Low Battery

[lfmcdougal]

I am a new owner of about a month now of a 2008 prius..yea! Loving it so far but have a question about the battery. I notice sometimes that the battery is low either after just starting it from running in somewhere or if I've sat a red light too long. What is the deal with that?

I only drive shorter distances within a city. I don't drive freeway much at all. Is that why my battery stays kinda low?

[TonyPSchaefer]

Welcome to PriusChat!

There's nothing to worry about. But when you first start your car, the engine is mostly being used to warm the Catalytic Converter in order to reduce emissions. You might notice that if you start up and then take off at a brisk pace, your battery will drain. That's because the engine isn't propelling the car much, it's warming the CC and letting the battery take on some load.

it sounds as though that might be the bulk of your driving situation which would result in the battery not getting the chance to recharge often. It's not going to damage anything, if that's your main concern.

[a priori]

First of all: Welcome to PriusChat and Contratulations on purchasing the best production car available!

As to your concerns about the state of charge (SOC) of the battery: Don't worry. This may not be much comfort, but if you do a search on "low charge on battery" or "why purple bars?" you'll see that others have gone before you on this question. I'm one of them.

I was worried that I always had a low charge and never seemed to see any green bars -- ever! This all changed about a month into ownership, when I started to see green more often. I now see green bars in nearly every trip. I also see purple bars nearly as often, though blue is the norm!

The Prius has a computer that will take care of managing the battery for you. At this point in your ownership, just enjoy driving this great car.

Take the time to read through the various postings labelled "Sticky" in the Newbie section, and you'll quickly come up to speed. Chances are your Toyota salesperson knew barely more than you did at the time of your purchase. Within a month, you'll know more than most of the Toyota sales force!

[dogfriend]

Are you using the AC a lot? Like all the time? That will tend to drain the battery faster because the AC compressor is electric. Don't worry about it though, the car will recharge the battery as it needs to.