Hi all, I have just purchased my first prius its a 2004 gen 2 t4 model, 66000 miles. On the dash display showing the battery charge status, I have only seen the battery status go green once, 7 bars, the majority of the time its always 6 to 4 bars full. Is this normal, or should i be in the green zone more often. Many thanks, Anthony.
If you think of the battery as a reservoir, once you fill it up, you have no more ability to store energy. If it were full all the time, hitting the brakes could not add to it, going downhill could not add to it, etc. (The PIP does not work like this, as the plugin does go to 8 bars, so PIP owners have odd effects where it rotates the engine without gas just to burn off excess energy) By staying at the top of blue (6 bars) you have room to add to the energy saved, by slowing from 90 to 25 or by descending 600 feet, etc. The Prius will try to use energy from the battery to keep you down to 6 bars just so you have that room. I find that I am in green in colder weather more often than hot, and green at the bottom of hills. The cool part is that the computers make all this seamless, you just drive and they pamper the battery.
Many thanks for the reply, it is a welcome post as i was not sure if i hasd anything that was wrong with the battery. Many thanks for your description and I am now at ease that there is nothing wrong with the battery that i have. Good news and relieved. Thank you, Anthony.
