Will hybrid battery fully charge while driving?

US is a vague location and does not help us describe this.

In MS, I can drive 156 miles and only gain/lose 90 feet, so no regenerative braking occurs.

In CO, there can be a 11,000 elevation change, more than enough to completely fill the battery via regen.

In WA, where I drove down off Stevens Pass, I gained back 13 miles, dropping 4000 feet.

An 8,000 foot drop should ALWAYS recharge the Prime.

 

This road section is a great example of mountain descent regeneration. My non-plugin Prius maxes out its battery in just a couple miles, wasting a lot of stored gravitational energy to engine compression braking after that. All the plug-ins have enough battery to recapture it all, not doing any compression wastage, unless they filled up at the EV charging station at the top.

There are many more road sections across the West very similar to that.

 

You can charge the battery to 100% through regeneration. I did this a number of times on a recent trip through the mountains. It got to where I needed to stay in EV going uphill to clear enough charge from the battery to accept the regeneration from the next downhill.

 

Sounds like fun, beware of the Bobbies. Great Prose!

 

You’ve got it down pat!

 

TY, good to know. I have not taken a long trip with the Prime.

 

To answer the OP's question, it all depends on terrain and other driving conditions like how fast you can drive, how much stop and go, temperature outside, AC use, etc. I was able to regenerate 10% SOC in 18 miles drive home all using just regenerative braking in HV mode, not CHARGE mode.

Apparently, you don't need a long trip to regen. I can do 10% SOC regeneration in 18 miles in HV mode. Simple math tells me, I should be able to do 100% regeneration in 180 miles all in HV mode at ~62 mpg.