Battery???

My 2008 will do the same thing with the purple bars and the A/C. What kind of mileage are you getting, what is your commute like?

 

You may or may not have a case, but you can certainly ask for HV battery diagnostics. At worst they will quote a fee to do it, and then you can try to negotiate that downwards. Or just pay, if you're that many dollars curious.

 

From all of the collective wisdom in these forums it seems to me the "ideal" battery would always stay in the blue range. Green tells me that it is getting close to full and the car is going to try and find ways to get it back into the blue, even if it means wasting some of it.

My wife has MS and often when I run into the bank or other quick stop she will stay in the car. I hit Park and leave the AC on. Sometimes the battery is purple when I get back out. It charges back up quickly.

Remember all that energy to get the battery green comes from burning gasoline. Nowhere else! But wait, you say, "what about coasting down hill and regen braking?" Well, you already paid for that energy by climbing the hill or gaining speed.

Think of the battery as a bank where you store excess energy and take it out when needed. Oh, the "interest" rate is around 50% due to losses from charging, storing, and recovering battery energy.

I very quickly put the battery on my list of things NOT to worry about and let the car do the worrying. (Seeing the green is kinda' cool now and then, I will admit.)

Bob

 

Have you read http://priuschat.com/forums/fuel-economy/14701-new-owner-want-mpg-help-read-first.html more specifically http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...ssion/37214-why-don-t-i-get-epa-mileage.html? What kind of mileage do you get now? How long are your trips? What kind of driving is it (city/highway)? What speeds? What are your tire pressures? What's the terrain like?

Cars aren't necessarily supposed to get "promised" EPA mileage. Toyota nor the EPA promised anything.

Per Fuel Economy: Why You're Not Getting the MPG You Expect - MSN Autos (before the EPA method was revised for model year 2007+), they noted
"

• Shortfalls in mpg occurred in 90 percent of vehicles we tested and included most makes and models.
• The largest discrepancy between claimed and actual mpg involved city driving. Some models we tested fell short of claimed city mpg by 35 to 50 percent."

Hence, the revision...

The behavior about the battery draining to purple w/the AC blasting doesn't sound abnormal to me.

 

I have only had my car for just over a month but I have never seen purple bars??. I have also had the A/C blasting a few times. I only get lime green and blue bars.

 

Sounds completely normal to me. When its working properly the car will try and keep the battery 2 bars from the top. Its pretty rare to get it in the green, unless you get quite a bit of downhill regen. Its also pretty rare to get it down to purple, except when you run the AC without moving. That will bring it down pretty fast. I usually just get moving and get the windows down, as the moving air flushes out the hot much faster than the AC can. When you have to leave it sitting with the AC on, you'll take a pretty big mileage hit.

Rob

 

Likewise this sounds normal to me. What sort of mileage have you been getting, and under what circumstances? Very few cars get the EPA figures, or at least the old EPA numbers. The battery SOC sounds normal. Even at 50% battery capacity, your mileage hit should be unnoticeable.

Tom

 

I'd be willing to meet up with you and drive your car on the backroads, with you as passanger of course,(part of my normal commute) and see how it compares with my 2005. This should rule out driver or terrain differences. I'm in the Lincoln area.

 

Main thing to remember is the EPA estimates have been greatly revised.

From 60mpg down to 44 or so. I typically get between 48-50.

A lot of is definately due to driving style. I was away at a conference for a week. That week my fiancee was driving my Prius - and it went down to 45mpg (when it was at 50 when I left).

With practice, you can get better mileage.