Battery worries

Within 30~45 minutes, I would not worry, maybe: ours will quickly get down to 2 bars, if there's protracted low speed driving, conditions that put on a moderate load but don't kick in the engine. When conditions change, higher speeds, the charge gets back to normal levels. Another time I used to see ours go down to 2 bars, without fail: driving up through the levels of a parking garage, it was a perfect scenario for low speed and heavy load.

That said, if the fluctuations are frequent and in normal driving conditions (not as described above), then maybe there's a problem. To allay your fears, I believe the dealership service departments can do what's called a hybrid health check, hook up to the On Board Diagnostic and check the battery health, for around $100. Or just could continue to drive and monitor; the warranty should still have a long ways to go?

 

congrats and welcome! agreed, snafu. no worries, take it on a good long drive on back roads, then try the same on the highway, you're probably fine. we're not hearing any 2013 battery issues, unless you've got 150k+ on her. the battery gauge can and will go anywhere from 2 purple to all green, and everywhere in between. all the best!

 

Warranty depends on your state?

 

Well you gotta tell us your state but its 100k miles and 8 years minimum.
Gen3 we have heard very few batt issues and any rare reports are from 2010's

 

8/100.

 

Normal. You are just using the battery as you drive as it discharges and charges. I get 7 green bars when I go down hills sometimes or when I already have 6 bars from a cold start It will go green with in the first few minutes of driving and braking and then back down to purple. Purple around 3-6 bars is normal use but can drop to two bars pink if the battery was fully discharged and the ICE kicks on to charge the battery. These HV battery packs were meant to discharge 40%-80% rather than 0%-100%. Usually if you have a degrading battery, you will notice the bars going up and down rapidly charging fast and discharging fast or battery draining idling not holding a charge.

 

We just got a 2005 Prius with 136,000 miles... was wondering if we need to anticipate replacing battery soon, and what kind of early signs to look for? Thanks