I just recently moved from Baltimore, Maryland to Boulder, Colorado. Ever since I arrived (and on the road trip here too) I can't seem to drive my car anymore.  I thought it was because of the road trip because it was windy, my car was really full and heavy etc etc. whenever I drive, the battery quickly goes down into the red. I've had it as low as 1 bar before and started panicking- what happens if the battery runs down completely? I've owned my car for almost a year and in Baltimore I never had a single problem. The battery was always in the green and I averaged 45 mpg without even trying. Here I can't seem to coast or glide ever, it feels like I'm constantly climbing mountains when I'm not. Please help? I don't know what's happening or what I'm doing wrong. My husband can drive fine with no issue. I'm really frustrated and actually extremely embarrassed because my husband has to drive all the time now until I can figure this out.
Just drive it normally. 1 bar is not bad. All green is bad. It sounds like you are powering too hard. Just drive it like any other car.
Wait, so powering down to 1 bar in the red of battery is not bad but green is?? In such a noob... Can you explain the battery bar to me an what it means? I assumed 1 bar in the red meant I was minutes away from killing my car and running the battery out.
You won't kill the car or the battery. If the battery charge indicator goes into the red the engine will be on and recharging the battery. Now what I want to know is why is it getting that low. Generally the only thing that discharges the battery that low are long steep hills or if someone is driving around in EV mode allow the time (a big no no). Does your new commute cause you to drive up a long steep hill? Are you using the EV mode?
Is the 12v battery the original one? It may need replacing. A weak 12v battery will impact the way the traction battery behaves.
Getting red or green every now and then is normal for the mountains. Getting green all the time is bad and getting red all the time is bad. 1bar red means you are somewhere between 40% and 45% (ish) battery. All green bars means you are somewhere between 75% and 80% (ish again) battery. Toyota made it so that you cannot destroy it. Just drive and be happy. The only way to go below 40% is by driving while out of fuel and the only way to go above 80% is by charging it externally (like plugging it in). Next time you drive it, turn it to READY and sit there. Sit there until the engine shuts off (almost a minute). Now start your drive. Just drive like any other car. DO NOT PULSE AND GLIDE. Just drive. It will probably be fine. Now that you have hills, it is a different style. More powering down them and coasting up.
The Prius behaves differently in hilly terrain. With frequent hill climbs around Boulder CO, the Prius will be using both battery and ICE power simultanenously more frequently to get up the hills, so you will see the HV battery drain down to purple or red bars more frequently. Whenever your Prius encounters a stretch of downhill or flat ground, it will take the opportunity to recharge the HV batt. Just keep in mind that when you are going down a long stretch of downhill and your HV battery is already at 6 green bars, you might want to use B mode to dissipate your speed, because the battery can only hold so much regenerated braking charge. It sacrifices fuel economy, but it will protect your HV battery.
Hi Starcheckered, welcome to Boulder. Give me a call and setup a time to bring your car over...we'll hookup Techstream and scan your HV battery system for free and give you an assessment of what's going on....and if you want to learn about upgrading your car to a Plug In for as little as $750 we can talk about that too... Boulder Hybrid Conversions 3200 28th Street (at Glenwood St in the Green Garage building) Boulder, CO 303-325-7411 -Paul Boulder Hybrid Conversions
^^^ Try this Starcheckered. Before you drive, place the car in ready and leave the transmission in "P". The engine should start automatically after a few seconds, if it doesn't then just slowly depress the gas pedal until it does (then release the gas pedal). Make sure you do all this in park "P", it will both warm the engine and lightly pre-charge the battery while doing so. Some people wait until the engine cuts out before driving, I usually only wait 30 to 40 seconds because I have at least 20 seconds of very slow driving before I need any power. The idea is that the engine is warm before you need any real power, otherwise it draws very heavily on the battery and you loose a lot of charge before you really even get started.
