The Stellantis group has set up an application to encourage owners of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) to regularly plug in their car. Called Plug-in-Reminder, it is deployed at Citroën, Peugeot, DS and Opel.
The plug-in hybrid vehicles are only of interest if their battery is regularly recharged in order to be able to benefit from a comfortable range in electric mode of around 50 km and optimize fuel consumption.
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Incentive to recharge
In order to encourage owners to regularly plug in their vehicle, the Stellantis group has implemented a visual alert on the instrument cluster of its plug-in hybrid models at Peugeot, Citroën, DS and Opel. Present on the French market and in the United Kingdom since October at the manufacturer with rafters (since December 15 at the Lion), the device will then be deployed throughout Europe from mid-March. Stellantis conducted the survey: only 55% of journeys of less than 40 km are made in electric mode, while 52% of customers recharge their vehicle once or twice every 100 km. The margin of progress is strong!
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In concrete terms, the touch screen in the center of the dashboard (here on a Peugeot 508 PSE) indicates the following message:
>>> Vehicle Information <<<
x journeys and there days without recharging.
- Take full advantage of hybrid technology: plug the vehicle in during your stops.
- You can optimize your consumption: plug the vehicle in during your stops.
- Plug in your vehicle as soon as possible. This reminder will be renewed in one month.
One alert only, no penalty
Initially, after five days and ten journeys made without the vehicle being plugged in, the software issues one notification per day via the touch screen. If the vehicle is not plugged in after thirty days, the notification appears twice a day while the vehicle is in use. But, unlike diesel vehicles that require AdBlue and operate in degraded mode when the owner does not fill up with this additive in due time, non-recharged plug-in vehicles do not “penalize” the owners. It is not intended to limit vehicle performance.
Initially, only the Citroën C5 Aircross Hybrid is affected by the Plug-in-Reminder application. The C5 X Hybrid, the Peugeot 308 Sedan and SW hybrid, Peugeot 3008 hybrid, Peugeot 508 hybrid, as well as the 508 PSE Sedan and SW will follow. The DS brand will gradually offer this device during the first quarter of 2022 on its entire hybrid range: the DS 4 E-Tense, DS 7 Crossback E-Tense and DS 9 E-Tense from mid-February. Finally, Opel will do the same on the Grandland PHEV SUV.
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