Hello, First hybrid car and have a bit of concern on how long the battery should last from an almost 2/3 full. As I'm driving and trying to ease on the ice meter and avoid gas usage where I noticed the battery discharge quite quickly to 1/3 level going purple in a short distance. Just bought the pre-own with 30000km. Should I bring it back yo dealer or is there something wrong with the battery ? Thanks
If your battery is running the car for 1 km it is definitely good. If you would, put your location in the location field, it will save no end of folks asking you where in the universe you are.
No real problem there.....likely. You need to understand that the battery in a true hybrid (versus a plug-in) is really very small and is not intended to run the vehicle by itself except for VERY short periods. It is there more for a "boost" to keep the gas engine from working so hard, and using so much gas, at the times when the gas engine efficiency would be poor.
Regarding "going purple": what year is this car? And yeah, the hybrid battery is by no means going to do more than supplement the engine. The charge can be run down quite fast. The car will then take measure to restore charge. But bottom line: let the car make the call as to when to use assist, for the most part.
The battery hardly ever gets above 70 % , even when the scale reads close to full charge. Using the A/C and messaging the throttle to keep the car in electric mode can drop it down to 2 or 3 PiPs fairly rapidly. Approximately 1 mile in electric mode will drop it significantly. The system will recover the battery just as rapidly by regenerative braking and starting the ICE. I would say , if your battery is weak, you fuel mileage would suffer due to extended ICE run time.
I got 68k on my 2012, no battery issues. Just drive the car like anyother car, dont try to squeeze it. Better to relax while driving then staring at the dash the whole time.
Wrong driving style. You should accelerate using ICE and use as little battery as possible if you want to maximize MPG and battery life.
Sorry I'm kind of new to all those new term especially ICE. To me its the bar on the central dashboard, mind clarify what you mean accelerate using ICE and use as little battery as possible? Do you mean drive with gas and let battery be the supplement when car is stopped or idle in traffic so gas aren't being use to charge the battery constantly? Thanks
That's exactly right. Use electric for short periods and low speeds - in a parking lot, for example. Or just drive it - press the go pedal such that the car is moving whatever speed you like, and let the car figure it out. It does a pretty good job of switching between electric and gas (ICE == Internal Combustion Engine) all by itself. It's only if you want to play the hypermiler game that you need to do anything other than that.
Again - Just drive it. The car takes care of the HV (traction) battery, no matter how you drive. If stuck in traffic, even with few or no accessories running, the HV battery will drop down to around two bars, then the engine will start to charge it up one or two bars. I've also noticed that, every once in a blue moon or so, that the car will let the HV battery drop down even if the engine runs a lot, probably to condition the battery. Like I (and others) have said, let the car take care of itself. Enjoy the ride!
I've noticed times where I just cruise and let the car do its thing, I end up with a 57 mpg average. If I try to overthink the car, I end up with 52 mpg. I guess I am no match for the 2 dozen computers and complex software baked into the HSD.
