Hybrid Battery question?
 

Just recently bought one of these, I'm at 92k so I have a little battery warranty left. I've got a question though, if I'm just running on the battery, I've got a long stretch of 20mph I go through pretty frequently, about 5 minutes into that drive, my hybrid battery shows almost completely empty, the engine kicks on etc....It CHARGES the battery, but should it really run out THAT far or do I have a 'problem' with the battery! Any info MUCH appreciated! Thanks!

Jammers

Re: Hybrid Battery question?
 

Sounds normal. One mile of electric only drive is typical... 2 miles is absolute best case. This is a battery ASSISTED car. Not really a battery driven car.

Re: Hybrid Battery question?
 

Yes one mile of electric only drive is typical, to less than 2 miles with 4 wheel drive.

Re: Hybrid Battery question?
 

Just started poking around the Mariner thread because I just fixed the battery on one (had discharged to 250V after sitting for 6 months).

For anybody encountering this zombie thread I'm awakening, this practice is not beneficial. Putting around in EV mode in a parking lot isn't a big deal, but trying to drive at higher speeds for extended periods on EV only accelerates the wear on the battery. You're forcing it to discharge further increasing the depth of discharge and overall cycle depth. More cycles = less life. Deeper cycles = less life.

Once the ICE kicks in again, you're ICE is extremely inefficient because it's force charging the battery as it goes - burning more gas for a longer period of time.

It's also a false economy. Every joule of propulsive energy moving any non-plug-in hybrid is coming from GAS. Sometimes that gas is stored as electrical energy, but it's less energy-efficient to do so.

Hybrids are efficient because:
1) they recover kinetic energy that is normally lost as heat during braking
2) they supplement electric power at low speeds and during accel where the ICE is much less efficient and/or unable to deliver much power.
3) They slowly charge the battery as needed during cruise where the ICE is relatively efficient.
4) They typically don't run the ICE at a stop when conditions permit.

Conservative driving in normal conditions or "light" hypermiling techniques deliver superior results to extended EV driving, and they tend to stress the battery less.