2016 Prius Battery Life help needed

I'd just drive it. Unless it's really long hill, DON'T use B Mode and then only when the battery is absolutely full. I've only used B Mode twice since I got Samantha 3¼ years ago.

EV Mode is using the battery, but is only for limited slow running, and uses it up quickly.

ECO, NORMAL and POWER - they're more or less the same, just change how the accelerator responds, but full accelerator on each is the same.

 

I wouldn't worry about the battery. If it dies you get a new one .

 

Thinking further - what MPG has it been getting?

 

EV mode definitely doesn't charge the battery, just eats up the charge.

 

Idles when it needs to charge the battery.

 

I'm not remembering any significant roads on the Kitsap Peninsula high enough to use B mode when coasting down. Stick with light pressure on the brake pedal in D mode to get more regeneration than B mode can provide. B mode is for coming down from the Olympics (Hurricane Ridge) or Cascades (Stevens, Chinook, and White Passes, or Sunrise or Paradise in Mt. Rainier National Park).

The number of bars showing depends on your driving conditions. EV mode eats up charge fast. Low speed city and stop-and-go driving often eat it up too. An open highway is best for charging it up. Other mid-speed roads may or may not charge it up. The computers will not let the battery go below 2 bars, but will fire up the gas engine to get a bit more charge, though only to 3 bars.

If your car is not a salvaged or crash-repaired car, then the battery warranty should be good for 8 years or 100,000 miles. So if it dies in that time, it comes out of Toyota's pocket, not yours. A 3 year old car is very very unlikely to be having that sort of trouble now.

 

The Prius is smarter and faster than you are, computationally. Just drive it. It knows what it needs, and it will squawk when it does not get it. Two bars is fine. If you were to leave the car in ready mode with the AC on (camping in the summer heat, for instance), it would never charge above three bars. The engine would come on when it got to two bars, run for a minute or two until it got to three bars, and then shut off. Meanwhile, the AC would draw down the charge after an hour or so, and it would repeat. You might burn 1/2 gallon of gas for an 8 hour sleeping period. The car is smart.

 

welcome!

i'm not quite following you, but if you're saying that the car always shows two bars, you need to go to a dealer.
i think it would be best if you reread the manual regarding modes. you seem a bit confused. then come back here with specific questions.
until then, there is no need to fiddle with anything

 

When you start it, if the Climate Control is on, and you want cabin heat - it'll run the engine immediately - that's how it gets heat for the heater. It'll also run if it's been parked with 3 or less bars.

If you turn C/C <OFF> the moment you press <START>.

"Sometimes" is fine. Mine will go from 7 bars down to 2 and back again, particularly in hilly areas around town. I've only had 8 bars about 3 times in 3¼ years, and never less than 2.

If it's getting "average around 52-55" its normal - that's fine. I think mine is 56.5, but I've almost always just got me in the car, and I'm an easy driver.

You could put up a couple of screens which might help you monitor what's going on:

I keep this one most of the time - as it's least distracting - it almost never changes while I'm driving:

OR this one - which shows how much EV% - if it's over 30% long term, that's fine (it'll go down to 0% and up to 100% for short trips.

The TRIP button will change what that screen monitors (TRIP A, TRIP B, ODO or After start etc)

 

Could be the gauge that's not working properly, I don't think it's very accurate anyway.
The HV battery will charge quicker if you drive less economically, thrashing it up hills, drag race starts from the lights, full gas pedal every chance you get.
It might be worth trying this just to see if the gauge goes up ?