Good evening all, Finally.. I am a Proud Prius Owner..Have tons of questions.. Here is my first one.. I do a bit of highway driving around 40 miles back and forward. I am hooked on that neat info screen. I have noticed that there is no regenration of a battery during highway driving. No little cars appear in a graph. Is this normal? Thanks
Regeneration comes from braking. Unless you brake while driving on the highway, you will not see the little cars. Lack of regeneration is a good thing, as it means no braking. Tom
And at highway speeds, only light braking if you want to convert much of the kinetic energy to battery-stored energy. There's a limit to how quickly the regen brakes can store the energy... very light braking if high speed... heavier regen braking possible at lower speed. When you slow faster than the regen system can store it (somewhere above 20 kW), then the friction brakes come in and throw the energy away as heat.
Try the energy screen. It will show you where the energy is going (with some caveats). This is useful for getting an understanding of what your car is doing. You will get some regeneration even when not braking when the engine not under enough load to be in the sweet spot for efficiency. That is rare at highway speeds though.
Keep in mind that while you may not be "regenerating" power from braking, you will be charging the HV battery while on the highway. Try running your HV battery down low then get on the freeway and cruise at the speed limit. Your HV battery will charge up as you drive. You just don't get the cute little cars. In a nutshell, don't worry about your battery charging. It takes care of itself.
OP, BTW, you might want to change your user info to something that makes sense in case you have future questions/posts. "My Car: Other Non-Hybrid, Model: V " doesn't help us much.
Hi ALL, Thank you very much for your responses. IT nice to feel welcomed. Changed my info as you requested.
You're welcome. I'm sure you'll find the answers to all of your Prius-related questions here. For all other questions including the meaning of life, please dial my Spiritual Connection Hotline at 1-900-###-####. Dionne Warwick and Miss Cleo are waiting for your call! lol
Highway regeneration is what we need in Michigan. We certainly aren't fixing them, so the only way they will get better is through regeneration. Tom
