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How long does the "Traction or Hybrid" battery hold a charge ?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by Xaran, Jul 25, 2012.

  1. Xaran

    Xaran Junior Member

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    Ive noticed that after sitting over night my battery for the hybrid system is not charged enough to operate the car in EV or for the first mile or two it does not seem to use as much electric power to supplement the car. After a couple miles it is charged or near charged and I see more use.

    I just got the car and its a Toyota Certified 2010 Used Prius V with 34,000 miles on it, is this normal?
     
    #1 Xaran, Jul 25, 2012
  2. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    It is not the state of charge (SOC) of the hybrid battery that is keeping you from using EV mode when you first start, it is the ICE coolant temp and the different warm-up stages. Search on here for the ICE warm up stages to read more.

    To answer your question, as long as the car is driven with "normal use" it should maintain the charge on the HV battery. Every time you press the brakes to stop or go down a hill you are recharging the battery. The battery management system does an excellent job of keeping the HV battery between 40-80% SOC.
     
    #2 jdcollins5, Jul 25, 2012
  3. Xaran

    Xaran Junior Member

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    Thank you for your response that makes sense to me. Ill search ICE warm up stages for more info.

    This "Prius" thing is a whole new learning curve, but very engageing and interesting !
     
    #3 Xaran, Jul 25, 2012
  4. David Beale

    David Beale Senior Member

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    Further, the "traction battery" (what we call the 200V hybrid battery) will "hold a charge" for 6 months or so. That's allowing for perhaps 40% loss from when it was last charged. Pretty typical for NiMH batteries. Keep in mind it is -totally- disconnected from the car when the car is off. So the loss is internal, not due to "parasitic devices".

    Now, you -may- see a difference between the charge readout from when you shut down in the evening to the morning (the charge state readout). All this really tells you is the battery temperature has changed or the charge state readout is confused. The battery doesn't loose much at all overnight.

    It's difficult to estimate the charge remaining in the battery. Toyota tries to do so by measuring what goes in and what comes out, then correcting every so often by other means. It's an inexact science. ;)
     
    #4 David Beale, Jul 25, 2012
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    how many bars do you have when you get home and how many in the morning?
     
    #5 bisco, Jul 25, 2012
  6. Xaran

    Xaran Junior Member

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    I checked it this morning and it was 1 bar down from full charged after sitting for 10 hours. Where I live there is also a big temp fluctuation over night. When I parked it at 6pm it was 87 when I left for work this morning at 430 it was 62.

    I watched the display and after the ICE warmed up in about a mile it the Hybrid system kicked in so I think its like JDCollins posted to me it has to do with the warm up stages.

    Thanks everyone for the info
     
    #6 Xaran, Jul 26, 2012
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