Hi all, My daily route includes the following road segment: 5 km steep climb (30mph, 50kph) 3 km fast downhill (60mph, 100kph) 4 km fast climb (45mph, 70kph) 6 km steep downhill (40mph, 65kph) The speed between parantheses is the traffic flow speed for each segment. Even though I tried varying the driving speeds and styles, a constant problem I have is the following: Before starting the final descent, my battery is almost full. Half way down the hill the battery fills up and the engine brake kicks in, which means energy is wasted. I have the following 2 questions: 1.Will the battery be affected in time by the fact that it fills up to 80% repeatedly? 2.If I drain the battery on the last climb by slowing down and switching to electric and then fully recharge it on the descent (and avoid engine braking), will this reduce the battery's life span?
The short answer to both is yes. Cycling the battery affects the lifespan, and the effect increases as the size of the swings increase. The car tries to minimize this but it's unavoidable in some situations, such as repeated up/downhills. See this thread for more info: http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...ypercycles-prolong-prius-hv-battery-life.html
You can probably reduce the stress on the battery slightly by switching to "B" mode right at the start of each descent. Though a steep 6km descent is going to fill the battery pretty much whatever you do.
