I just purchased my new 2008 Prius four days ago. The battery level indicator on the energy screen has never reached a full charge. The most bars I get is 6 or 7. Does the battery every reach full and stay there or will it always be in a state of charging? Thanks PC!
you don't have to worry about battery levels - the computers in the prius will take care of it all for you. the computers keep the battery between 40% and 80% of max charge to maintain the life of the battery. it turns out that the top of the battery meter in the display is 80%; the bottom is 40% but you don't have to worry about this; it's the computer's job to keep that going. for curious people, this thingie is great to look at. more about the battery and multifunction display on page 7 John's Stuff - Toyota Prius User-Guide
rarely will you ever see all 8 bars lit up. The only time I've seen it was going down a mountain side. You will see 6 bars the majority of the time which is the ideal SOC.
I live at 1,100 ft elevation and commute to sealevel, so I routinely see 8 green bars when heading downhill. No need to worry about that, though.
If you drive in temps of -30 C, especially -40 C, the motor will never shut off and the battery will be all green Important to remember there is a lot of hysteresis in the battery display. I just ignore it, the car will look after the state of charge just fine
Somewhere on this site, there is a graph showing how much SOC (state of charge) you have depending on the bars--first time I knew there was even pink bars. Maybe someone can point you to it or do a search. It will turn green if you do a lot of regen braking. Important note: Do not get confused and go when your battery turns green, wait for the light to turn green! (a little hybrid humor here!)
Contrawise, don't panic if you see the batter get down to one or two bars (pink or purple). The car will just run the gas engine some more to charge it up. You don't have to worry about it going dead.
I was wondering about this question as well since I just got my Prius last week and have yet to take it on the freeway (will do tomorrow-Saturday). Anyway, glad to hear the battery never appears fully charged. I thought I perhaps needed to be doing something different--drive it longer, go on freeway, etc., but I live near downtown and work downtown so why drive if I don't have to?
I've seen my battery meter reach full-green only a few times since I got the car nearly 2 years ago. Too much in-out from the battery is actually less efficient, since heat is lost in the transfer of energy. When I drive I'm usually seeing full-blue +- 1 bar, and that's where I likes it.
