2017 PHEV battery degradation

[RichSH]

I’m not aware of having any Battery deg so far - and wouldn’t expect to in a car only 12 months old with 8,000 miles on it - and my first service last week ( Listers, Stratford were very good and didn’t quibble about me taking my own oil...) confirmed all is well. But I do wonder about the health of the Battery pack over the next year or two especially having read Tesla apparently advise keeping Battery charge between 30 - 70% and not to fully charge or allow to go fully flat too often for maximum battery life. Frankly, that is exactly what I  do most days on my car and, as far as I’m aware, there’s no option but to fully recharge when plugged in and as the range is only 25-30 miles, why wouldn’t you? Anyone got  experience of, or view on, this issue - if it is one?

 

[Ten Ninety]

Toyota's electronics manage the Battery charging to maximise life. When we see it as 'full' it really isn't. Similarly, it is never allowed to get near being properly 'empty' even when the Battery graphic says it is. There is therefore no need to do any Battery 'management' yourself, nor any need to worry about charging it fully and driving til it is empty. I'm surprised to hear Tesla doesn't have a similar system in place.

That said, even with automatic management, the PHV battery will degrade slowly over time. I think there's something in the manual which suggests this is likely to manifest as reduced range, but not reduced performance. However, at what point any such range reduction will become noticeable above the daily impact on range of temperature and road conditions, is uncertain. The cars are all too new to have any meaningful data on this. 

[RichSH]

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

[Anthony Poli]

I’m not aware of having any battery deg so far - and wouldn’t expect to in a car only 12 months old with 8,000 miles on it - and my first service last week ( Listers, Stratford were very good and didn’t quibble about me taking my own oil...) confirmed all is well. But I do wonder about the health of the battery pack over the next year or two especially having read Tesla apparently advise keeping battery charge between 30 - 70% and not to fully charge or allow to go fully flat too often for maximum battery life. Frankly, that is exactly what I  do most days on my car and, as far as I’m aware, there’s no option but to fully recharge when plugged in and as the range is only 25-30 miles, why wouldn’t you? Anyone got  experience of, or view on, this issue - if it is one?
 

My take on this is.

I wouldn’t make any comparison between Toyota and Tesla, since they aren’t the same type of car. I don’t know what tesla determines as flat and full charge.

Toyota chose to only use 40% of the total capacity, which is supposed to make the Battery last upto the 10 year or 100,000 miles. So the drop in capacity should be a slower effect compared to a full EV.






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[PeteB]

In fact Teslas by default only charge to 80% to preserve Battery life, although the owner can go into a menu and select a 100% charge on a one-time basis, for example in preparation for a long journey.  It's possible even that 100% ins't the true figure in reality.

If I had a Tesla I'd be more worried about the adverse effect of frequent use of their superchargers which were (and may still be) the most powerful electric car charging stations available.

Fortunately, the Prius PHEV doesn't need such a rapid charge with it's relatively small (compared to some current EVs) Battery, and I think I'm right in saying it doesn't accept a particularly fast charge rate.

[altocumulus]

The Prius charging rate is fixed at 3.3kWh no matter which type of charger you use.

 

My garage told me there's no harm in always keeping the car 'on-charge' when not in use. As Jay says, there's a Battery management system inn place (one assumes! - depends if Toyota remembered for the UK market :D ).

I'm just on 1000 miles since new and the available mileage each morning seems to have plateaued at 31.3 miles (ex-heating).

 

[QuantumFireball]

The PHV is available in Japan with an optional Chademo charger, though I forget how fast it is, maybe 25 kW? That's what the blank space next to the Type 2 socket is for.

Don't know about the current gen, but on mine a "full charge" is really about 83% SOC, and EV mode disengages somewhere around 25-30%, and hybrid mode maintains an SOC of around 20-30%.