While sitting with the car in parking, air conditioning on, registering cell phone with the bluetooth in the car, the battery level kept dropping until it only had two bars. I was concerned I would run the battery completely down so I turned the car off. I never heard the gas engine come on. How does one hand idling?
Hey, didn't I see your post over on PriusOnline? Or am I crazy...nonetheless, the car is smart and won't let the battery be too low or too high. The gas engine WILL come on when too low. The gas engine will come on if it's too cold. A warm engine is MUCH cleaner and more efficient when warm. Heck, the engine is even spun (without fuel being burned) if the battery is too full, to bleed off excess charge. Indeed the car is smart. And the display you're looking at is not the whole picture. Working charge for the Prius battery is between 40% and 80%. Makes for longer battery life and a nice lengthy hybrid warranty. This car is all win-win-win!
Most new owners experience some type of anxiety. Thinking you have to do something preventative to avoid the pink (only 2 bars) is a common one. Let Prius manage the system for you. No interaction on your part is needed to properly maintain the battery-pack charge-level. It's all done automatically for you, regardless of how much you have turned on or if the car is even moving.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(finman @ Apr 15 2006, 10:29 AM) [snapback]240151[/snapback]</div> Assuming he was actually in Park and not in Neutral. Or not in Ignition-On rather than Ready. If he was in Ready, the engine should have come on just to warm itself up and then run periodically to keep the emission components warm. If these terms mean nothing to the original poster, an hour or so with the manual is in order. - Tom
So the engine does spin without fuel being burned if the battery is too full (like going down a hill braking?) <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(finman @ Apr 15 2006, 07:29 AM) [snapback]240151[/snapback]</div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prius2006rocks @ Apr 15 2006, 10:19 AM) [snapback]240202[/snapback]</div> Yes, it does. Very disconcerting the first time it happened to me. Coming home, down a long hill, I stop at my mail box at the bottom and the car ICE keeps switching on and off. I think, "Why is the engine running trying to charge the battery when it's full?" But it was just the opposite; the car was spinning the ICE to bleed off the extra energy from the slightly over-filled battery.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bill Merchant @ Apr 15 2006, 11:16 PM) [snapback]240433[/snapback]</div> I didn't know that either. The technology in this car never ceases to amaze me.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bill Merchant @ Apr 15 2006, 11:16 PM) [snapback]240433[/snapback]</div> First I heard of this. Is the ICE burning fuel when it does this? Or is it basically putting itself into engine breaking (B mode). Never saw this with our 2001 and 2002 Prius. Must be new with the 2004-2006, George
