Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (2013-2021) range, MPG, CO2 & charging

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has great official CO2 emissions and fuel-economy figures of 46g/km and 140mpg respectively. But don’t be misled by that last number – high miles-per-gallon figures are easy for plug-in hybrids to achieve in test conditions.

In the real world you’re better off working out your running costs based on whether you can charge up regularly and make the most of the car's pure-electric range – in this case, 28 miles in ideal conditions. Remember, once the batteries run out of charge, you’re going to be running a fairly thirsty petrol SUV. With regular charging, an overall average of 50mpg or more should be easily achievable, however.

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV range, MPG, CO2 & charging

The Mitsubishi Outlander’s claimed pure-electric range of 28 miles (you may see a higher figure of 33 miles in some material, but that was achieved using an old testing procedure) is up there with the best plug-in hybrids. We found that 25 miles was quite achievable in the real world; that should allow a lot of commuters to do the daily grind without rousing the petrol engine at all.

Once the petrol engine does kick in, you can of course use the Outlander like any other combustion-engined car, so there’s no limit to how far you can go short of needing the usual pit-stops for fuel and crisps. Therein lies the beauty of plug-in hybrids.

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has a 13.8kWh battery pack that'll charge up from a three-pin domestic socket in around four hours, while a dedicated fast public charger will deliver an 80% charge in as little as 30 minutes. Certainly, if you have workplace chargers – even slow chargers – you’ll have no problem getting a full charge into your Outlander PHEV within the duration of a normal working day.