Traction (HV) Battery Charge Level

the level of the battery pack depends MUCH on how you drive, where you drive, etc.. it is very rarely fully charged. We've owned ours for two years and I can't recall it ever being COMPLETELY full, though it gets to seven (?, one under full) very often.

When you get below three bars the motor will run even faster than normal to provide gas to move the car and to recharge the battery.. best to not try to drive so much on battery and just drive sensibly, the car knows what do to

also.. your battery is very new.. batteries are like sponges. they need to be exercised to learn to "absorb" a charge consistently.. it'll improve with time

 

Everything you describe is normal, assuming you haven't yet driven down a mountain or good-sized hill.

Drive your Prius part way up a mountain steep enough to require you to apply the brakes on the way down. A 1000-foot elevation gain should do it. Southern California has plenty of these inclines. Then, go back down in "Drive", applying the brakes as necessary. Soon you'll see 8 bars on your SOC (state of charge) indicator, indicating 80% charge. The battery can charge even higher, but you can't tell by the SOC indicator.

 

You can also put it in drive, floor the brake and step on the gas to charge the battery to eight bars, but that's just rude to your car.

 

This is normal. A quick search on this site will show many threads discussing this topic. The battery needs to be able to absorb energy for regenerative braking as well as supply energy for electric drive, so the Prius tries to maintain a state of charge (SOC) someplace between empty and full.

Tom

 

ZERO Traction (HV) Battery Charge Level -- car runs fine

My 2004 had a front end accident. I fixed the body, some severed wiring, and replaced the inverter. It sat for a few years. The traction (HV) and aux batteries died. I replaced the aux battery but the HV battery was too weak to start the car. The dealer said they tried and can't charge the HV battery (blamed a bad wiring harness and wanted $1200 to replace it). I replaced the HV battery myself and now it starts and runs fine. BUT, the MFD shows NO BARS on the HV battery!! Also, the red triangle with exclamation point and CEL are both lit. NEED ADVICE. NOW THAT IT'S RUNNING, CAN SOMEONE SCAN THIS FOR ME (NO DEALERS PLEASE) AND DO YOU THINK A SCAN WILL REVEAL WHAT'S WRONG IF ANYTHING! I LIVE IN IRVINE, CALIF (SOUTHERN CAL).

 

Re: ZERO Traction (HV) Battery Charge Level -- car runs fine

Buy a Scangauge here at Priius Shop. Pull the codes yourself plus
it will help you get better mileage on the road.
Report codes here. Probably HV ECU is blown.

 

Yup thats exactly how mine acts after 3 years too. I can get the mfd to show almost full green bar after 15 miles though. All green except missing top bar. Never have seen all bars but being a flatlander probabaly never will.

This car is not a good choice if city stop & go only. When I commute to work on the highway I average 45-47 but when the wife drives it for a few days the mpg is down around 39 now. New tires have made it much worse.

 

Re: ZERO Traction (HV) Battery Charge Level -- car runs fine

For $160, will it pull ALL OF THE CODES the same as the dealer scan tool will? I bought an OBD II scanner locally, and it would not get all the codes -- I hope this isn't the case.

Jack -- are you available to scan my car? I live in SoCal.

 

The only thing that bothers me is your last para. The responsivness of the car should remain the same regardless of your SOC, also it will not hurt your pocketbook or the engine to do a forcecharge and bring the HV to solid green, this only takes about a minute. Try a reboot, it cost nothing and sometimes helps. A ECU or two may be a bit sluggish. :cheer2:

 

Personally, I disagree, but everyone is welcome to their own opinion. Even if you are basing that statement solely on the MPG (there are many other reasons for owning a Prius), I suspect the MPG would be quite a bit lower in most other vehicles after your wife drives them for a few days in city stop & go.

I am curious. What other vehicles would you recommend for someone who drives mainly in the city stop & go traffic? While I personally wouldn't say that the Prius is a bad choice, I certainly wouldn't be so presumptuous as to say that it is the only choice or the best choice.

 

Re: ZERO Traction (HV) Battery Charge Level -- car runs fine

No. Don't count on that device or any inexpensive OBD-II reader to retrieve DTC from ECUs other than the engine ECU.

 

I would agree totally with what you are saying. There is stop and go and there is stop and go. The NYC N-S streets ( Manhatten ) used to be one way, either N or S. The traffic lights are timed progressively, so if you maintain the prescribed speed limit you may be fortunate enough to match the lights exactly and maintain a steady 30-35mph. However if you follow the NYC Taxi drivers procedure, then you rush up to every light as fast as possible so you can be the first car at the intersection and then...sit and wait. One method = fairly high mpg. Much of the time it is not the car but, the driver.:cheer2:

 

Hi andyprius. When the SOC is high then the car is much more willing to let the electric motors provide power to boost your acceleration and when the SOC is low then its very reluctant to do so. I definitely notice a difference in the responsiveness to brisk acceleration when the SOC is up around 6 or 7 bars compared to when it's really low like around 2 bars.

 

That could be, I have just not noticed a difference, the car always seems to have good power. My problem is being tempted to use it too much. But the OPs(Bowmanm) problem was not being able to put the charge into solid green. Well if you drive in the flats you may not be able to, unless you force/charge the HV, looks like the OP quit the discussion.
:cheer2: