I am enjoying my newly acquired 2005 Prius immensely but am wondering if it is "normal" for the color and level of the battery on the Energy screen to change. Most of the time it is blue with 2 white bars at the top. Sometimes it turns green (when only 1 bar is white.) Does this mean the battery is not fully charged? Should I be worried? Is something wrong?
Yes, no, and no. It's normal for the color to change with charge level. The Prius manages the battery charge without any worry on your part. Conditions will cause the charge level (SOC) to go up and down, but always within controlled limits. The only way you can cause trouble is to leave your Prius running in neutral, where it can't charge the battery. It will warn you if you do this. Tom
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Jun 23 2007, 10:49 AM) [snapback]466851[/snapback]</div> Thanks, Tom. I bought my car from a non-Toyota dealer who didn't really know anything about hybrids so I couldn't get any info from him. While I have confidence in the integrity of Toyota and the Prius, I was skeptical about whether or not mine was functioning like it should be. Your response has eased my mind!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Jun 23 2007, 11:01 AM) [snapback]466859[/snapback]</div> Evan, Interesting link. I take it that the fluctuation between the 60 - 70% charge level is expected and nothing to worry about. I am amazed at the knowledge out in cyberspace, and how fortunate I am to have access to so many people with the answers I need, all with a few keystrokes. Thanks-
fluctuations b/w 40% and 80% are to be expected, but the Prius is programmed to try to maintain the SOC at 60% in an effort to preserve the life of the battery...in just about any steady state driving conditions you'll see 6 blue bars and the SOC is right at 60% +/- 2 or 3%. While I've got your attention, the image of the Energy screen battery came from http://john1701a.com . I strongly encourage you to explore that site. Download and read the "User's Guide" in particular, but John has a lot of great basic info on his site that will quickly bring you up to speed on your Prius.
My turn to chime in. What I find most interesting is how the "happy level" differs between the summer and winter. When it's warm, seeing the 6 blue bars is by far the most common. Watching it climb to 7 (which changes the color to green, making it easier to notice than counting) doesn't happen often. Part of that, of course, is how the heat outside allows the engine to remain off longer. So you'll drive in stealth more often... which uses electricity. When it's cold, the engine runs more. That naturally results in more electricity being generated. And since the battery itself can be used harder in the winter, due to getting too hot not being a concern, you'll see the draw from it more often. That's less stealth, but still quite a bit of electrical activity nonetheless. The most captivating is my climb out of the neighborhood valley. In the dead of winter, the motor use is quite generous. That allows the engine to warm up more gradually. Non-Hybrid vehicles don't have a protective ability like that. With them, you rely exclusively on an engine. The heightened aware of benefits like that really get you watching the Multi-Display. That color change is just the beginning.
Just drive the car like a normal car. I have seen my charge bar go from all green to one red bar in heavy traffic with the ac running hard to keep the car cool in 100+F weather. The car did its thing and I drove without worries thanks to this site.
Thanks to everyone for all the information. I did download the Prius User-Guide as suggested and plan to read through it. It's also comforting to know that even red bars don't mean panic. You guys are great!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IAO @ Jun 23 2007, 03:24 PM) [snapback]466931[/snapback]</div> That happened to me today in the drive-thru! I started to panic, then thought "no, PriusChat gurus say no worries", and all was well! Thanks for the great info...
The color changes are redundant with the number of bars displayed, and therefore meaningless. Green bars do not mean "hoo-ray!" and purple bars do not mean "Oh No!".
