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Old 03-23-2017, 12:38 PM   #13 (permalink)
vskid3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pugmanic View Post
My daily drive has a mix of urban and motorway (highway) driving, and so the battery is frequently charged to max (80ish %). The battery capacity currently isn't sufficient to complete all of my town driving, so I assumed that a larger capacity would help this part of the journey.
Are you saying that the battery display is showing about 80%, or that the display is showing 100%, which is actually about 80% at the battery? The car likes to keep the battery at about 80% on the display (6 out of 8 bars on my '05 Prius) in order to have plenty of power if you need it while still having room for regen. The battery only uses approximately the 40-80% range of its charge in order to extend its life. The display only shows that 40-80% range, with 40% at the battery being 0% on the display and 80% at the battery being 100% on the display. Google Image search "prius battery soc" and there's several charts showing the relationship between the battery charge and what is shown on the display.

As mentioned by S Keith, you're not driving an electric car, you're driving a gasoline powered car that used a battery and electric motors to help increase fuel economy and drivability. If you're trying to do all your city driving on battery, you're probably going to get lower mileage (unless it's very slow speeds). This is because the car will use gas to charge the battery when it gets too low, instead of regen from braking to keep it topped off. Generally the best way to drive a hybrid at city speeds is to accelerate using gas and then coast and/or use a small amount of electric power to extend the coast.
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