I was wondering about the average number of battery charge indicator bars most of you are seeing while at running at 65 mph hwy travel? I seem to be running around six on average. Does this sound right for a Prius c with about 500 miles on it.
My understanding is that the battery will rarely get above 80% unless you do some serious, long-term downhill driving.
If you think of the battery as a place to store braking energy, you can see why you do not want it full all the time. Your Prius will try some really unusual braking strategies if you fill the battery and still need more brakes. The engine becomes an air pump, "Jake Brake" where the harder you brake, the faster it spins. Compression release engine brake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The battery does not charge higher than 80%. Somewhere around 78% charge the car will start spinning the engine to bleed off the extra energy to protect itself. The computer will try and keep the battery at between 60% and 65% State of Charge (SOC) depending on the model (GenIII is 60% and GenII is 64.5%). That usually looks like about 6 bars. The only way to know for sure is to use a Scangauge II or similar OBDII device like Torque app. 80% looks like all the bars are full. The only time you will see all the bars full is if you force charge or if you are traveling down a long steep grade and regen braking.
Yep usually 6 bars, then when I coast off the exit and brake at the first light, it'll be as full as it goes.
Mine always stays 2 bars unlit, at 65 mph. Saw it with one unlit twice after a long coasting braking session. One never knows how accurate an led readout may be. I don't worry about having one less bar lit than others. The car works great and will run 2 miles on a charge if I force it. Dan
That must be a product of speed and road condition, because I've managed to go much farther than just 2 miles on EV only... I usually EV between 0 and 45 (and if i start at 45 i can get it up to 50 at least, haven't tried anything higher since i'm only driving on surface streets, not the highway).
I am not sure we are talking the same thing here. 43 mph is max for ev on my car. The two miles is running about 30 mph. Are there others that get more than 2 miles on ev only before the ice kicks back in to charge? dan
We are just getting a handle on the projected life of a Gen 1 battery, no one knows the projected life of a Gen 2 battery, or Gen 3 or C.
I've seen mine as high as 76 km/h (47 MPH) with the ICE off, though 74 km/h (46 MPH) is more typically the upper bound for me. For EV cruising I haven't yet had a long enough section to test but the car seems to just go and go at 60 km/h (37 MPH) with very little needed on the HSI. It seems even more inclined to stay in EV operation if cruise control is on.
Wondering what the Toyota battery replacement cost is if ever needed? By the time I have this paid off I should be at close to 200k miles.
Based on other Prius (I do not own a C) by the time the battery dies, so many will be totalled, that you can buy a used battery for $500 to $2000. prius battery | eBay
(city driving only, i've not done this on the highway yet) I'm talking about accelerating up to 48 mph, remove foot from gas pedal until regen arrows show up, apply slight pressure to gas to engage EV (green arrows) only. Now I'm going about 45 mph, and if the road is flat and traffic allows I can slowly accelerate with green arrows only until I'm traveling 50 mph. I can maintain this condition for several miles (if traffic allows). Mind you, battery is pretty low when this is done, but I can regen quickly enough that it isn't an issue.
