i recently purchased a used 06 prius with 59,000mi and noticed the batterys never fully charge. The most ive driven it has been about 60mi at once but still the batterys never come to a full charge, maybe 3/4. I have driven another one in the past, and it seems like it became fully charged after a few miles of driving. Any thoughts?
Your Prius is performing correctly. It's only your memory that is malfunctioning! When you search this forum using the term "battery" you will find several threads that go into great detail to explain why the Prius is designed to stay about 2/3 charged.
I can charge to the high limit (full bars on the display), but the control system tries to keep the charge at about 2/3rds. Tom
I have read that the Prius computer manages the battery charge, keeping the charge between 40% and 80%. The purpose of which is to prolong the traction battery life. I live in the mountains, and on long downhills the battery will register a full charge.
When i had first driven a prius it was in northern california in the sierras, and it did the same thing(full charge). But i live now in SE new mexico where there are very few ant hills , so it only gets to that 40-80%.
Following is a copy of my post at Gen III forum. The control target is 60% SOC. ----- As everybody wrote, Prius is trying to keep the charge level to the target SOC (state of charge). So, it does not want to be full. Ken@Japan
