Jboswald

If I was to add a 230V trickle charger for the traction battery - would the computer be able to realize that the battery went from 40% charge at shutdown to 90% charge the next morning? Has anyone attempted this - to enable starting the day with a full charge?

Jim Oswald

ElliotB

The traction battery supplies a very limited amount of energy to the vehicle. You fuel efficiency would likely not be affected and it is probably not worth the time, cost, or trouble. Also, doing so could void your warranty.

isidro0

There are some companies that have kits for the Prius that add more batteries, a charger, an EV button, software up grade to run on electric at higher mph. I guess for Toyota/Lexus, the car too new.

ElliotB

Those kits are very cost ineffective and typically cost upwards of $10,000.

mackbuck12

What is a traction battery?

amphipri0n

The battery used to draw energy to actually move a vehicle, vs the other battery in Hybrids which is typically only used for starting the car or ignition for the gas engine.

mackbuck12

Thank you for that explanation.

mcomer

Does your driving pattern routinely leave you with 40% showing when you park? My experience is that the graphic show ours to be at or nearly "full". I often switch to "EV" and drive the final 1/3 of a mile through the subdivision...at under 20 mph and it uses only one bar. My point is that it wouldn't affect your range or rating as much as you might have hoped. A Volt has over 1000 lbs. of battery, our Lexi are just over 100 lbs.

Arty101

My batteries down to 1 or 2 bars by the time I'm off the freeway with the stop and go traffic. Then the ICE kicks in to charge the batteries back somewhat. I'm sure this drops the FE, which is part of ElliotB's theory about not having the traction motor kick in or it will draw down the battery. Can't always do what Elliot recommends in stop and go or heavy traffic.