Main Battery Condition

[Roker]

My Corolla is only 3 years old. I have had it 3 months  I get the impression that the main traction Battery is not taking a decent charge because it is constantly charging and doesn't go far on Battery. What are symptoms of a failing traction Battery.

I think the battery may have been taken out previously because the RH boot panel was not installed correctly

[Cyker]

If you mean the traction Battery, it's fairly normal for the HEVs to not go very far on them - They're tiny, like not even a 10th the size of most EV batteries. The one in my Yaris doesn't even breach a single kilowatt-hour!

But that's normal and fine - The purpose of the traction Battery in normal hybrids is not to propel the car for any meaningful length of time - It's to capture wasted energy from the engine and brakes so it can be used instead of wasted.

When the system is working properly, it will constantly swap between Battery power and engine power.

It's very very unlikely to have a battery pack issue on such a young car - Even if the battery starts to fail, you will get a hybrid system warning as the pack is full of sensors monitoring the various cells that make up the battery. Additionally, if you are servicing at a dealer, the hybrid health check will (or at least should) highlight any potential issues.

It's best to not even think of the car as a hybrid, but just treat it as a physics-defyingly efficient petrol car.

 

[Roker]

1 hour ago, Roker said:

My Corolla is only 3 years old. I have had it 3 months  I get the impression that the main traction battery is not taking a decent charge because it is constantly charging and doesn't go far on battery. What are symptoms of a failing traction battery.

I think the battery may have been taken out previously because the RH boot panel was not installed correctly

Correction

Constantly on and of charging like there is not much capacity

 

[Roy124]

As Cyker said, constant on and off charging is perfectly normal.  Besides running the electric motor it also has to maintain the 12v Battery and the 12v systems.  Your media, aircon, wiper motors etc all require charging from the HV.

[Mojo1010]

To get a better idea what mpg does the car get in the warmer months or currently. As said, think you'll probably need more time on how to drive a hybrid and understand how it performs. To add, engine will come on more now with the cabin heater being on. 

[Cyker]

Strictly speaking, there isn't much capacity - The Battery is small, and the 4th and 5th generation hybrids try to keep the Battery as near as 50% as possible, so they'll charge until they go above 50%, then switch to electric until they drop below 50%, then start charging again etc.

This means the switching between engine and electric can be quite frequent.

[Roy124]

This is largely a fast up hill sector until near the end with slower down grades.

The temperature was 7 degrees and 4 pax.

[TonyHSD]

2 hours ago, Roker said:

My Corolla is only 3 years old. I have had it 3 months  I get the impression that the main traction battery is not taking a decent charge because it is constantly charging and doesn't go far on battery. What are symptoms of a failing traction battery.

I think the battery may have been taken out previously because the RH boot panel was not installed correctly

Hi, 

in addition to all mentioned above that is correct 👍 I can add that a healthy Toyota hybrid traction Battery will remain mostly at half charge shown at the dashboard. If you are using your air conditioning the hybrid Battery gets depleted quicker than if AC is off.
Air con is largest consumable of high voltage power after the electric motor and this takes its tool. And as mentioned already the cabin heat, engine will keep running more often during winter, even if heat is off or low temperature set still engine will run more and for longer in comparison to summer months. 

Now for the weak hybrid Battery, the most common symptoms are: 

1. Quick battery discharge when waiting in traffic or traffic lights, junctions, even with all above consumers been switched off

2. Reduced ev drive time 

3.  Battery quickly  top up full when going downhill and unnecessary battery discharge cycles ( engine running to discharge the battery). 

4. Battery goes down to very low levels , lower than ever before 

5. When accelerating to join motorway and A roads the car avoids using help from the e motor and mostly does all the work by the petrol engine, it will be sluggish like low battery charge although you may see you have enough charge on the dashboard, and all of that is more pronounced when AC is ON. 
These are most common signs , but you are far away from seen those. Perhaps after you cover 200000 miles plus you may start to experience them.