Question of the week: Why is the range of my PHEV less than advertised even when charged to 100%?
Fri, 20 Feb 2026
Dear Honest John,
"I purchased a new Volvo XC60 PHEV in August 2025. For the first five months when fully charged the electric range indicated 50 miles. Then suddenly this fell to only 40 miles and won't charge further.
I understand that the mileage range on electric will be less in winter due to more use of lights/heaters etc. but surely it should still charge to 50 miles as advertised in their literature?
The dealer informs me this could be due to the cold weather, however Volvo customer service has never heard of such a problem. I have used a friend's home charger and had the same result."
- FD
Dear FD,
Electric vehicle range — whether in a full EV or a PHEV — as with the remaining range or 'miles to empty' display on a petrol vehicle, is a calculation based on the available charge in the battery (or fuel remaining) but also recent energy/fuel consumption.
With an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle, battery efficiency is affected by colder temperatures, but also energy consumption increases in the winter months due to more use of cabin heating and battery thermal management, so we both EVs and PHEVs will indicate less available range.
Given the age of the vehicle we would still expect the battery capacity to be 100% or very close to it, so the reduced available range indicated is a result of the conditions.
When manufacturers advertise the available range of their vehicles it is always prefaced with 'up to XX miles' to reflect the fact that available range is variable and impacted by battery health, ambient conditions and driving style and cannot be guaranteed under all circumstances.
With spring coming — and hopefully some milder weather on the way — range will increase again close or up to the original figure.
