My route takes me through the highest point in Mchenry County so I see green everyday, and try my damndest to get it down to blue, at the expense of frustrating drivers behind me. Just when i think I am in the blue, bam stop light ahead and back to green it goes. In the City though, 5 blue is the norm, if I am really on a roll I can get it down to two.
After 450 miles in a new 2008, I have seen green bars (not full) one time after a 50 mile trip. Have taken this trip 4 times, but so far green bars only the one time. Should I be seeing green bars more often? And what do they mean?
Not to worry. The car aims for an optimal state of charge of 60%, which is 6 blue bars. They change to green when a 7th bar appears; they change to pinkish purple when the level drops to 2 bars. Depending on your driving, you may or may not see green bars frequently. See this for a discussion of how the number and color of battery bars relate to state of charge.
OK, so how about linking the computer control to the GPS system so that when you were approaching a hill, the system would know to store more power to get you to the top easily but as you neared the top, it would run the electric motor more letting the battery drain because it was anticipating that it would be fully charged on the down-side of the hill. That will be a future improvement, right?
You may be right there. Could that be the future in hybrids? Maybe it will memorise your drive and recognise the pattern to adapt for the regular commute.
