Not counting the kilometers: how to travel on a hybrid and not get lost
Hybrid cars have already ceased to be exotic and are noticeably superior in sales to "clean" electric cars. They offer an impressive power reserve and do not require a well-developed network of electric charges. In theory, such a car can easily travel long distances across Russia. But what about in practice? To check it out, Izvestia traveled to the Leningrad Region on Voyah Free Sport.
They support our
The share of hybrids in the market is still low — just over 8%, but sales are growing. In the first quarter, they more than doubled compared to last year. Voyah Free for Travel was selected as the top seller in its category in the Russian Federation. The car is not cheap, but thanks to the state subsidy of almost a million rubles, you can save money on its purchase.
The Voyah Free Sport is 4.9 m long and has a wheelbase of 2960 mm.
State support in Russia applies not only to electric trains, but also to sequential hybrids in which the internal combustion engine is not connected to the wheels, but serves to recharge the traction battery. Naturally, in order to receive a subsidy, the car must be built in Russia — in the case of Voyah Free, both of these conditions are met.
Should I believe the statement?
For modern hybrids, it is decent to specify a power reserve for a hybrid of 1000 km and above. The manufacturer Voyah Free claims that with a full tank and a charged battery, the crossover is able to travel just 1,000 km, of which 160 km on electric power. Using the example of electric vehicles, we know that such statements are often a marketing ploy and the stock is measured using special driving cycles that do not correspond well to reality.
The pneumatic suspension allows you to lower the body at speed and lift it off-road
So the Voyah Free flight computer, which counts the range according to the Chinese CLTC cycle, gives an extremely optimistic forecast — 186 km with a 90% charged battery and 991 km with a full tank. The fact is that in the Chinese cycle, the test vehicles make more stops, and the maximum speed limit is only 114 km/h. Therefore, the CLTC provides optimistic figures.
If you switch to the "dynamic" counting mode, the range is reduced to 958 km. The hotel in Lodeynoye Pole is just over 800 km away — it should be enough. However, more than 500 km of the route passes along the M11 highway with a speed limit of 130 km/h. It is believed that sequential hybrids do not charge the battery at high speed and turn into a "pumpkin" as the charge is exhausted.
How to ride a hybrid: theory and practice
The Voyah Free hybrid power plant operates in several modes, you can set the priority of movement on electric power or, conversely, on fuel, you can force the gasoline engine to charge the battery on the go, or trust the car to automatically choose when and on which source to move. Usually, a hybrid crawls in a traffic jam on electric power, and recharging is most effective at speeds up to 100 km / h and in a "torn" mode, when part of the energy is returned to the battery due to recovery.
Therefore, in order to get far, hybrid drivers are advised to stick to the "electric car" driving style, that is, to "throw up" in the far right lane.
Voyah Free has a special country mode that increases ground clearance at speeds up to 40 km/h. However, without these tricks, the car reached Andoma Mountain above Lake Onega on not the best roads.
In reality, electric cars and hybrids travel fast on the M11. The Lisyans and Evolutes stay in the left lane, and the Xiaomi crossover without license plates has overtaken us several times. I don't want to drive slowly on Voyah Free. This is a car with the acceleration of a sports car and a maximum speed of 200 km/ h, which it achieves without much difficulty. Two traction electric motors at their peak develop 490 hp and 720 Nm of torque.
Due to its wide track, large wheelbase and low center of gravity, it stands well on the road. At the same time, even with intense acceleration, the cabin is quiet, only the sound of the wind and the hum of tires are heard. Driving fast is not tiring, high speed is not felt.
For about one and a half hundred kilometers, the battery reserve was halved, but the average gasoline consumption on the flight computer fluctuated at the level of 5.5–6 liters per 100 km. It was worth going faster than 130, as the computer reduced the range on gasoline by 500 km at once, although the fuel level scale continued to show a full tank. Interestingly, when one division remains on the scale, the calculation of the remaining kilometers becomes very accurate. In the meantime, the flight computer is torn between optimism and pessimism.
At a constant high speed of over 110 km/h, there is no difference between auto mode and fuel mode — the car drains the battery, and the internal combustion engine makes it so that this does not happen quickly.
Spend or save
When the battery reserve drops below 20%, the acceleration dynamics of the Voyah Free drops noticeably, but the car retains the ability to maintain high speed. At about 14%, the internal combustion engine starts working and prevents the batteries from discharging further. The average gasoline consumption increases by about half, but since the power of electric motors is limited, the charging process does not require very high speeds.
The car accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in 4.8 seconds.
