Self charging Hybrids.

[Hutch]

A friend of our has recently bought a Toyota Yaris self charging Hybrid. He knows absolutely nothing except the quality of wines, Ducky. !!!
He is forever calling out the AA to start the car, as the battery is flat. It is a brand new car and Toyota have said they will. Replace the battery.
My question is, can Hybrids not start the Engine to recharge the electric drive battery or is there two separate battery's.

 

[IanB1485]

I have a mitsubishi PHEV plug in hybrid and the two batteries -one is 480V for the drive inverters and the other is 12V 58A.hr car battery and the two systems are completely separate, so much so that as the 'car' battery started failing I have had to jump start the car until buying a new battery. ( even with the drive battery apparently no mileage left in it it could theoretically charge the car battery, but there is no way to do this - so annoying)

 

[otherclive]

My RAV4 has two batteries entirely separate There is the traction battery system 650v, and a standard 12 volt battery used for starting and the normal functions.

 

[Guzzilazz]

I have a Kia Sportage HEV (Non-plug in). The Toyota "issue" appears to be unique to them. The Sportage (like other Kia models) has only one battery -the traction battery. This is a high voltage (c 400V??) battery, with an isolated 12 V "tap" for normal onboard systems. Should there be an issue with the 12V, you have a "battery reset switch" that you use to rectify. The Toyota issue involves 2 batteries, but the 12V is only (IIRC) 35AH. The Yaris (Lady wife is considering Yaris Cross) is particularly vulnerable.

In general, having replaced my Volvo XC40 with the Sportage, the HEV is a revelation. As the weather warms up, my fuel consumption improves to over 50mpg, whereas the XC40 would never better 36. You do have to get used to the fact that the best economy is in town . Yesterday coming back across town (c 6 miles ) we got 88mpg!

 

[otherclive]

I have a Kia Sportage HEV (Non-plug in). The Toyota "issue" appears to be unique to them. The Sportage (like other Kia models) has only one battery -the traction battery. This is a high voltage (c 400V??) battery, with an isolated 12 V "tap" for normal onboard systems. Should there be an issue with the 12V, you have a "battery reset switch" that you use to rectify. The Toyota issue involves 2 batteries, but the 12V is only (IIRC) 35AH. The Yaris (Lady wife is considering Yaris Cross) is particularly vulnerable.

In general, having replaced my Volvo XC40 with the Sportage, the HEV is a revelation. As the weather warms up, my fuel consumption improves to over 50mpg, whereas the XC40 would never better 36. You do have to get used to the fact that the best economy is in town . Yesterday coming back across town (c 6 miles ) we got 88mpg!

It came as quite a surprise to see my economy in town driving with a small battery and 2.5 litre donk,, but also very good on a mix of rural A and B roads. The car reports to my phone the data related to a journey such as parts of the route where it was on electric, and even shows spots where I could have done better ie slowing down for new speed limit, or it shows where I did okay ie accelerating away from lights. But like my domestic smart meter I rarely look at it now…..novelty wears off.

1.9 million Toyota RAV4 were recalled due to fire risks with the 12 v battery caused by a securing fault. 2013-18 models were affected. Battery lifespan is around 3-5 years and affected by driving conditions and usage, and environmental/climatic conditions. Certainly not on a par with standard ICE batteries.

 

[Beachball]

This thread has my interest because I order a new car in March it a Ford Kuga Fhev at the time the salesman said it had two batteries .

 

[Hutch]

Thank you for your replies, at least I now know it is a problem with the Toyota. Yaris.

 

[otherclive]

Friends of our recent bought a Puma MHEV and two weeks into ownership a flat battery and it wouldn’t start. RAC got it going but it did the same thing a short while later. So it went in to the dealers who couldn’t find a fault. After a lengthy period of diagnostic and discussion the Service Manager asked them about their usage profile and stop start. They always had stop start turned off. So he asked them to start using stop start. It’s been good now for 4-5 months.

 

[ProfJohnL]

A friend of our has recently bought a Toyota Yaris self charging Hybrid. He knows absolutely nothing except the quality of wines, Ducky. !!!
He is forever calling out the AA to start the car, as the battery is flat. It is a brand new car and Toyota have said they will. Replace the battery.
My question is, can Hybrids not start the Engine to recharge the electric drive battery or is there two separate battery's.

Whilst there may be similarities such as having two batteries (Traction and Auxiliary) The way these interact will depend on the design of the specific vehicle.

Hybrid simply means its a combination of two processes, it doesn't mean all Hybrids are the same.

 

[Martin_E]

I remember during lockdown there were a lot of issues, when plugged in one battery got charged then switch the charger off, this then meant the other battery went flat through draining because of electronics, alarms etc. James May had it with his Tesla, he had to take a lot of the front of the car off to get to where he needed to get the battery charged, I think he then fitted a secondary charger like a CTek

 

[Guzzilazz]

Friends of our recent bought a Puma MHEV and two weeks into ownership a flat battery and it wouldn’t start. RAC got it going but it did the same thing a short while later. So it went in to the dealers who couldn’t find a fault. After a lengthy period of diagnostic and discussion the Service Manager asked them about their usage profile and stop start. They always had stop start turned off. So he asked them to start using stop start. It’s been good now for 4-5 months.

mHEV is a completely different technology and having had the XC40 mHEV believe it's pure marketing BS. The mHEV batteries are usually 48V, and only really give "advanced start/stop". I'd never have another mHEV

 

[otherclive]

mHEV is a completely different technology and having had the XC40 mHEV believe it's pure marketing BS. The mHEV batteries are usually 48V, and only really give "advanced start/stop". I'd never have another mHEV

Thanks I do know what a MHEV is but clearly the advice to use stop-start was relevant, although on a hybrid stop-start is an in built feature of the system. Our eight year old Rio is still on its OEM battery despite having a stop start feature which my wife turns off, but I leave ON except when at major junctions/islands. But the car is used daily for a variety of journey lengths. My RAV4 still has its OEM 12v battery and various forums seem to indicate a 3-5 year life. ☹️

 

[trevormonty]

A friend of our has recently bought a Toyota Yaris self charging Hybrid. He knows absolutely nothing except the quality of wines, Ducky. !!!
He is forever calling out the AA to start the car, as the battery is flat. It is a brand new car and Toyota have said they will. Replace the battery.
My question is, can Hybrids not start the Engine to recharge the electric drive battery or is there two separate battery's.

We quite often had to jumpstart toyota Aqua hybrids at work that had been sitting in garage too long.