General Advice - Hybrid battery and AC

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Cyen, Jun 16, 2025 at 12:44 PM.

Tags:
  1. Cyen

    Cyen Junior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2012
    9
    7
    0
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Hello everyone.
    I'm just a little worried and was wondering if some of you might be able to offer me advice.
    In short... I'm worried my Hybrid Battery might be on it's last legs.

    I don't drive it much - Once a week maybe where I take it out to a local store, and I'll even just drive around for 20min just to keep a charge on the batteries.

    It seems I rarely see the Hybrid charge meter going all the way to the top. It's usually low by about 2 bars.

    In the summer, when I turn my AC on the bars drop pretty low - around half way. I can get it to charge back up (again about 2 bars short of full), but it seems the next time I use the car the charge drops back down again (in about 5 days or so).

    Basically I'm just wondering... is this normal? Is it just showing signs of age at this point and I should take this as a warning that it might be on it's way out? Is there any way to test it to see how good (or bad) it is?

    Lastly... is there any sort of other warning signs before a Hybrid battery fails? I'm worried about just coming out to start the car one day and getting the dreaded "!" to say the battery is dead.

    Thanks for any advice.
     
    #1 Cyen, Jun 16, 2025 at 12:44 PM
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    112,123
    51,021
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    how many miles on her?
    sounds normal for a 15 year old battery. hard to say how long it will last, but not driving much isn't helping.
    have you considered selling it? hybrids don't save money sitting in the garage.
    you could put a grid charger on it, to prolong the life, but it doesn't seem worthwhile to me, unless you really want to keep it for some reason.
     
    #2 bisco, Jun 16, 2025 at 1:51 PM
  3. Carall

    Carall Member

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2023
    228
    54
    0
    Location:
    Harrisonburg, VA
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    V
    The symptoms of lost capacity in your battery. The HybridAutomotive method will bring back the lost capacity, but for how long depends on how exhausted it is. If the mileage is up to 175k, there is a chance that it will still live.
     
    #3 Carall, Jun 16, 2025 at 10:56 PM
    Cyen likes this.
  4. DirkAshburn

    DirkAshburn Member

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2020
    119
    48
    1
    Location:
    Virginia
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    It's very normal. I city commute drive daily. That battery meter is all over the place. Take it out on a highway, it will go back to full or close to it. What's your MPG? From what I've read, the hybrid battery begins to fail when it hits ~32mpg in city.

    I recently bought a 2025 Rav4 Hybrid. It doesn't even have the battery bars, at least anywhere I can find.
     
    #4 DirkAshburn, Jun 17, 2025 at 12:12 PM
    Cyen likes this.
  5. Cyen

    Cyen Junior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2012
    9
    7
    0
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Thanks that's very helpful to know. I was just reading online about the connection to low MPG. I don't remember the last time I checked, but I will be figuring that out at this point. I do very little highway driving, but that's a good idea. I should jump on 295 more often.
    (For anyone else asking... I think if memory serves my mileage is only around 85K.)

    Good luck with your new Rav4!
     
    #5 Cyen, Jun 17, 2025 at 12:46 PM
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)