Stopping HV charging from low SOC at idle

Running a block heater and/ or a small space heater in the cabin would cut down on the time needed to get to stage 4 in cold climate.

 

Speaking of charging behavior, my 05 reads about 0-20 mpg for the first 1/2 mile going on flat road with almost no gas pedal and almost a fully charged battery. Is that normal as it bring my avg down when it should go up. thanks in advance.

 

During the first minute or two the engine is burning fuel to warm up, and it will use this fuel whether you're stopped or moving.

Traveling slowly along a flat road with the engine warming up, you're pretty much using a fixed rate of fuel. Under these conditions you're going to get low MPG, and the slower you go the lower it will be. If you're stopped but are still using fuel then you're getting zero MPG, that's just maths.

There's really not a lot you can do about it, we all get low MPG in the first few minutes.