Staying power of batteries

Leslie: I live in Fla and have owned my car since January. After a week of near 80 degrees I decided to get my windows tinted with Huper Optik window tint (even the windshield). This has cooled the interior quite a bit. I still run the air conditioner while sitting in traffic but the car is still technically running.

Since the 04-05 prius model's air conditioning runs off the battery, if the battery needs recharging - then the gas will kick in to recharge it. No need to even think about it.

Please someone do correct me if I'm wrong/

 

LeslieS, it is actually a group of several batteries in one single battery pack. On this board you will sometimes hear it referred to as the "traction battery" but the more accepted term is "HV (high-voltage) battery." There is also a more conventional battery (12 volts) in the back of the car. It's main purpose is to start the electronics in the car before the HV battery is turned on.

As for the air conditioning, like Rocco said, unlike a conventional car, the air conditioner in the Prius is fully electric and doesn't require the gasoline engine (typically referred to as the ICE (internal combustion engine)) to be running. I live in the DC area, and have had quite a bit of experience with stop and go traffic. You don't need to be concerned about the batteries, the car will take care of itself. If the charge gets low, the ICE will start up and recharge the battery as necessary.

As far as fuel economy with the air conditioner, I think that tire pressure and driving habits have a bigger impact. I leave my air conditioning in AUTO mode all of the time, and during warmer weather, I'm averaging around 55mpg. It's been a mild winter on the east coast, but my mileage has only dropped to about 50mpg.

 

In general, you never have to worry about the battery running out of energy for any reason. The car will always make sure the battery is within its optimal charged range.

 

Technically it is a group of many "cells" which make up one "battery".

An electric battery is defined as two or more cells, just as an artillery battery is defined as two or more art'y pieces. A cell is a chemical unit with one cathode (minus terminal) and one anode (plus terminal).

Among common household varieties, AAA, AA, C, and D cells are "cells" and the 9V square thing in your smoke detector is a 9V "battery", since it has six cells hooked together inside.

 

Just in case anybody wants to know, the 1st gen Prius HV battery was made up of 38 modules containing 6 cells of 1.2 volt which equals the 273.6 volts it has. By contrast the 2nd gen has only 28 modules with the same 6 cells at 1.2 volts in each. This gives the newer one only 201.6 volts in the HV battery pack. Just a little fyi, :wink:

 

I got stuck in stop and crawl traffic last week due to an accident, and the HV battery got down to 2 bars, causing the ICE to kick in for a few seconds at a time. The only harm it does is to your avg MPG.