Another Battery Degradation Thread

I have had my PIP since April 2012 and have noticed no apparent degradation

SM-G900T ?

 

I always though the best way, given what I have at my disposal, would be to just check SoC using something like Torque when I've run out of EV range.. then full-charge it at a Chargepoint (or your 120V EVSE with a Kill-A-Watt) and then see how many kW it takes to fill it up.

Sadly, I dont have any kW data.. and when I started using a Chargepoint at work, I wasnt using Torque. I guess I should do that soon, just to get a baseline 2+ years in.. better late than never

Battery degradation is something I do think about from time to time.. especially on those days this past winter when I'd barely make it to work. But then, there are those days where I make it to work with over 3 miles EV left.. and now that the temps are more normal (70s-80s), I get to work with about 2 miles of EV left.. which is kind of what I remember it being last year.. or the year before.

So assuming there is degradation (which I'm thinking there should be), I would say its not noticeable to me yet.

Something else I considered was.. when the PiP's battery loses 10% of its useable capacity.. that'd take me down from about 12 miles average to about 10.8 miles average.. hardly noticeable, esp with traffic lights, stop signs, traffic, etc. In a car with a bigger battery, a 10% reduction would make me sad.. real sad

 

Another aspect is that any EV range reduction from degradation may be small enough to be masked by improving LRR as the original tires wear down.

 

i was just thinking about this today on my way to work. without rigid test comparisons, it is difficult to know. there are too many factors involved. but i agree, there must be some continual degradation. i used to be able to do my commute with a mile or so left when i got home. now that the weather is finally starting to cooperate, i will start watching more carefully.

 

Probably more noticeable in hot climates if at all. Unfortunately, Toyota isn't encouraging sales in AZ.

 

There's one obvious speculation why.... maybe it's the "LEAF effect". Valid or not, the fear of bad PR around the potential for battery heat problems may have scared them into effectively silently dropping Arizona from their PiP sales region list. Nobody seems to really know what's going on with PiP sales there.

 

No data other than anecdotal here either, but I’ve noticed no difference. The seasonal (cold/warm) is >10% for me. However, when I drive the same route and experiment a bit, I’ve been able to improve my trip mpg by 50-100% in cases. There will be a tipping point for battery capacity vs my expanding ability to wring out EV miles; I hope it is still quite some time away.

 

My range bounces around the 10.1 to 10.3 range, down from around 12.5 miles 2 years ago. I think that has more to do with my current 1 mile commute in heavy traffic with lots of stop signs and lights. Chargepoint reports that I use 2.6 - 2.8 kwh when I charge with them but that's only about every other week.

 

This would seem an appropriate thread to post a link to an official UK Toyota blog post answering questions submitted prior to the PiP launch here: Toyota Prius Plug-in: your questions answered « Toyota UK news, reviews, video and pictures

About two thirds of the way down the article there is a q about the battery warranty, which is 8 yrs here. But underneath it there is a q about expected battery life that has the answer that the traction battery is expected to last the life of the car.

Obviously we tend not to have extremes of climate, but that is a useful promise. I must take a screenshot of it, just in case...

 

i can't even start testing yet. may 24th and the temps are still in the 50's. definitely not optimum weather. my range is up to 14.1, but the high last year was 16+.

 

I'm looking forward to those optimum conditions. I carefully noted a route when I first got the plug-in 2 years ago. The expectation is to see the same results on year 3.

 

i did the same thing on my commute. every turn, stop, street sign, etc., i have the ev guetimate reading. last year was about the same as the first year, so this will be a good test. unfortunately, these are not lab conditions, you just have to wait for the almost perfect day and try to drive similarly.

 

Your doing good. I'm all they way up to 10.5.
Temps starting Sunday Low 80's for the next week!
Things will get better.

 

Bisco, same weather here too, awfully raw right now. My EV range oddly enough has been 15.3-15.4 for about a month. Go figure...

 

that is amazing! i drove 16 miles today at 22 mph average, but that doesn't mean much. temp was all the way up to 64 degrees, woo hoo!

 

I just did my commute to work and back. estimated + actual miles = 11.4 miles! whoo hoo!

Of course I mean all EV travel. I only travelled 5.8 miles but had 5.6 EV left