Another Battery Degradation Thread

I think if Toyota had meant for EV range to be a more significant number, they would have increased it into the 40-mile territory, to compete with the Volt. As it is, the best balance of hybrid regeneration/utilization, together with a modest plug-in benefit has been achieved with the 4.4 kW lithium battery. After all, the Volt makes serious compromises of cargo and passenger space to achieve that 40-mile range, something that Toyota has already refused to do.

I do, however think that there is room for future advancements in design. The PIP is basically designed to utilize the same battery space as the regular Prius. This is the main limiting factor to EV range. The Leaf and the Tesla gain a lot of room for the battery by not having an ICE, and all the related paraphernalia. I think future versions of the PIP could use a smaller ICE, thereby allowing for more battery and extended range. I think the bar is being raised by the Volt to an EV range more compatible with a longer average commute of 30-60 miles. I believe there is much room for development for places to install the batteries.

 

The Leaf and the Tesla were also designed from the ground up as pure BEV's.
The Volt and the PIP both came from existing ICE equipped platforms and had the battery/bigger battery shoehorned in to wherever they could make it fit. The Leaf and the Tesla never had to make the batts fit the car- they made the car fit around the batteries. That's where the number one knocks against the Volt (no 5th seat/smaller trunk area) and the PIP (only 11mi EV range) come from... building a EV from an ICE vehicle.

 

If Chargepoint reporting counts I was able to dig up a couple warm weather ones from last June that show no difference in charge capacity from recent. I'm almost never charging from 0 so the sampling was small

 

I finally got a chance to verify, driving the same route the same way under the same conditions.

14.1 miles of EV was the result, a near perfect match from 2 years ago.

Always letting the pack cold-soak (rest before recharging) for at least 90 minutes and leaving the Prius in shade to delay recharging in peak summer sun until needed likely helped to retain that original capacity.

 

The rather wimpy 2.8 kWh charger on board would limit any extreme temperature rises in a PiP. Particularly in the North/Northeast with cool nights. It certainly doesn't warm it that much in the winter since we experience range loss irregardless if we are using and L1 or L2 EVSE.

 

Anybody can increase their charge and range by simply rebooting, any season, any temps. Another way to increase range ( actual ) is to glide in neutral, I do this often in suburban locals and generally glide 1-3 blocks. Since regen is actually insignificant driving 25-40 anyway. I do also return it to drive a few 100 feet before having to stop, thereby gaining .1 to .2 miles in regen. Incidentally, you will know when reboot was a success because you lose time and date settings, easy enough to reset tho. Not discussing freeway driving at all, that is another technique and subject matter. For any Bozos that consistently drive 65 - 85 Mph, and I know there aren't any on Priuschat! Please don't waste our time discussing economy, If you drive that fast, you are not even interested in economy!

 

What part of the country are you from? I don't think range loss has anything to do with the type of voltage during charge. The range loss seems to be an inherent characteristic peculiar to the Lithium battery. This loss initiated on the day we took possession of the new car. We didn't see it immediately as it was infinitesimal. Well now with car 2-3 years older the range loss is very apparent with negative conditions, cold for instance. As for extreme temperature rises caused by charger, I have not heard of any. Original range readings can be returned with a reboot.

 

Age has nothing to do with the capacity reduction due to cold. That happens even with a new battery.

The point of the discussion has been to find out whether or not capacity has dropped under the same conditions.

In my case 2 years later, under same the conditions, I haven't seen any degradation yet.

 

At home overnight, I have the level-1 in a cool environment. At work, during peak day with no protection from the baking sun, I have level-2 (which fortunately is solar powered). So even without actually plugging in, the pack itself is experiencing a rather large difference.

 

I have both. The catch is, circumstances for taking the measurements have little in common. There wouldn't really be anything to constructively compare.

 

Yes, there are many JDM monitoring systems that can put the Scangauge and Torque to shame!
Here is one of many screen grabs of my Blitz T.O.U.C.H.


There are so many options that i can monitor, which then gives me a clear picture of how hard my car is working.

 

Which Torque values should I specifically focus on?

 

It hasn't been constructive, no debate, mostly just the spreading of FUD... which won't end, even with data. Sad, but true. We've seen it before.

 

Does it matter if the Plugin's battery degrades? The car will still act just like a standard nonplug Prius. Correct?