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Fully Charged PIP in about 30min

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by Jumpjet, Dec 30, 2012.

  1. Jumpjet

    Jumpjet Member

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    I took a 170mi round trip up to the mountains the other day on one charge and made some interesting observations. I'm not sure if my questions have been covered already but anyway, here are my results:

    Elevation: 1000-7500ft
    Overall mpg: 55 (seems pretty low or am I just spoiled with higher numbers)
    Speed: avg 25-45 90%, about 5% was at 65-70mph
    Temp: 25 degrees and snow at the top - 45 degrees when I started

    Using Torque, I was able to monitor my SOC (State of Charge) and battery temps. When I got to the top, my SOC was around 19%. HVAC set to 78 and was on most of the trip up.

    On the way down, starting off with only 19% SOC, I was able to regen fully to 85.1% by the time I was down using a mixture of B and D - Normal regen. Normal charge at home gives me 85.5%. It was nice to see the EV light blink and stay on at 1.8 miles. One of the battery temps reached a high of around 93 degrees. With the heater off the engine stayed on during half the regen process (Hmm). Which leads me to the questions I have:

    What is the max high and low temps for the battery?
    Is charging a battery in that short of time using regen damaging to the battery? I'm sure it can't be that good especially if done repeatedly.

    I don't understand why the engine came on and cut my mpg in half when going down. When the engine switched on, I was in B but it also did it when I was in D. My GUESS is that it came on for battery maintenance due to all the regeneration that was taking place. HVAC was off and the coolant temp was 150 degrees. When I got to 85.1, it stayed on which I would have expected it so that it would burn the rest of the energy.
     

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    #1 Jumpjet, Dec 30, 2012
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  2. ny_rob

    ny_rob Senior Member

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    The ICE fires up when you've reached your max SOC and you have enough inertia to overcharge the batts if you used the brakes.
     
    #2 ny_rob, Dec 30, 2012
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  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i think it was partially charging and partially bleeding off to keep the recharge rate under control. that's a challenging scenario, great engineering work by team toyota!
     
    #3 bisco, Dec 30, 2012
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  4. Rebound

    Rebound Senior Member

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    It sounds like you understand everything overall. The transaxle and inverter can only convert so much forward energy into electricity. I think the cutoff was more likely inverter coolant temp or a maximal charging amperage more than the battery itself, but I'm only guessing.

    What confuses me is whether you're saying this affected mileage; I don't think it would, because when being spun by the transaxle, the ICE shouldn't burn gas; at least, it should only burn a minuscule amount. You said it cut your mileage in half. If this means that 999 mpg became 500 mpg, well... the two numbers are effectively the same over a short distance.
     
    #4 Rebound, Dec 30, 2012
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  5. Jumpjet

    Jumpjet Member

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    Yes, exactly, although my app only goes up to a high of 255 which is probably in the range of 999 but it was effectively cut to the 125mpg range which tells me that fuel is being used when the motor is on no matter what it's doing. Only indication from the car that the motor was on was the fact that the EV light was off.
     
    #5 Jumpjet, Dec 30, 2012
  6. lensovet

    lensovet former BP Brigade 207

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    love the third bar from the right…not enough room for the regen car icons
     
    #6 lensovet, Dec 30, 2012
  7. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Keep in mind you did this during the winter. In particularly cold regions your mpg will plummet! Winter blend fuel doesn't help either.
     
    #7 F8L, Dec 30, 2012
  8. Vijay C

    Vijay C Junior Member

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    Is it okay to charge my 2013 basic Pip for 1 hour , when it takes 2.5 hours for full charge: for the following cases ?

    1. When EV battery is fully discharged ?
    2. When EV battery is partially discharged ?

    or it doesn't matter

    Liking my 2013 Pip so far.....
     
    #8 Vijay C, Jan 2, 2013
  9. lensovet

    lensovet former BP Brigade 207

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    Charge whenever you can. Imho the goal is to get as many EV miles as possible, the only way to achieve that is to have as much charge available to you whenever you head out.
     
    #9 lensovet, Jan 2, 2013
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  10. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    Both are OK. You want to minimize leaving PiP with full charge for a long time, especially in the sun. So, finish your charge just before you need it.

    For long storage, I think the manual said to discharge EV miles and then store.
     
    #10 usbseawolf2000, Jan 2, 2013
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  11. CharlesH

    CharlesH CA HOV Decal #5 on former PiP

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    And in case one is thinking about the old advice to completely discharge/recharge rechargeable batteries, that only applies to old Nickle Cadmium batteries, not the Lithium-Ion battery in the PiP (nor the Nickle Metal Hydrid battery in the standard Prius, for that matter).
     
    #11 CharlesH, Jan 3, 2013
  12. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    Right, there is no memory effect for not completely discharging before recharging. That only applied to NiCD. NiMh and Lithium batteries do not have memory effect. You can pretty much discharge and recharge at any time. On top of that the battery management unit will take care of maintaining the battery pack.
     
    #12 usbseawolf2000, Jan 3, 2013
  13. Rebound

    Rebound Senior Member

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    In addition, the Prius will never fully charge or discharge the Lithium Ion battery pack. "Fully Charged" is really about 80% charged. Toyota does this to maximize battery longevity. In California and other CARB states, the lithium battery is warranted for 150,000 miles.
     
    #13 Rebound, Jan 3, 2013
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