Battery always stops at half way?
 

I'm getting used to my 100 mile a day round trip and enjoying the 30-33 mpg. But what am I missing?
My drive is 35 miles on the highway at 70-80 mph and the vehicle never charges past halfway unless I go to sport mode when it fills up.
The next 10 miles is slower, 30-40 mph. Then the final 5 or so miles is crawling through the tunnel and in the city.

Is this the way it supposed to be, designed this way? What is the best way to drive it most effectively and efficiently?

It is operating perfectly. That is how it works. When you coast it charges, and when you are going downhill, it will potentially get to just about 100%. Enjoy it!

Scott:

I really sometimes wish the manual was more informative and the gauge was different. Rather than be a fuel (battery) gauge that looks like a fuel gauge cause it causes confusion. So for reference I will refer to ICE, and that's the Internal Combustion Engine.

When I got my sport hybrid I would turn on sport mode to charge up to "Full" and then it would work it's way right back down to about "Half". These are my observations, others may differ.


Charging:

• When at highway speeds the hybrid battery will charge to about "1/2" and no longer charge.
  • I believe this happens so that if you would need to decelerate there is the ability for the hybrid motors to slow the vehicle and use that energy toward charging the hybrid battery, rather than using the disc brakes and wasting the braking energy.
• I live in WV and so I'm dealing with hills all the time and even at slower speeds of 45 mph or less my battery will sometimes go to "Full" on a downhill slope, the ICE will kick in to provide transmission downshifts along with using the disc brakes.

Ways of being more efficient:

• If you can anticipate needing to slow down you can quickly charge your hybrid battery by lightly apply some brake pressure.
  • For example coming to a stop or a slow speed limit, lightly apply pressure to get the regeneration to occur earlier than your normally would brake.
  • Quickly braking, or heavy brake pressure, will add the disc brakes and waste energy you could have used toward charging the hybrid battery.
  • Sometimes this light pressure is just enough to charge, but not really slowing the vehicle down if you just need to charge a little, but still keep rolling down a slope.

• I have found that when under slight acceleration a lot of times a little less pressure on the accelerator will cause the ICE to shutdown earlier than I would have expected.
• Using Cruise Control in traffic and congested situations, causes the ICE to kick on and off a lot more than if you take over that function yourself
• Staying under 58 mph you can sometimes be in full-hybrid mode.
• Staying under 78 mph allows the rear hybrid motors to engage as needed. There is speculation they can still provide deceleration torque over 78 mph when in a turn.

Other Observations:

• Until the ICE warms up and the 12volt battery is charged, full hybrid mode won't occur.
• If AWD needs to occur, the ICE will kick on to provide torque and power to the front end.
• An easy acceleration from a stop and on flat ground or downhill slope you can sometimes stay in full hybrid mode.
• If the battery gauge gets to less than "1/4" your ICE will kick on to provide charge.

Overtime you'll quit looking and worrying about the battery "fuel" gauge and enjoy this masterpiece of machinery.