fillerf

Hi all

​​​​​​Do You know if the hybrid system reduce the power if the battery is very cold.?
my gs450h been parked at the farm for a few days.
Been fairly cold in the nights , 3F / -16C.
drove it today and it seems there are not much difference between eco and sport. Its like the car is missing the instant tourqe when you floor it. It felt like the gas engine was in sport but the electric part had very limited power. The trip was around 30 min , changed to sport after 20min . Anyone with details or experience on this.?

Im2bz2p345

Yup - I experience the same thing. The hybrid batteries are just not as effective when the engine isn't warm, hence lowers the efficiency. Once the car gets to normal operating temperature, it should be fine. Depending on how long it takes to warm up, I don't find what you describe as end. Although, the car should have "returned to normal" after 20 minutes of driving (especially with increased RPM's to warm up the engine faster).

See my post about it here and then read DaveGS4's post directly below it: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...ml#post8891214

Hope that helps. Btw, add me to your friends list on here I try to keep my friends populated with all/mostly 4GS hybrid owners.

~ Im2bz2p345

Htony

Same here, had '15 RX-450h. In extreme cold fuel savings become minimal.

fillerf

I did some more testing today.
v6 engine warm after 15 min.
Still heavily reduced electric power in sport mode.
Back to norma behaviour after ca 50 min.
Im sure it is a battery protection when the battery is very cold , and it will limit the amp draw...
Battery did stay at constant 80% for first 40min. No change up or down on the %. Before those 40min. Sport mode did not affect the % in those 40min.
it explains the sluggish performance for a while in sport mode.
I Will bring my laptop next time and see if i can find any battery temperature info in Techstream.
So for those with a bit active drivingstyle , you get a bigger consumption penalty when the battery is very cold since the v6 will have to work harder....in eco mode I could not feel much difference, but since the battery % was the same for 40min I assume you loose some there aswell...

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Htony

When I say extreme cold where I live it is more than -30C at times. Windchill could be much lower like -50C. Simply when cold battery capacity decreases.
Non hybrid cars can have starting problem because of this. The higher CCA rating , the better when cold. IMO, that is the reason not much fuel
savings in winter(I never had 100% charged indication on propulsion battery pack vs. summer time). RX hybrid still uses MHNi battery vs. other's Lithium
battery based. Energy density on Lithium cell is higher.

Fzaz

When I 1st started the car the RPM was over 1.5 for a few seconds and the message came on.. I waited 5 seconds then restarted the car and it went off.. However, there was nothing wrong with the car as of the engine sound.. I never filled it up with other than 91 octane.. It's a LX570 2016 with 88,000 KM on it.. Should I take it to the dealer or wait and hope not to see it again

ChronoR

If you have the Dr. Prius app and a Bluetooth OBDII adapter you can even see what the power output of your hybrid battery is at any point. I find that even below 10 degrees Celsius that the power is almost halved until the batteries warm up.

Too bad the batteries take longer to warm up than the engine. On a cold day (freezing temperatures), even a 30 minute city drive isn't long enough to get the batteries fully warm.

Keep in mind, all vehicles lose range in cold weather. I used to drive a TDI and it wouldn't even be warmed up after 30 minutes.