[popac]

Surprisingly, there is still not much info out there nor in the Forum on the Pachy's electric engin's acceleration (and torque). I would appreciate if the current owners can share their take on the acceleration from the stop as well as while driving let's say at 40mph. How does it feel? How fast is it?

EV cars are usually quite snappy at low speed and I would like to know if Pachy follows that line too.
Thanks a lot

 

[ScorpyMjolnir]

I've put about 100 miles on, so not much yet. Mix of city and shirt range highway.

I don't feel it's lacking. I've only gotten in it hard 2 times, it felt more than adequate for having such a big ass.

 

[BlueTect]

It's definitely not fast, nor should it be, but it has plenty of power and good pick up in "EV mode". I put around 8o miles on mine and haven't accelerated from a stop yet to kick the engine on. Also while entering the interstate I was able to keep the car in Electric only even while merging.

 

[marcbsilverman]

How does the acceleration feel different between all EV and hybrid mode? Do you still get the EV instant torque in hybrid mode? Thanks!

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[BlueTect]

I couldn't tell the difference between the two modes. I had to display the hybrid info in the touch screen just to know if the engine was running.

The instant torque was still there but I didn't pay attention if it was better or worse in a particular mode.

I did find it interesting that even after the battery was depleted, the car would still run in EV mode at low speeds as along as their was some "juice" going back into the battery.

 

[marcbsilverman]

I couldn't tell the difference between the two modes. I had to display the hybrid info in the touch screen just to know if the engine was running.

The instant torque was still there but I didn't pay attention if it was better or worse in a particular mode.

I did find it interesting that even after the battery was depleted, the car would still run in EV mode at low speeds as along as their was some "juice" going back into the battery.

Interesting. My understanding is that even in hybrid mode the electric motor(s) are still directly connected to the wheels and the ICE drives the EV motors. If true there shouldn't be a different feel between modes.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

 

[ScorpyMjolnir]

Interesting. My understanding is that even in hybrid mode the electric motor(s) are still directly connected to the wheels and the ICE drives the EV motors. If true there shouldn't be a different feel between modes.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

In hybrid mode, it ADDS engine power to wheels with the electric motors. So 1 motor is power, 2 motors is power+, 2 motors plus engine is power ++. There is a definite difference in available acceleration if you get on it hard enough to engage the ICE.

 

[chrissbu]

Interesting. My understanding is that even in hybrid mode the electric motor(s) are still directly connected to the wheels and the ICE drives the EV motors. If true there shouldn't be a different feel between modes.

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That was my understanding as well. But I've been looking for more details to confirm that. I vaguely recall a video somewhere with the engineers discussing the different modes...I'll have to go back and see if I can find it.

 

[csnyder]

It certainly feels like the ICE is contributing power directly to the wheels. The energy gauge on the left has an indication of when the ICE will engage—there's a bar that transitions from green (electric-only) to blue (ICE assist), 50% of the way up the gauge.

On a side note, I managed to squeal the tires the other day when trying to engage the ICE to demonstrate it to my father-in-law.

 

[jtangm04]

There is definitely a good amount of kick. The street I live on is at a bottom of the hill so cross traffic can go about 45-55mph. I had no issue making a right hand turn where I had to accelerate a little more aggressively without pissing off oncoming traffic.

 

[dlieu]

the combined electric power of two motors IIRC is about 140 kw. This is not a lot for such a big car (for comparison, my Chevy Spark has a 115 kw motor, although it is capable of pretty lively acceleration). So yes there has to be mechanical intake from the ICE to wheels. The only thing i don't quite understand is how they do that with a 1-speed transmission that presumably doesn't have a CVT capability.

 

[willrobinson]

The acceleration is way better than in our 2012 Grand Caravan. I haven't been able to bring myself to "punch it" so I don't know the max acceleration, but I did get into it enough to get the gas engine to kick in briefly. For a minivan, I think it's more than adequate. I teased my wife that I'm going to give her the Keysense key and limit her speed, but she'll probably do it to me.

 

[marcbsilverman]

Car and driver says 0-60 is 7.8s

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx-duOZMaL7XVU1qSzRTamI1WXNrQzNFaC1kM25VX3VoaVRN/view?usp=drivesdk

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

 

[mnx]

140kW = 187hp FWIW.

That's a good amount of power for getting off the line.

Is it easy to get maximum acceleration in EV mode without having the ICE kick in? I'm used to driving my Tesla spiritedly and am hoping I can summon all 140kW easily without having the engine kick on.

the combined electric power of two motors IIRC is about 140 kw. This is not a lot for such a big car (for comparison, my Chevy Spark has a 115 kw motor, although it is capable of pretty lively acceleration). So yes there has to be mechanical intake from the ICE to wheels. The only thing i don't quite understand is how they do that with a 1-speed transmission that presumably doesn't have a CVT capability.

 

[Mike]

the combined electric power of two motors IIRC is about 140 kw. This is not a lot for such a big car (for comparison, my Chevy Spark has a 115 kw motor, although it is capable of pretty lively acceleration). So yes there has to be mechanical intake from the ICE to wheels. The only thing i don't quite understand is how they do that with a 1-speed transmission that presumably doesn't have a CVT capability.

I'm pretty sure I saw a video or something out there explaining this...

It's a 9-speed transmission. All three motors feed into the same transmission via planetary gears. So all three engines physically drive the wheels and can do so simultaneously, individually, or in any other combination as required.

I'll see if I can find the thing that explains it all. I know I saw it somewhere.

EDIT: Not sure if this will work but I've uploaded a pdf that generally explains the engineering behind the hybrid powertrain.

 

[csnyder]

I'm pretty sure I saw a video or something out there explaining this...

It's a 9-speed transmission. All three motors feed into the same transmission via planetary gears. So all three engines physically drive the wheels and can do so simultaneously, individually, or in any other combination as required.

I'll see if I can find the thing that explains it all. I know I saw it somewhere.

EDIT: Not sure if this will work but I've uploaded a pdf that generally explains the engineering behind the hybrid powertrain.

The EVT transmission doesn't really have "speeds"—I believe that it has a near-infinite selection of "gears". I've seen it described as a "1-speed" in various online listings (probably because those listings don't allow free-text entry for that info).

In my experience, there isn't really any feeling of the vehicle "shifting". It's really quite strange, in a pleasant way. I've also noticed that when I'm stopping I have to fight the urge to prevent the vehicle from "stalling" (my other car is a manual). I'm actually really enjoying getting jarred like this—it's a reminder of how advanced this vehicle really is.

 

[deegeese]

It's a 9-speed transmission. All three motors feed into the same transmission via planetary gears. So all three engines physically drive the wheels and can do so simultaneously, individually, or in any other combination as required.

Sorry but I think you're confusing the 9-speed ZF transmission of the gas model with the 1 speed eCVT planetary gearset of the hybrid. You're right that any combination of the gas engine and 2 electric motors can contribute based on conditions, but the gear ratio for the gas engine can vary continuously depending on what the electric motors are doing to the ring gear and sun gear of the planetary set.

 

[dlieu]

Interesting. so there is CVT for the gas engine intake only after all, right?

 

[dlaws]

I noticed on the energy gauge, that after EV mode is exhausted, any available battery power left will be used to get the vehicle started from a dead stop. So you get the EV high torque even in hybrid mode. Then after a few seconds the ICE will kick in. My overall impression is that this is considerably more peppy than my 2008 T&C. Its a completely different feel.

 

[mnx]

I haven't been able to accelerate with more than 90kW feeding into the electric motors before the gas engine kicks in.

I really really really wish that this thing had an EV mode!