Hi, just had me 2023 DS4 a few months. Mainly town driving and longer journeys a few times a month. Fairly ignorant of the driving modes so if someone could explain when to use either Electric or hybrid I would be grateful. At the moment I tend to just put it into hybrid mode. Thanks in anticipation.
For me, if I know I will make it back and forth with electric, I use electric mode.
Otherwise I just go with comfort mode (mostly the same as hybrid, as it uses petrol for highways with backup of electric) and perhaps use electric mode at the end when the distance left is within the electric range.
Could you specify a little bit more what your expectations are?
I usually toggle between Hybrid & Comfort.
It’s mostly Hybrid mode and I turn on E Save now & then to help hold a bit of electric back in case I need it.
I have noticed though, and this was confirmed by the Master Tech at my dealership, and DS UK when I spoke to them, if you use Hybrid mode and E Save together the car will still try to use electric but not so often and the engine will kick in a bit sooner, as you’ve selected to Save electric…
It’s the same with Sport mode, the car will use both even with E Save on.
However, if you use Comfort mode with E Save the engine kicks in almost immediately, and stays on, especially if E Save is set to Max, it basically runs on engine 99% of the time.
I do this if the weather is cold and I want the engine to warm up quicker, I dont like the idea of driving on electric and then the cold engine kicking in at high revs.
The car will always prioritise electric over combustion in every mode, except with Comfort mode, but ONLY if E Save is set to max.
My journey to work each day is fairly short, around 4 miles if that, it’s mostly motorway and dual carriageway, so if I stick with hybrid or just electric I find it goes down fairly quickly over the working week, plus with Hybrid the engine hardly kicks and doesn’t have time to warm up before I’m arriving at work, so I use Comfort & E Save (at max), this kicks in the engine and saves the electric for when I want to use it.
it’s a bit like juggling plates, you have to find a balance that suits your needs.
If that makes sense !
I use Electric Mode in urban areas whenever possible. On motorways I switch on Max Esave as the petrol engine charges the battery in this mode and then I have plenty of battery power when I get back into an urban setting. I think this is the most effcient and environmentally friendly driving you can do in the DS4 eTense.
Which mode do you use on motorways when you select E Save ?
I find Comfort mode kicks the engine straight away if E save is used at max setting.
But all the other modes still try to use some battery power even when E Save is set to max.
For me its piece of mind that the engine has kicked in straight away and will warm up quicker when the car is in Comfort mode and max E Save.
I guess I’m a bit old school and dont like the thought of a cold engine kicking in at 60mph on the motorway.
Thanks for the replies. Not sure what e-save is or if I have it. Still not sure the difference between Electric and Hybrid. I tend to start in Hybrid and leave it on for short and long journeys although the past couple of days the full charge has dropped by about 7 miles which I presume is down to the milder weather. Thanks again for your help.
E-save tells the car to go harder on the petrol engine and generate power to charge the battery while driving.
Activating e-save will charge your battery but you will have worse petrol mileage during charging.
Electric mode uses battery power only.
Hybrid mode combines battery power with petrol in a efficient mix, as long as there’s power in the battery.
I would recommend using electric mode for shorter trips. Electricity is usually cheaper than petrol, and more environment friendly.
I may be wrong but I believe that most Hybrids have an E Save option within the settings.
It could possibly be called something different with another make of vehicle, but essentially its like a piggy bank for saving electric power to use when it suits you.
On the DS you can save 6%, 12% or max %.
As already said, the car will opt to use more engine power if E Save is selected.
Thanks to all for your help. Still not sure if I have e-save. Is it the “B” switch which automatically brakes during deceleration?
Mine is a DS4 E-Sense Trocadero Sept 2023
Hmm, on my DS4 2024, the options for e-save is in kilometers, 10km, 20km and MAX?
Maybe they’ve made an update? Would wish for a slider instead, being able to choose freely from 0-100%
I never use electric mode, 99% in comfort as it suits my daily driving.
Charge at work, 42km to home uses roughly 45% battery and between 2-2,5l/100km petrol.
Pre heat cabin in the morning (cold in Sweden), now left with ~40% charge which is consumed totally during my 42km to work along with 3l/100km petrol.
This gives me the absolute best fuel/electric economy as there’s no cost related to charging at my worksite.
In “apps” you have an icon “energy”, click on that and you will see root menu of energy, furthest down to the left you will see “energy save” or something similar. Click on that and you will be presented with an activation button and three options.
“B” activates regenerative braking, some call it one pedal driving as the car uses the electric motor as a generator when you step off the gaspedal.
This mode works all the time except when choosing “Max e-save” while the battery is 100% full - this is at least how my car behaves.
I’ll double check mine a bit later, I’m sure the E Save options are in % ?
I’ve not fully experimented with trying to get my best electric/fuel economy, but using comfort mode with E Save set to max the engine kicks in straight away so warms up quicker, then I might switch to Hybrid and toggle E Save on/off, I’ve had around 56 mpg , which I think is pretty good.
Battery consumption does drop fairly quick with motorway driving, even with the gauge showing that the car is being driven bang on Eco.
In regards to “B” regen braking, I’ve noticed that the car still “pumps” electric charge back into the battery even if E Save is set to max and at 100%.
My understanding was that it holds the charge at max so still puts electric back in when braking.
Yes, but in my car it’s just a little bit, say 10% of the charge bar when coasting or braking.
Up to 100% it works as normal with full Regen when braking and maybe 50-70% when “engine braking”.
Maybe it differs depending on software, my car got the, by June 2024, latest workshop update - not available OTA.
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Mine went into the workshop last week to have the keyless entry looked at, whilst it was there it had 2 of the latest workshop updates.
It then did an OTA update yesterday.
It was quite a while since the last OTA update in my car… Maybe they have released yet another workshop update since June…
I was surprised it did the OTA update as it was only a few days after the workshop updates ?
No B is Regenerative Braking.
So, if you put the car in D (Drive), and also press B you should see on the dash the letter B and the mode that you’ve selected to use, either Hybrid, Sport , Comfort or Electric.
The car will now use regen braking each time you take your foot off the accelerator, you’ll physically feel the car braking, so when it’s braking you’ll see the re-charge gauge on the dash going green, this indicates the amount of charge going back into the trans battery every time you take your foot off the accelerator.
The amount of regen braking you’ll feel and see on the gauge will depend on how much power is already in the battery, so for instance, if you not long fully charge the battery the regen braking will feel, and look less on the gauge, if theres more capacity to fill in the battery the regen braking will feel more and the gauge will show more as the car slows.
E Save is something different, and you’ll find this in your settings, I’ve actually set mine as a short cut to save faffing around in settings.
E Save has 3 settings, 6 miles, 12, miles & 30 miles (UK), so basically when you switch on E Save you get those 3 options to chose from, once you make you choice the car will hold onto that amount of electric for you to use at your leisure.
You’ll see E Save on the dash if you turn it on., bottom left hand corner on our right hand drive cars (UK).
So lets say you was driving on the motorway but wanted to save some electric for when you reach your town/city, you set E Save for what amount you to save and then it will save electric for you, a bit like a savings account in the bank, but it’s electric not cash , it is there until you want to cash it in .
Once you reach your destination just change modes to full electric and you be using your “banked” electric.
Hope this all makes sense.
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This might help ?
regen braking.pdf (105.4 KB)
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