Prius Plug-in 2012-15 :: Does ICE Charge Battery When Idling In EV Mode?
Feb 22, 2013
I have noticed this, and thought it strange. I don’t see the charging arrows in the display.
View 1 RepliesI have noticed this, and thought it strange. I don’t see the charging arrows in the display.
View 1 RepliesI don't plug my PiP in often due to the cost of electricity here, but what I have noticed that when it has a full charge, around 13Miles, it will quickly drop down to 7-8, even when not using EV. Meaning, I start up car, turn off EV and the motor gets warm. Engine shuts off and I drive normally using the ICE. Over the course of a few miles, I'd say about 10, that EV range slowly drops down to 7-8 and then maintains itself around there. Pretty much the whole time I would have been using the ICE to maintain ~70MPH on the highway, not climbing, just flat.
View 6 RepliesI just purchased a '12 PIP advanced a couple days ago. Love it so far, but I'm confused about why it keeps on switching out of EV mode before the charge is used up. My commute is 6 miles, so I assumed that I would be able to get to my office with no problem, using only electric. Without accelerating quickly or going above 62 mph, the car still switches into hybrid mode numerous times, for no apparent reason, resulting in an average of about 90 mpg by the time I get to work, still with a lot of juice left in the battery.
Why this is happening? My dreams of going for months without filling up with gas are starting to fade away.
On my last few charge cycles, the PiP's battery has not been charging completely. Even when I get the "charge complete" message, the top part of the battery indicator remains unfilled and I'm only getting 14.1 estimated range.
For comparison, last month I used to get 15.2 to 15.6 of estimated EV, when the battery icon filled completely after each charge. I always use the charge timer to set charging to finish 10-20 minutes before I need to drive the car.
My M-F routine:
- car finishes charging at 8:30 (13.8-14.1 estimated EV)
- I drive 8 miles to work at 8:20-8:30 (5-7 estimated EV remain, depending on traffic)
- I set charge timer to finish at 6:30 (13.8-14.1 estimated EV)
- I drive 8 miles to home at 6:30-6:45 (5-7 estimated EV remain, depending on traffic)
My weekend routine is obviously different, more driving, more charing, and not using the charge timer. Could it be because i'm not using all the EV so the battery is being lazy and not feeling like charging more than I need? Are there any known side effects of mixing 110V and 220V charging?
I had been running on EV then parked in the cold to wait for the wife. Turning on the heater started the ICE (of course). It charged the battery about 0.6% then stopped charging, ICE still running. So I switched to HV and it restarted charging about 0.3% and then stopped charging. So I switched back to EV for a few seconds than back to HV and the charging resumed another 0.3%. Once the coolant temperature reaches 130 degrees the ICE stops. Nice heat until the coolant gets down to 118 degrees and the ICE starts again. Back in EV and the battery is charging and the HV/EV switching continues to add more charge. Until time to leave I picked up about 5% SOC, kept warm. Not good for mpg but 5% SOC is nice.
View 19 RepliesWondering if there is another factor involved here...such as the wrong gauge. I'm routinely seeing battery temps in the mid to low 90s even when it is pretty warm weather and I am in EV. Is this possible? On my old Gen3 even when I use the battery just a little bit on warm days it would go over 110. Does the lithium chemistry just keep it that much cooler? Or does the cooling system keep it that much cooler? Or both? What are other people seeing for battery temps?
View 19 RepliesDoes PIP have two different batteries for each mode (EV and Hybrid) or is it the same battery?
View 10 RepliesThe Volt has a mode called "mountain" that keeps the battery at least 40% full at all times. Does the Prius Plugin have a mode to keep its EV-mode battery a minimum percentage?
View 19 RepliesAfter my 25k service it seems the timer scheduler when the square button is pressed/held flashes at 7am. When i press the H button the hour advances to 12am then closes. I want to start the charge at 12am and finish at 5AM. The timer windows closes when i move the finish hour to 12am and then my regular clock hour changes. It used to be when i pressed/held the timer button the start time would show at 12 am and after setting it would go to the finish hour.
View 8 RepliesHeading out on 4 week 3k mile road trip. Have 12v adaptors for a very efficient laptop and smartphone.
It seems that in "Accessory" mode the PIP is using only the dinky 12V battery so this is not a healthy solution. Is there a recommended strategy to put the car in semi-ready mode and reduce all possible drain so that utilizing the 12V will not be draining the traction battery reserves much at all?
I'm thinking that perhaps trying to put the car in "ready" mode with the FOOT OFF the brake indeed fires up access to the traction battery without firing up other things that require the full power monty that Ready mode with the FOOT ON the brake requires. Seems to me the PIP is a great mobile office solution if we could gain access to traction battery reserves without running much else.
I know car likes to shut off at 3-4 bar, but what if I want to keep the battery closer to full in order to get more power. Is there any way to tell the computer to keep engine running?
View 19 RepliesI recently purchased a used 2007 prius. The car has not been driven for some time. I won it in an auction from a used/wreaked car lot and am in the process of fixing it up. I need to know if it is possible to charge the hybrid battery when the car is idling or will this only discharge the hybrid battery and if so, is there any way to charge the hybrid battery other than driving the car?
View 6 RepliesI have a problem I can't figure out. 06 Prius with 105k.
Current codes: P3000, P3020, C1259, C1310, C1378
Car will run and drive but is in limp mode
HV battery fan is at full blast, but charge does not fluctuate
Does the A/C and heater run only with Ice? Or is it able to run on EV alone?
View 12 RepliesHymotion battery pack is dead. Won't charge beyond .8 kw max. Doesn't charge enough to offset the cost of the added weight of the pack.
How can I get this "boat anchor" removed.
Why won't the iPad charge when plugged into the USB port in the center console ? My iPhone charges and auto plays but the iPad will only auto play.
View 7 RepliesIf the following variables are true:
-Extremely cold day out (highs in the single digits)
-Will be hauling around people that like a very warm car
-Will be in a lot of stops and go traffic
Is the best practice to charge only to about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way full (according to the battery graphic on the HSI)? My thinking is the ICE will be running a lot while stopped at stop lights and waiting in traffic. And I might as well have somewhere for all that extra energy to go. I know we are kind of splitting hairs here, but I wanted to think about this situation before it actually came up.
Really starting to get a little frustrated and would love input.....
Owned our PIP for almost a month now. First week, fully charged EV miles were showing around 13.7. 2nd Week, around 12.2, 3rd week, 10.5 and now this week it's gone from 9.6 to 9.1???
I know I am unusual but most days I drive about 3-4 miles. I can get 2-3 days out of a charge. Should I plug in every night or just when needed? Does it use more kWh to plug in every day?
View 19 RepliesI have noticed that when driving in EV mode when the car switches over to HV mode the Eco icon always lights up! Of course you can select Eco, or Power mode manually, but when it does this automatically, after the EV battery charge is used up, it keeps showing the Eco icon being lite not HV.
View 1 RepliesI have noticed a mid-pitched humming noise in my '02. I first noticed it about a week after getting four new tires put on it. It is speed dependent, and is most noticeable at about 35 mph.
Somehow I have gotten it in my head that the car might be stuck in "battery charge" mode. I can't tell easily because my car has a permanent power steering problem so I don't have the charge/power car diagram on my dash. I can still feel a difference when I shift into "B" when going downhill.