Battery icon never solid on '17

Mine has never been full since I purchased it 2 months ago. I'm guessing that is normal.

 

The less than full 8 bars indicates there is still capacity left in the battery. It takes a longer down hill to fully charge the HV battery. You don't need to worry.

 

my gen 2 used to go to full bars on a flat highway under the right circumstances. while full was fairly rare, it happened way more often than every 6 months, and i'm a flatlander. perhaps gen 4 is programmed to use more battery.
i also wonder if there is a difference between gen 4 nimh and lion.

 

You may be onto something there bisco. Although I don't often go down any long hills, I did once have the Prius+ (v) , which had a Li-Ion battery, max out the battery meter once but never the Gen 3 or now the Gen 4, both NiMh.

 

Our 2010 will go to full bars very occasionally, with a long enough hill.

 

It depends on what your 'long hills' are. If it is a 7 mile 7% grade, then something is wrong. If it is a 2-3% grade, then it is likely that nothing is wrong, regardless of length.

Numerous Gen3 owners in flatter regions, rarely or never see the top battery bar. I don't live and travel in such a region, so I've topped out as many as five times in a single day.

 

Yes, the gen III and 4 use the battery more than the gen II. I've never seen full bars on Pearl S, and did see them occasionally on Pearl on "flat land". Find a long hill and see if you can get to full bars.

It's normal, whatever "normal" means.

 

I've seen it only twice - once at the bottom of a 600 metre mountain road, the other after a 3 or 5 km drive down 7% - both with it at 7 bars to start with. Highway driving it goes between 5 and 7 bars, city between 2 and 7 bars.

 

I notice that the Gen 4 seems to go into engine braking mode more easily than on my Gen2 and seems less likely to get all 8 bars, but it does occasionally.

kevin

 

On both my gen3 and current gen4 saw the full battery very very rarely, typically only after a very long steep hill. And I live in a hilly/mountain area...
Gen4 though seems to charge it faster than Gen3.

 

I have noticed that also. I see a "full" battery display occasionally in my Gen 4, but not as often in the Gen 2 or Gen 3.

 

I've had a full battery once in 12 months of driving.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

In 8 months, I've had full bars probably 2-3 dozen times. Long downhills in California highways make it very possible. And mountain downhills fill it easily.

 

I actually got a full battery icon yesterday for the first time coming down Mount Scott (Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in SW Oklahoma) in the B shift position. I had never used the B shift position before.

 

I have it probably once every two or three weeks, 16 three with ATP, Lion battery. I live in Florida and drive a pretty long stretch of road to go to the next major city over approx 10+ miles and when hitting a light not using DRCC, it will often max out the battery indicator. I usually try to burn off some excess charge in my battery so this doesn't happen and have to throw away all that regen in the friction brakes.

 

Its extremely rare for mine to fill 100% up. Nothing to worry about.

 

If the battery ever fills up it means that any further regeneration is thrown away either by engine braking or friction braking.

It is not a good thing if it fills up!

I find that mine fills up too easily, when driving down the Santa Cruz mountains my Spark EV used to reclaim a couple of kWh of energy, the Prius quickly fills up then goes into engine braking.

kevin