New prius owner question about air conditioner

Do you have the solar roof package?

 

The gas engine (ICE) will turn on at 2 bars if it isn't already running, to recharge the big hybrid battery. The bars you see only show the amount of charge in the big battery, not the little 12 volt battery that gets used to boot up the car and get it into ready mode.

The air conditioner in the Prius uses electricity from the big battery, and when it is hot and you are really blasting it to cope, or cool down quickly on a hot day, it will draw more electricity if it needs it. The car understands and will not let it go dead... it will keep it above 2 bars and normally only up to 6 or 7, depending.... it likes to leave a little room to be able to store extra power if you have a long hill and just press on the brake pedal lightly so that you are regenerating power rather than simply wearing down your disk brakes.

It is all automatic, and besides keeping you more comfortable, using the air conditioner will help keep that big battery in the back of the car cooler too, which is good for it's lifespan.

Roland

 

Not a stupid question at all. Your Prius has a lot of stuff going for it that is different from other cars that you may have owned. It is a beautifully designed machine and I think you will find many pleasant surprises going forward as you come to understand better all the little things it does all by itself to make it more efficient than most vehicles on the road.

It is perfectly normal, especially in very bad traffic in the summer with the a/c running to have your state of charge (soc) drop to 2 bars... your gas mileage goes down in those conditions as the gas engine will turn on and off to keep your charge up.... but if you are not covering any miles... then your miles per gallon will suffer of course. All cars will suffer in that position, but unlike theirs... your engine will only be on for a fraction of the time... less wear, less fuel, less pollution, all good.

In lighter traffic your car will recharge as it coasts or slows down and even drive solely on electricity if you keep your pedal pressure light and enjoy.

Try your display button on the steering wheel to select the little picture of the car with turning wheels and the arrows pointing to where the energy goes... see how pedal pressure changes the direction of things... in time you will likely not use that energy display as much as the bar that has the graph moving from left to right... I'll shut up now, since by the time you read this you are already likely an expert on these things.

Roland

 

Let them go around you... in fact move over when you can to make it easier for them to pass and trip the red light ahead in the distance to become green before you get there and save more fuel by not having to stop.

If you did not get a manual with your car, search the forum, or use google... you should be able to locate a pdf version of it.

Welcome, and enjoy your new car in good health.

Roland

 

The motor does most of the braking 'til about 7mph, then the service brakes take over.

 

That's the regenerative braking working, it's adding juice back to the battery.

 

Just wanted to add a tip,, if your HV battery is getting low the car will always start the ICE to charge it back up and there is nothing to worry about. Unless you have the car shifted to N then it will give you a warning saying to shift to park or something like that because the car can't charge the HV battery in N. So if you left the car in N you could hurt the HV battery but like most people you should never shift to N.

 

The Prius has plenty of kick to it if you want to use it. I myself don't, but other Prius-ites certainly do judging from this forum. So you can keep trucks at bay if you want to.

 

Do all you can to keep the cabin cool. If the car lives outside get a Heatshield Windowshade. They sell them here at the Prius shop custom fit to
fit your car. I got one. Not only will it cool the car down but the Hybrid Battery life will be greatly extended if you do not let the cabin temps get really hot. High heat is very bad for the Hybrid battery and all the ECU's in the cabin. Plus it will save gas not running the ac so hard. I don't let my car sit outside for more than a few minute's before I put the shade up.

Also Be aware alot of times buying a used Prius means the little 12 volt battery used to boot the car may have gone dead sitting on the lot (does not take long) and may have been jumped a time or two. Which is very hard on that little 12 and severely shortens its life.
If possible get a digital volt meter and check the 12 volt battery voltage on the front jump points under the hood.
push the start button twice without putting your foot on the brake and that will be ignition mode and will put a load on the 12, measure the 12 in that mode and you will be able to see its real health.