How long will the battery last (approximately )if you are sitting in traffic and not moving? I am just concerned that should I get stuck in a traffic jam I will not have any battery life.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(marleewolf @ Jun 6 2006, 05:19 PM) [snapback]266884[/snapback]</div> I would say that the battery will last a maximum of 48 hrs after you run out of gas. Of course if your running a lot of electrics such as A/C, radio, heater, etc. it will give out sooner. As long as you have gas, the ICE will recharge your battery.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(grasshopper @ Jun 6 2006, 05:26 PM) [snapback]266890[/snapback]</div> Which appliances run off of which battery? I assumed "standard" accessories such as the radio and such would run off the 12V (no point in redesigning parts that are shared among hybrid and non-hybrid models), and that other components like A/C which are probably redesigned to be specific to the hybrid (e.g. "normal" car A/C would be belt-driven) would use the main battery. Is the heater electric, or strictly driven by ICE engine heat?
It depends on what mode you're in. On ACC you'll have the radio and the MFD, which is run off the small battery. Ig-On will have the display, windows and fan, which is probably off the main battery, but it won't be re-charging. In READY it all should be running off the main battery. Think of the small battery like the CMOS battery on a motherboard; it doesn't run the car, but it's there to boot the system up. There's an electric heater, which works until the ICE is warm.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(marleewolf @ Jun 6 2006, 04:19 PM) [snapback]266884[/snapback]</div> Why are you concerned? The gas engine will charge up the battery when necessary.
Most accessories run off the 12V system. When the car is in ACC or IG-ON mode, this comes purely from the 12V battery; the HV battery is disconnected. In READY mode, the 12V system is supplied, and the 12V battery charged, from a DC-DC converter stepping down from the high voltage battery. So all the 12V components (radio, fans, windows, wipers, electric heaters etc) will gradually drain the HV battery, and the engine will recharge it occasionally. The only system to be powered directly off the HV system, other than the engine, is the air-conditioning compressor. So that only operates in READY mode. In IG-ON mode, the rest of the climate control works, but you won't get any A/C cooling.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KMO @ Jun 7 2006, 06:30 AM) [snapback]267137[/snapback]</div> Oooh, thanks, that's one of the most informative posts I've seen yet.
