Toyota CHR hybrid

[Claire69]

I bought a second hand CHR earlier this year however it very rarely switches over to electric am I doing something wrong?

[Stopeter44]

I don't know specifically about the C-HR, but there are a number of reasons why you are not in EV mode as much as you expect.

For instance, if you drive all the time at 70 mph, you'll never go into EV mode. You have to drive more slowly for that. If you are driving in city traffic you should be in EV mode very often.

Someone who has a C-HR may be able to give you better information, and it would be useful for forum members to know the year and the engine type (1.8 or 2.0 litre), before being able to make useful suggestions.

[Hybrid21]

Hi Claire, if you've had the car through the summer it should have been working in EV (electric)  mode on a regular basis. In the cold weather it would be less so as there are demands on the engine to provide heat, etc

If you could provide some more details, symptoms it would help.

[philip42h]

As suggested above, please update your profile to include the year and exact model of your car.

And then tells us what you understand "very rarely switches over to electric" to mean? As Iain says, could you provide some more details / symptoms.

A hybrid will rarely run in full EV mode for any appreciable time or distance. But the engine will switch off and the EV light come on pretty much any time that you lift-off after accelerating (at any speed) and/or coast on a downward slope.

[Haliotis]

If you are heavy on the accelerator, and brake sharply at the last minute, then your car isn’t being given the chance to harvest electricity to go into EV mode.  To get good results from a hybrid, you have to modify your driving so as to generate that electrical power.