By Alex Forrest
More than six years after the pioneering Outlander Plug-In Electric Vehicle (PHEV) first appeared on Australian roads, Mitsubishi’s thrifty mid-sized SUV has recently received a rather comprehensive set of upgrades.
Most significant of those is the replacement of the previous PHEV’s 2.0-litre petrol engine with a more powerful 2.4-litre unit and an increase in battery size from 12kWh to 13.8kWh.
Both changes may sound incremental, but together they do make the Outlander PHEV more practical and capable, both as an electric drive only vehicle, and as a petrol/electric hybrid.
The other major upgrade to the Outlander PHEV is the addition of autonomous emergency braking to the entry level ES model, meaning this critical safety feature is now standard across the Outlander PHEV range.
The Outlander PHEV’s main party trick is its ability to be driven exclusively on electric power for a distance Mitsubishi claims is 54km. Even if you factor in a real-world range of 40km, that’s enough to cover the round trip of many commuters. Plus, you have the petrol engine as a back-up power source.
There is a downside to all this convenience, which is that if you diligently charge the PHEV every night so you can drive on electricity only, you’re also carrying around a fully functioning petrol engine as cargo.
Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that in the specifications box on this page, the PHEV’s claimed fuel economy is 1.9L/100km. This is partly due to the fuel consumption test not being well-suited to plug-in hybrid vehicles, which can drive for most of the test cycle on electricity.
On the road, the Outlander PHEV is very quiet in electric-only mode as you’d expect, and performance is sprightly thanks to it having electric motors for the front and rear wheels.
If you choose to drive with the petrol engine on, you can choose one of two modes.
Series hybrid mode will keep it powered by the electric motors but have the engine on to run a generator to charge the battery while driving. Parallel hybrid mode will let the petrol engine power the front wheels along with the electric motors.
2020 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Specifications
| Price (drive away) as tested: | $51,390 drive away |
| Engine: | 2.4-litre petrol / plug-in electric hybrid |
| Power: | 94kW (petrol); 60kW (front electric); 70kW (rear electric) |
| Torque: | 199Nm (petrol); 137Nm (front electric); 195Nm (rear electric) |
| Claimed fuel economy: | 1.9L/100km |
| ANCAP Rating: | 5 stars |
