Battery Charge Display

Yes. Generally the only time that you will see it fully charged is if you are going down long hills that generate a lot of electricity.

The car strives to maintain between 3 to 7 bars of energy. When it goes to 2, the ICE will run a little more, and when you are over 6 the ICE tends to run a little less (or so it seems to me, without using a scangauge.)

 

Mine usually is 2 bars down. Have only driven 150 miles so far, 50/50 town and highway.

 

I was just about to ask the very same question! My 2011 with just over 2000 miles has been great! The only problem that I have is being fixated with the different read-outs. I have never seen the battery indicator at full charge! It seems to be 2 or 3 bars down! Thanks for asking the question for me. My saleman keeps telling me not to keep chasing the indicators! But I can not help myself for watching the fuel 5 minute indicator! My Prius loves between 45-50 mph to get the best fuel reading. The only problem is that while on the highway you cannot travel that slow, unless you are in the breakdown lane.

 

Yes. I was about 5k before I got mine full. It was life-changing and it will change your life, too, but you need to have patience. It has to be earned. We have 21k on ours and I still watch that damn display more than I should, but it did wear off after a few k miles from the obsession I originally had.

 

Here's a more recent and informative thread about that.

 

A full battery is not desirable. The Prius tries to keep some room in the battery for regenerative braking. When the battery is up to the high limit it can't effectively recapture braking energy. Because of this, your Prius does everything in its power to work down the battery to a more reasonable charge level.

Tom

 

The batery life is maximized if the charge is kept between 40 to 80%. 1 bar is about 40%