Chr hybrid battery

[Harold Collins]

Hi I have recently purchased a hybrid self charging chr, it’s 3 years old my question is the hybrid Battery doesn’t seem to hold a charge long. I can drive it for quite a few miles which charges the Battery up to 1 bar from the top but never fully charges and once parked it drops down to 2 bars very quickly,is that normal?
 

[Yugguy1970]

Hello.

Do you mean parked switched off or parked in Ready?

[Trewithy]

Harold, I think it is normal.  You will only fill all the charging bars if you go down an excessively long hill with your foot off the throttle, I have only had this occur a couple of times in the three years I have owned my car. 

And when you are parked and leave the car in Ready Mode the hybrid Battery is charging the 12v Battery, so this would cause the hybrid Battery to deplete a little.

Also, if you like to listen to the radio when you are parked this can run down the 12v battery so it is best to leave it in Ready mode when you are sat in it.

If you do a lot of short journeys this can run down the 12v battery.  The 12v batteries fitted in all hybrids tend to have a small capacity that can deplete if you do not have regular journeys of half hour or more.  If you look through this forum you will find plenty of topics on this subject.  Many folks use a smart charger for an occasional top-up.  Toyota recommend leaving the car in ready mode for an hour to charge the 12v battery.  I  leave mine in Ready Mode when I am washing the car.  In an hour the car might start itself 3 times and run 3 or 4 minutes each time it starts.

[TonyHSD]

Yes it’s normal. When parked or drive in town the biggest draw from the hybrids Battery on top of the electric motor is the air conditioning.
The AC compressor is running on high voltage from the Battery and drains it very quickly and the engine will start sooner and more often. Add the 12v Battery charge and the hybrid battery will be always on the lower side. 
These cars aren’t designed to drive on battery alone and to maintain high level battery charge. A healthy hybrid battery will remain most of the times at middle or low level charge and when going downhill and gets fully charged is actually at 78-80% soc. 

[Cyker]

Is absolutely normal - You have to remember, the hybrids are NOT EVs and the Battery is not used for the same reasons it is in an EV - In the hybrids, the battery's role is to capture wasted energy for later use, and it can't do that as effectively if it's at a high state of charge.

The more recent cars are programmed to keep the Battery as close to 50% - If it goes below this, it'll use the engine more to capture more energy; If it goes above this, it'll try and use the captured energy more via the electric motors.

This also extends the life of the Battery to its maximum, as it's well known that lithium ion batteries like to be around 50% charge for lowest degradation.