can you force no drive-battery charging while driving?

[Woodman411]

I'm not sure if there's actually a battery heater, and if there is, whether it operates when the vehicle is powered off. The manual does say that the car can return some sort of notification that the batteries are too cold for use. I know that there IS some sort of electric heater, but I think that's for the cabin: https://www.mhi.co.jp/technology/review/pdf/e512/e512044.pdf

The USA manual on 3-27 refers to a "main drive lithium ion battery warming system", whether that is the same warming system for the cabin, and whether all models outside of USA spec has this, I'm not sure:

View attachment Screen Shot 2018-07-21 at 2.56.10 PM.png

I believe it is because of the above, that this reference also recommends keeping the phev plugged in during extreme temperatures (point 4): https://www.evolutionaustralia.com.au/top-5-ways-to-preserve-your-battery

I don't think that has anything to do with it. Toyota went down the path of fuel cell vehicles with the Mirai, and the hydrogen infrastructure just isn't there, and won't be any time soon. And the Prius Prime seems to be their first serious attempt at a PHEV (neglecting the earlier Prius Plug-In Hybrid which never really was advertised and didn't sell too many units). Getting the ICE up to operating temperature is certainly something that can easily be engineered, so long as the driver doesn't stop the car right after the ICE fires up. The bigger issue is how you deal with the whiners and complainers who see/hear the ICE come on due to heavy acceleration, vehicle heating being needed, etc., and then don't understand why it should continue to run for a long while after. It appears that it takes about 3 minutes of operation on the freeway (1500-3800 rpm) before the engine reaches operating temperature of 85-90°C. I would think it probably takes another few minutes before the oil reaches operating temperature as well.

I'm wondering perhaps if politics are involved too (with Panasonic and Tesla): https://www.caranddriver.com/news/toyota-will-electrify-everything-by-2025-powering-up-with-panasonic

Either way, thank you for your insights, it has been very helpful in my understanding.

 

[ThudnBlundr]

Don't forget that, until recently, most Toyota/Lexus hybrids used NiMH batteries, which have a very different management profile to Lithium ones