we should still be on pace for the target EPA range. I'm skeptical as to whether we're actually going to achieve it.
So we're now leaving Pontiac southbound, showing six miles of electric range or about a quarter of our total charge. Six miles from the southern end of Pontiac, I suspect we're going to hear the gasoline engine turn on somewhere around Birmingham. Fingers crossed.
We're now down to just five miles remaining, and the speed limit has increased yet again to 50 miles per hour up from 35 when we were in downtown Pontiac. So this is going to hit that total pretty aggressively here as we make our way back south. And, as I brake, as I did for this red light, the hybrid information display in the cluster actually shows the regenerative braking as it happens. That wasn't a very aggressive braking situation, so I didn't get back a ton. The range needle literally didn't move but still fascinating to see.
Now that we're down to just five miles of electric range, I'm being especially ginger with my acceleration. With the battery near a depleted state of charge, I'm concerned that even mild aggression with the throttle might activate the engine.
We are now back in Bloomfield Hills, heading southbound. We're showing four miles of electric range, so Birmingham is looking even more likely. And speed limit's still 50. It remains 50 until we reach the southern end of this city, I believe.
So [INAUDIBLE] we're kind of approaching moment of truth here. I've never actually driven the car this way for the entirety of its available charge, so it's going to be interesting to see what actually happens, whether the battery will fully deplete and the engine will cut on right as we hit the limit of its electric range or if the engine will cut on before we hit zero in order to replenish the battery and keep it operating in EV mode as much as possible. We're venturing into uncharted territory, and I must admit I'm kind of curious.
Just now passing the turn off for old Woodward, which goes through historic downtown Birmingham. The speed limit is now down to 45 miles per hour again. We're just about to pass the Autoblog offices, once again, on our southbound journey here.
Showing one mile of electric range, we are going to run out just as we passed the Autoblog offices at this rate. It'd be very appropriate to have an engine turn on as we pass the currently deserted building. I really hope Steven's poltergeist appreciates this.
We're still showing the barest tick of charge remaining in the gauge. The engine has not cut on yet. Our remaining electric range is now just showing two bars. We're now back south of 14 mile road.
The battery's state of charge is now showing completely depleted, but we still do not have a gas engine activation. We are still gliding downhill. Now approaching 13 mile road. We're getting just the most gradual of uphill grades here now. We've got some construction here. Try not to run over any of our fine road workers.
OK, I've now had to come to a complete stop to make this right turn because there was a truck. Still no sign of that gas engine, gliding away, pure electric power.
Still electric. We're in the homestretch here. We are about to re-enter Berkeley. And there's still been no sign of that gas engine, even though we've shown a fully depleted state of charge for about 2 and 1/2 miles now.
There it is. The engine just cut on. All right, so we made it I'm going to say about 24 miles, which is pretty good considering there were very few stop signs, very few stoplights, very few opportunities for the regenerative braking to actually do us much good. We also were averaging about 50 miles an hour, which is probably a little bit quicker than a typical city commute is going to be.
But I'm-- I have to say, I'm quite impressed. 24-ish miles, I'm going to do the math once I get back, and so the written version of this will include the final mileage total. But, again, you know, that wasn't the point.
The idea was to see if we could actually drive this as an EV without the gasoline engine cutting in. And we did it. So, not only were we able to drive all 22 EPA miles on pure electric power, we actually managed to net out a few bonus miles, which is impressive considering the route consisted of basically no stop-and-go driving, which is where a hybrid or EV actually thrives.
So we were able to drive this car on whatever the electrical equivalent of fumes are for I'm going to say, just back of the napkin, 3 and 1/2 or 4 miles, which is, honestly, impressive. So, now that we've completed that part of the test, I'll go ahead and point out that the mode we were driving in is called pure or ECO drive. It is one of just four drive modes available here.
There is pure, hybrid, which is your everyday, just acts like a hybrid. There is individual, which allows you to tailor certain aspects of the power train and the steering and the other elements to your personal interests. And then there's power mode, which is my mode.
It's the mode I use all the time because, when you have a 400 horsepower plug-in hybrid, you have a 400 horsepower car. I don't really care how you get it. It's 400 horsepower, and I like horsepower.
Now that we've depleted the battery, I've gone ahead and switched it over to power mode because we've got nothing left to lose. And, when it's operating in this mode, it actually replenishes the battery intentionally so that you have enough juice when you really want that extra oomph. It's not necessary to run it in this mode in order to replenish the battery. Driving it as a hybrid we'll do that naturally.
If you spend a lot of time on the highway, it'll deplete, and it will never really replenish. That's just one of the downsides to a hybrid, especially a plug-in. When you get it on the highway, that's just not its ideal environment. It's not going to perform at its best.
That said, the combined mileage rating for this vehicle-- and, since it's a plug-in, that's the only figure the EPA gives-- is 30 miles per gallon. That's still pretty decent considering that you're really only ever going to see those numbers if you drive it exclusively on the highway and don't bother to charge the thing. Several members of the Autoblog staff have actually done just that.
This car was driven from the Detroit area to Chicago for the Chicago Auto Show in February by a couple of our videographers. I drove it from Detroit to Maryland and back by way of Cleveland, which is on the way, anyway. Both of those times we made no effort to top off the battery before we departed and we were driving it completely depleted almost immediately and still managed to average between 30 and 32 miles per gallon, which isn't half bad.
30 to 32 miles per gallon is probably about the average highway rating for a four-cylinder luxury car of this size. So, essentially, what you're getting here is a 400 horsepower plug-in hybrid that can go 22 miles on pure EV power and get the same mileage you would get out of a 180 horsepower Mercedes whatever. That doesn't suck.
As an added bonus, something I just effectively demonstrated is that, if I were to drive this car on a daily basis commute to and from the office from Berkeley to Birmingham and back, plugging this in both at the office and when I get home in the evenings, I could effectively drive this car indefinitely without using gas. That's not nothing.
OK, we made it. We're back. The test was successful. We managed to do at least 22 miles without the gas engine coming on.
As you can see, I've returned to Berkeley to find that the snow, rain, sleet disaster that is falling has caught up to me and really just in the nick of time. So I'm going to head inside where it's pleasant, and I'll catch you next time.
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