Recently I've been noticing that shortly after starting up and driving away, my battery indicator on the console is reading at half-charged. It doesn't seem to be all the time, but I've been noticing it more and more lately. This morning in particular, as I was about a couple blocks away, I noticed that the indicator was only reading 2 purple bars. I drove around a bit extra than I needed to, and the battery did get up to fully charged. Are my batteries dying? Do I need to be concerned, or am I being paranoid? 2007 Prius 105K miles. I purchased it just over 2 months ago with just under 100K miles. The MaintReq light came on yesterday, but I'm pretty sure that's because I'm 100 miles past due for my oil change. I'm bringing it in for an oil change tomorrow or the next day anyway, so I was going to have him check it out.
What is the battery indicator show when you shut it off and then the next time you start it? If its half charged when you park it and start it the next time, then I don't see any issue with it being at half charge a couple miles later. The rate of change is the biggest indicator of a dying battery. If it goes from high to low or vice versa quickly and you're not doing anything that would explain that much of a change (using AC, accelerating quickly often, braking down a hill), that's when you should start to worry. If you're not sure what's normal, try test driving another Gen2 Prius and see how it acts. The Prius will use the battery quite a bit until the engine gets warmed up, its not uncommon to lose a bar or two in the first couple miles (depending on your driving conditions and habits). Just take it easy for the first mile or so after a cold start.
Most Pri tend to do what the OP's Pri does when they begin to age. One of the poster's here suggests letting the Prius run for about a minute before driving off. I did that with our 09 Gen II Prius about a year before I traded it in. Battery was doing Ok, but acted like the OP's on certain occasions. More so if I was using the A/C which pulls a lot on the battery too! The Prius does use a lot of energy from the traction battery while the ICE is warming up as it is heating up the CATS. In doing so it does use the battery more than normal to add a little boost to the ICE to get the car moving. It is normal. Don't worry about it. As vskid said, when you start seeing mad swings from Green to Purple/Red and then back to Green say like in one minute time frames and it keeps doing that then you might need to investigate further. The Prius will go on and on "until" it finally codes. When that happens the dash will light up. There is really nothing you can do to prevent it. Your odds though are really with you. % of failed batteries out there today versus amount of Prius on the road is extremely low. Furthermore, the battery can be rebuilt if you so choose for a small amount of money. You can also swap the battery with one from a wrecked Prius that has a good battery in it. Or you can spend the big bucks and buy a new battery. There are a lot of alternatives when a traction battery fails on a Prius. It does not mean RIP Prius. Like I said, what the OP is seeing is normal IMO for a aged Prius. Don't worry about it. Worry just causes high blood pressure and gray hair. Live life to the fullest and give your worries to the devil. Ron (dorunron)
OK, thank you both for your replies. I'll keep a closer eye on the charge levels at shut-down and start ups, and I'll relax about it, too. ETA: thanks to you, too, bisco. (you replied while I was posting this)
Best advice is this, don't worry about the battery. It will take care of itself. The best thing you can do for your Prius is to maintain it according to the manual. AND change the transaxle fluid EVERY 60,000 miles. Other than that, drive it and enjoy the savings at the pump. Ron
How do you guys see these different battery color bars cause mine is all the same color no matter how many bars i have and has been that way since i bought it in feburaury SPH-L710 ?
All 2G have a color MFD. The traction battery state-of-charge gauge is displayed on an MFD screen and will display one of three colors depending upon how many bars are present. The MFD was taken out as a cost-reduction move on 3G, unless you bought the nav system/rear view camera options.
To add to what Patrick said, on the Gen II Green represents the top two lines on the battery display, red/purple represents the bottom two lines and the rest of them would be colored blue. Hope this helps you Glen. I am experienced with both Gen II and Gen III. In a lot of ways Gen III is better, but in some ways Gen II is better. It is the best of both worlds so to speak. I liked my Gen II Prius. I love my new Gen III Prius. Ron
Lot of difference between each model. I opted for the Model III to get the back up camera. Didn't care about the nav since I already have a Garmin Nuvi but am using the onboard nav unit along with the Nuvi on certain occasions. I like the fact that everything is built in. Less trouble when it comes to park and secure the car. If the thieves want it, nothing will stop them. At least built in will slow them down some. Not much of a price difference really between the models. At least you have a Prius. We started with a used 09 Gen II Package 2 unit. Drove it three years, then traded it in on the new 2013 that I got 3/31/14. Last years model purchased at the end of the month and the end of the quarter. Got a great deal, but did a LOT of negotiation. Enjoy your new Prius Glen. Ron
I would've preferred to get one fully loaded but I got a great deal on my Prius and it had low miles and only 1 previous older owner who took good care of It SPH-L710 ?
