Advice On 12Volt Battery

[Funkyboy]

About to go ahead with a auris hybrid 61 plate t spirit only concern is will regular short journeys be enough to keep the small Battery charged. Cars for the wife who 2 days aweek does a short journey of 4 miles round trip rest of the week she will use it as she needs for round town driving. Some times she won't use at all for a day or two.

Probably does 5k a year max

Everything else about the car is right for her just don't want her to have any issues

Does anyone else have a hybrid and do similar journeys?

[Aceshigh84]

There has been some talk on the forum about the Gen 2 Auris model having problems with the 12v Battery, I haven't seen anything suggest a problem with the gen 1.

Personally I haven't had a problem with my gen 2, and that had been left standing for over a week and then used on only short journeys etc.

With the gen 2 there is no conclusive evidence as yet of a known problem, just a lot of speculation about possibly faulty batteries, or possibly faulty charging systems, or possibly under specced design, or just maybe the wrong alignment of the stars and the moon for a handful of unfortunate owners who may possibly have just ended up with a Friday car.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

My 12 volt got a lot of hammer with the car being used as a taxi for some time - think 2 way radio, despatch computer, sat nav, meter all running etc, and now 4 years later it is still going. I think it will need replacement soon though. The car is now used for a small 4 mile each way commute.

What I'm trying to say is that if you expect a life of 4 years out of your £100 12volt Battery, you shouldn't have a problem.

[Peter Sale]

I have the same car as you are considering (61 plate T-Spirit HSD) and don't do many miles. Some days it doesn't get used, the next day it might only do 3 miles in the evening with lights on etc. Haven't had a problem and have had the car since early April. It does get a decent run of about 30 miles once a fortnight though.

My previous car was a Gen 2 Prius with a 5 year old Battery - last winter I used to make sure it got a good run at least once a week to prevent problems.

[A T4]

We've had our 2010 Auris HSD T4 for only 6 weeks with relatively infrequent usage mostly of trips <10 miles but have experienced no problems to date. We'll only do some 6k miles in a year. Delighted with the little thing and it has much better ride quality & driving position than other Auris Hybrids (we tried them all before buying !).

[Grumpy Cabbie]

One way to get the best out of your small hybrid 12v is not to listen to the radio in Acc mode. Those times you're sat in the car in the carpark when you couldn't bear wandering inanely round the shops. You'd probably get a good couple hours out of a normal car, but with the hybrid you're probably better leaving the car in Ready mode. That way you can listen to the radio, charge your 12v, maybe even have the a/c on a little and use only intermittent petrol.

Just a different way of looking at the issue, which is waht a hybrid is all about.

[RunningInPleasePass]

I think the 12 volt Battery problem is down to it's small capacity, the second generation Auris has a few more bells and whistles that take a toll on the Battery, so it needs to be well up to spec from new to last, examples being:

When you approach it with the key in your pocket, all four interior lights and the start button illuminate.

When you touch the door or boot handle the car unlocks, indicators flash and the mirrors fold out.

I'm told the bluetooth for the phone is always looking for a pairing when the key is near.

Once your aware of this you just need to be a little more careful and hope you don't have a Battery that is a little below spec.

[Cyker]

I really don't understand why the 12v Battery is even there; Why not just hook everything up to the traction Battery through the inverter!?

[valmiki]

GC said it - never use anything in ACC mode. As long as the car says 'Ready' it'll be using the hybrid Battery, so it'll never run down.

It's automatic now, I always put foot on brake and press the Power button to go straight into Ready mode, no sense risking the Acc mode at all.

[A T4]

GC said it - never use anything in ACC mode. As long as the car says 'Ready' it'll be using the hybrid battery, so it'll never run down.

It's automatic now, I always put foot on brake and press the Power button to go straight into Ready mode, no sense risking the Acc mode at all.

..and if you select EV mode within a few seconds after that the engine shouldn't kick in unless the traction Battery is very low ( I picked up this tip from another post on the forum in connection with minor movements of the car e.g. on one's drive)

[Grumpy Cabbie]

GC said it - never use anything in ACC mode. As long as the car says 'Ready' it'll be using the hybrid battery, so it'll never run down.

It's automatic now, I always put foot on brake and press the Power button to go straight into Ready mode, no sense risking the Acc mode at all.

..and if you select EV mode within a few seconds after that the engine shouldn't kick in unless the traction Battery is very low ( I picked up this tip from another post on the forum in connection with minor movements of the car e.g. on one's drive)

Indeed. That is true at cold start up, though the car will disable EV mode if the HV Battery charge is too low already, or if too cold outside (usually under 0c) or if the charge slowly reduces.

Personally when vaccuming the car out or pumping the tyres up I will put the car in 'Eco' mode with the heater off. That way the engine will run for about 45 seconds and then switch off. That way your HV willl be nicely topped up and the 12v nicely charging.

Eco mode reduces the engine temperature at which the car will switch the engine off. In Normal mode it is significantly higher. Want proof of this; with the car in Eco and the heater off let the car run until the engine switches off. Now just switch off Eco mode and the engine will fire back up again.

[PeteB]

..and if you select EV mode within a few seconds after that the engine shouldn't kick in unless the traction battery is very low ( I picked up this tip from another post on the forum in connection with minor movements of the car e.g. on one's drive)

another caveat: if you switch on front screen defrost mode (or left it on last time the car was 'on') it refuses to go into EV mode