So I am a new Prius owner, 2013 PIP, and I am somewhat confused with what batteries are called what and what they are used for. Is there another battery that the pip uses? How many battery's are there? What are they called and what do they do? I would just like to understand a bit more when going through these forums. Thanks for the help! Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Congrats on your PIP. Very basically, there are 2 batteries in the PIP. There is the regular 12v battery that does basically what it does in a regular gas car. Then there is the traction battery that allows the car to drive on electric only. This is the one you charge. Other more knowledgeable members can give you the finer points.
Welcome to Prius Chat . The 12 volt battery is used to power the computer to start the car and the traction battery is used to power the car once the car is in “ready” mode. If fully charged, the display will show 100% and the you’ll get 9-12 miles on that charge. Good luck and keep us posted .
There is one traction battery, sometimes called HV (high voltage) battery. But you see two different battery displays on the instrument cluster: there's the solid battery display which you see when the battery is sufficiently charged (for EV driving), and then there's the segmented display which only shows a smaller portion of the full capacity of the battery, which is what you see when the battery is mostly depleted and the car essentially functions like a non-plugin Prius.
Congratulations!!! First off, some quality time in the owners manual will go a long way toward increasing your enjoyment of an amazing vehicle. Unless you've had another Prius, this is not like anything else you've had before. As mentioned, there are two batteries. The "big" battery is the traction battery, also often called the HV battery. It provides power to the traction motor (MG2) that either helps the ICE (internal combustion engine) propel the car or it propels the car by itself. The traction battery also spins MG1 which starts the ICE, and acts as a generator during coasting, braking, etc, to put energy back in the battery. The traction battery also provides power to the DC/DC converter to charge the 12V battery and thus give energy for lights, fans, and other 12V loads like the many computers in the car. The 12V battery is called the auxiliary battery. It closes the relays that connect the traction battery to the car, and it feeds the 12V system. Contrary to the common misunderstanding, it does not start the ICE, but if it's dead, the car won't start because the relays won't close to connect the traction battery and the computers won't wake up. Hope this isn't TMI, but it does help to know what does what so you know your car and can ask and understand questions and answers. The main thing is to not sweat it and just enjoy it. Learn as you go, but don't overthink it. It's meant to be reliable and efficient, not a source of worry.
congrats and welcome! just to clarify, pip does not show percentages on the battery icon, just estimated miles. there is only one battery icon, but it changes looks after you run out of wall charge, and the car goes to hv (hybrid vehicle) mode. the large battery (high voltage/traction/hybrid battery) sorry, too many names for the same thing, also powers the air conditioning compressor. and lastly, you have a button battery in each fob. all the best!
