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2023 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV to get a much bigger battery

2023 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV to get a much bigger battery


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So it turns out we still don't have full details on the 2023 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Information will continue to trickle out instead. But at least we have information on one of the SUV's most critical parts: the battery pack. It has more capacity, and should have more range.

The outgoing Outlander PHEV had a 13.8-kWh battery pack good for 22 to 24 miles of all-electric range. The new model's battery expands to 20 kWh. On the WLTP cycle, it's good for 54 miles, but the U.S. EPA numbers will probably be lower. The capacity increase is about 45%, so applying that to the miles, we're expecting somewhere around 32 to 35 miles of electric range. That would put it close to the Ford Escape PHEV's 37 miles of range and the Kia Sorento PHEV's 32 miles. It would still trail the RAV4 Prime's 42 miles of range.

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Mitsubishi also noted that the gas tank has expanded, too, so the Outlander PHEV's overall range should increase. Despite all this, the plug-in hybrid also retains a third row of seats, something its predecessor lost. This is due to a revised rear motor that includes the motor controller as part of the unit. The previous model had the controller located in the passenger compartment. Mitsubishi says this freed up interior room for the rear-most seats and also reduced the amount of high-frequency noise in the cabin.