i have a 2005 prius. the battery icon is turning green and all but one bar is illuminated. i thought this battery was designed to hold a partial charge for the longest life. does going green mean it's overcharging? thanks!
The battery icon will turn green when either 7 or 8 bars are present. The battery is not overcharging. If you haven't seen 8 bars yet, this may appear when you head downhill for a relatively long period, for example mountainous descent. When the battery charge reaches 8 bars, then you may notice gasoline engine RPM speed up. The point of that happening is that excess battery charge is being drained off by having MG1 spin the engine.
You may have faith that the computers will pamper the HV battery, and do what is needed to protect it. Green (which is rarely used as a warning color) means the battery has more charge than is strictly required. The computers will get more aggressive about using electric power until it drains back to blue. There is also a pink (purple) color when the HV battery gets low enough that the computer get more aggressive about charging it, the car may seem sluggish or the engine may get louder when it dsplays pink.
All green bars on the display corresponds to ~80% full, with some error as calculated by the battery ECU depending on temperature, load, etc.
I dont know if its from it being cold lately or what, but twice in the past week have I had EVERY Green bar in my battery. Its never happened before ( I always have 1 bar left empty at the top of the battery display).
