I recently purchased a 2013 ES300H. This is my first hybrid and I have a few questions about the hybrid system. First, should the hybrid battery maintain a charge after sitting overnight or in the parking lot as I run errands? I feel like each morning I wake up to drive it the battery charge is depleted and EV mode will not activate until I am at least a few miles into my drive. This may have even occurred a few times as I run errands around town.

Sometimes while driving the battery charge is displayed at least halfway and it still doesn't go into EV mode even when I reach my cruising speed and am light on the gas. Is this normal?

I'd appreciate any guidance that can help me better understand how the hybrid system should perform. Thanks!

 

The EV mode works only if the speed of the car 25mph or less. If your speed above 25 you can't force the car to go into EV mode. ALso the hybrid battery has to be charged to some degree for the EV mode to work. There are other situations where the EV mode might not work like if the temperature of the hybrid system is low like in the winter.
EV mode is designed to work in residential areas where the speedof the car is usually low or in parking garages. I personally don't use it. I don't find it useful. Moreover, the car will go in EV mode anyway when the speed of the car is below 45 if you are gentle on the accelerator and the hybrid battery has enough charge, regardless if the EV button is pushed or not.
If the charge on the hybrid battery is already low when you parked the car at night, in the morning the hybrid battery might have even lower charge. But if the battery had half or more charge when it was parked, it shouldn't be completely discharged in the morning.

 

If you have the car manual Look at pages 211 and 212 for more detail about the EV mode

 

Also the car will not go into EV mode when you start the car first thing in the morning until the engine warms up a bit.
When you are driving and the EV button is not pushed, if the engine is warm and the battery is not depleted and you are gentle on the accelerator then the car will go into EV mode when the speed is around 45 or less. Also, the car tend to stay longer in EV mode if the drive selector is on ECO.

 

You can force EV mode by using the EV button or you can be gentle on the throttle. The car needs to have at least 3 bars charge if you want to use the EV button in the morning. One trick to force EV mode is to start the car and move off within 7 seconds, the car will still run on EV mode (the green EV icon lights up) until the battery needs to be charged again using the engine.

The ES300h, like the Prius, doesn't like running on a cold engine because it increases emissions. The engine runs to get coolant temperatures up to normal range before shutting off.

If you really want to see what the hybrid system is doing, get the Torque app and an OBD Bluetooth dongle for your phone. I use it to see battery state of charge, individual cell voltages and resistance, motor temperatures, power draw and a bunch of other stuff.

 

Thanks for the info everyone. Here is a description of how the hybrid system performed this morning. Does this sound normal?

- On my drive home from the gym the car started with 1 or 2 bars in the battery. It sat in the parking lot for about 60 minutes
- It took about a mile of city driving and I got EV to kick on but it only lasted about half a mile until I hit a stop sign.
- After the stop sign I continued at <35mph trying to recharge the battery.
- The battery showed 3 or 4 bars but it still took another 1.5 to 2 miles for EV to kick in which by that point I was almost home.

If EV was previously on, I had 3-4 bars, and my driving style catered to EV mode why wouldn't it kick in? Any other tips to get the battery charged pretty quickly? I usually only see a good charge after driving 45+ mph.

 

What you are describing is perfectly normal. even if the battery fully charged, driving in EV will get you 1.5 miles on low speed. Remember the whole system is computer controlled and sometimes the engines kicks because the AC is on and there is heavy load on the battery, because it is too hot outside. This is just an example. there may be other reasons why the engine will kick in even though the battery has enough charge.
The regenerative braking is also very effective in recharging the battery in addition to the engine.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about the battery charge level, it'll fluctuate a lot depending on traffic and driving conditions. If you have an OBD dongle, you'll see the battery going from 40% to 60% state of charge. 60 is the max figure, you'll only get this when going on a long downhill stretch. In town, the engine will kick in if battery charge drops below 40% or if the engine needs to stay warm to reduce emissions. On my daily commute I see 40-45% state of charge and I can get EV mode to kick in by accelerating and then releasing the throttle.

 

I set my left console to always indicate the throttle position instead of the tach. that lets me engage the EV when its below half throttle, and below ~42mph.
once the engine is hot, I can engage the ev mode by lifting off the throttle below 42mph. once I get above half throttle, or over 44 mph, the gas engine starts.

-with practice you can 'work' the ev motor.

 

I appreciate all of the guidance. I already felt more comfortable with the hybrid system today on my drive home and the MPG exceeded my expectations based on what I was previously seeing. It helps by having a better understanding of it all. Thanks!

 

It also pays to really look ahead at traffic. Most drivers will blindly rush towards a traffic light and then brake at the last second; it's better to coast towards a red to charge the battery. Getting higher mileage on a hybrid involves using the engine to accelerate and electric motors to cruise, so don't use up all the battery charge with low speed EV driving.

I set the left display to show the tach in all modes. I accelerate at 2000 rpm as that's the most efficient point for acceleration. Once I hit target speed, I release the gas to enter EV mode. Don't get distracted by all this though... Keep your eyes on the road first and worry about mileage later