Another thing is the forced energy conservation mode. It charges the battery even at high speed, albeit slowly, by about 10% per hundred kilometers. In this mode, the revolutions of the gasoline engine take off and with them the consumption, the flight computer shows more than 12 liters "per hundred". Surprisingly, the difference between driving strategies does not significantly affect the power reserve. Whether you drain the battery below 20% or recharge it on the go, Voyah Free easily overcomes 543 km of the M11 expressway. Driving modes, Eco or Sport, at high speed also do not seem to play a significant role.
After that, there is still a reserve in the tank and in the battery for about a hundred kilometers of quiet movement. This, of course, is not what the marketers were talking about, and if you drive fast, then one tank may not be enough to get to St. Petersburg, but it is enough to move at the same pace as in a gasoline car, without fear that you will not get to the gas station. The main thing is to get used to the constantly changing figures of the remaining mileage — this, by the way, is a characteristic feature of most hybrids. And don't take them too seriously, at least until one division remains on the fuel gauge scale. Even after that, you can safely reach the gas station you like. The innovative Voyah Free gasoline engine is better filled with 95 gasoline, and no matter where.
Refuel properly
In some Chinese cars, the refueling gun is cut off before the tank is full. Voyah Free is one of them. Usually, the underflow reaches several liters, which will not be superfluous on a long journey. If you carefully pour gasoline in a thin stream, with pauses so that the neck does not "choke", then the tank with a declared volume of 56 liters contains a liter more.
It is also not superfluous to charge the traction battery before a long journey — these are also additional kilometers of mileage. In addition, as already mentioned, a charged battery gives you agility when overtaking. On the winding and narrow roads of the Leningrad region, this is important when you need to overtake a truck.
There are a large number of fast charging stations along the M-11 highway. And not only at gas stations, but also at recreation areas. Some people can distribute Wi-fi so that they can connect when the mobile Internet is unstable. Charging stations are less common outside the toll highway and at a distance from St. Petersburg, but there is no special need to look for them. For 300 km of slow movement along the highway, the battery charge increases from 18 to 79%. And this is charging on the go, the EHS would have to spend half an hour — and this is if the station is fast. Charging at a kilowatt cost of 27 rubles does not look like a profitable enterprise, especially when you consider how quickly the accumulated money is spent.
He's afraid of trucks, but not of pits.
Voyah Free, despite the fact that it looks like an urban dude, is well suited for long-distance travel. The comfortable front seats are equipped with ventilation and massage, the passenger has his own display on which you can watch movies, the Internet on board allows you to use Kinopoisk or VK-video. The car warns about pedestrian crossings and road repairs.
Adaptive cruise control is set up well, confidently keeps the car within the lane, even if the markings are unclear. However, he does not like trucks in the next lane, slowing down heavily before getting ahead of them.
It precisely dispenses thrust, but almost does not use recovery. On a flat road, this is not important, but on serpentines with steep descents, it is better to drive on your own, manually choosing different levels of regenerative mode. This allows you to additionally recharge the battery.
The air suspension not only allows you to move comfortably along the country road, but also to increase the ground clearance, albeit at low speed. The maximum height of 213 mm allows you to get off the asphalt and carefully overcome the broken road.
What to see in the Leningrad region
The northeast of the Leningrad Region definitely deserves special attention. It is worth going there for the silence of the northern nature, the heritage of the Vikings and Ancient Russia and the monuments of the Soviet period. It's worth starting with Volkhov, where there is an elegant hydroelectric power station, which this year marks just one hundred years old. Cozy Old Ladoga deserves a separate stop, presumably the first capital of Rurik and the place of the reign of Prophetic Oleg. Here you can admire the Volkhov River from the walls of the restored fortress in detail and get to know more about the history of relations between the Varangians and the ancient Slavs by walking through the modern exposition.
Then we set off through the pine forests towards the real Russian north: it's not for nothing that most of the route will follow the signs to Murmansk. The main natural attraction here is the harsh and calm Svir River. She was once part of the famous "way from the Varangians to the Greeks." And from here, the Baltic Fleet later went — in 1703, Peter the Great laid the Olonets shipyard in these remote places, on the site of which the village of Lodeynoye Pole is located today. The village has a beautiful wooden embankment for long walks along the Sviri River and a museum telling about the life of shipbuilders. And during the Great Patriotic War, a line of defense ran exactly along the banks of the river: the southern one was occupied by Soviet troops, and the northern one by Finnish troops, so in many places you can still find old trenches here.
What to do next, everyone decides for themselves: you can stop and relax in the Mandrogi complex, on the territory of which an entire Russian village has been rebuilt. You can visit there only for a short time, and then go towards Lake Onega (about 250 km away), or you can explore Karelia — especially since Karelian Olonets from Lodeynoye Pole is only 50 km away, and Petrozavodsk is 190 km away.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
