Just bought a 2015 Prius Three in Nautical Blue this past weekend. Traded in a 2012 Ford Focus Titanium hatchback, and I couldn't be happier! That car was a catastrophe! I've been reading about the systems in the car and the best techniques for getting the most MPG out of it. My question is, when charging and discharging the traction battery throughout daily trips, is it normal for the indicator of battery level on the HSI to never reach fully charged? I've only had the car about a week and I've averaged about 47 MPG so far. I hope I can manage to get at least 50 MPG out of it as I practice. Looking forward to being in the club!
Well, welcome to the club then, even if I'm a newbie myself! I can't answer your question of mileage but i try to go lower than 5liter/100 km and then U know I'm a European ;-) But I can tell U there is a lot of clever guys here ready to give U good advice and sometimes advice casuing a discussion. /Roger
Yup. That's totally normal to drive around with it one or two or three bars down. I've only ever had the battery fully charged or lit up or whatever you call it once and it was on a couple mile long down hill that I kept using the regen brake on...
The car will leave room for regenerative braking going down hill. It takes a 200-300 foot downhill run using the brakes to fully charge the battery. Many people living in Florida have never seen a fully charged Prius battery.
I would venture a guess that the HV battery gauge only displays a 40 to 80% state of charge (SOC). It was this way in the Gen II and was probably maintained for the Gen III. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong. The HSD system optimizes battery life by keeping the SOC within those levels.
