What happens when the Prius charges the HV battery when the car is parked?

DG Bear · Oct 17, 2015

HGS said: ↑

You sort of have the idea. When in Park or Neutral there is no power to the wheels. During startup (Ready) the car stays in Park and the traction battery charges as needed. There is really only one selection that drivers need use with caution: when the car is in Ready AND in Neutral the traction battery will not charge and will eventually drain the battery too far and require a very special charger from Toyota to fix it.

I never use Neutral. It's function these days is for car washes, being pulled out from being stuck in the mud or snow, or emergency stopping if the accelerator is stuck to the floor (pushing the Power button while braking during panic stop will cause it to go in Neutral). I'm sure there may be other uses for Neutral.

Just don't leave the car Ready and Neutral any longer than required. Other than that, the traction battery will always charge as required. I can't see a reason to stay in Reverse for a long time. If the SoC is 40% (low point where it starts charging) and the car is put in Neutral, it won't take too long before a warning message displays, but if the battery is charged way up, it could be a long time before the battery gets too low.

The Park position is a mechanical lock for the drive train to prevent the car from rolling, and it is sort of "neutral" in that there is no power to the wheels. But electrically, the battery will charge in Park.

One final comment: When in Ready and the Power button is pushed, the car goes into Park automatically during shutdown. I don't know of a way to cause the mechanical lock for the Park position to be unlocked and all power off (i.e. Neutral). The Prius is not like conventional transmissions with mechanical shifting without Power on.

Cheers
Click to expand...

So is the coupling from the engine to the power train a matter of adding power from the HV battery to the M1 Motor to control it... to either stay stationary or run in the opposite direction to provide charging voltage when the car is in park?

Is that whats going on when the ICE starts up in park to charge the battery?

HGS · Oct 17, 2015

DG Bear said: ↑

So is the coupling from the engine to the power train a matter of adding power from the HV battery to the M1 Motor to control it... to either stay stationary or run in the opposite direction to provide charging voltage when the car is in park?

Is that whats going on when the ICE starts up in park to charge the battery?
Click to expand...

Here is a 15 minute video showing how the Transaxle works.

What happens when the Prius charges the HV battery when the car is parked?

DG Bear Junior Member

HGS Member

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What happens when the Prius charges the HV battery when the car is parked?

DG Bear Junior Member

HGS Member