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Battery charge indicator stays at about 30%

6K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  Adela 
#1 ·
Hello everyone, this is my first post on the forum, didn't know it existed until a few days ago.

I know Honda vehicles very well, as I was a mechanical design engineer for their R&D office in Ohio for 10 years.

We've had the new insight (touring version) for almost a month. It is my wife's, so I haven't driven it too much, but did for 3 hours round-trip total yesterday.

The charge indication never seemed to get much above around 30%, maybe hitting 40% for a brief period, with significant time spent around 25%. It was all very ordinary, level driving without much stopping at all, mostly 55 mph limits but even 20 miles on the interstate at 70 mph didn't change what seems like an unexpectedly low battery charge indication. It also seems to rev up the engine often to charge the battery, as if it senses that it is too low. The outside temperature was about 30 def F.

My 2nd gen Insight shows the battery staying well above halfway in normal driving.

Also, is it possible to know when the engine is coupled directly to deliver power to the wheels, which I realize can only happen above 50 mph or so.

Thank you in advance for any help or at least experience with where your vehicle's battery charge hovers. I want more to go on than just my experience when/if I approach the dealer, as I expect them to say if there is no error code then there is no problem.
 
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#3 ·
This seems to be the norm for me as well. If you idle for a while it'll get all the way up and you can get it a bit higher if you use your Regen paddles a lot on hills, but this seems to be the way the car manages the battery for an average user. I'm sure pro Hybrid drivers can probably find ways to charge the battery up more using driving techniques and Regen paddles. I don't think it's anything to worry about.
 
#4 ·
sundevil,

I notice you're from Ohio. If your terrain is flat, don't expect too much battery variation. It's quite normal to be in the 3-4 bar range. Hill's ebbs and flows will cause the battery to go higher/lower. If your mpg is satisfactory, there's no need to be concerned. If you want to bump up your battery, sport mode will allow for that as is likes to keep battery in reserve for when it's needed. It'll ding your mpg, but you'll get to see another few bars on the battery gauge (you know, for testing purposes).
 
#5 ·
Hello SD777 and forum members. This is also my first post. My two week old white 2019 Insight EX is a sharp car! I think Honda hit it out of the park on just about everything. Styling is 100% on-point from every angle (DO NOT CHANGE this style going forward! It's modern without being ugly. Perfect!). Comfort 100%. Ride 100% Technology 100%. Mileage is very good, and power just about enough, but works a bit hard on hills.

I too am questioning the battery recharge. And I'm not seeing it go much above 50%. And I'm using the Eco Mode and "4 left clicks" regen paddles to maximize power back to the battery on slow-downs and stopping. Using everything I can think of, but it just doesn't charge enough. It's in the 30's here, as well, and I wonder if that is a factor. Although I have been trying to get up in the 50+ MPG area, and discovered my local Shell gas was not getting it there, but BP gas immediately got me over that line, battery doesn't charge enough to get power reserved for demand. EV Mode is almost unusable at all. The day I ran Sport Mode I did see up to 75% charge, but never ever 100%. It wasn't until last night that I watched a YT video called "2019 Honda Insight EV Mode Test" by AutoTech that I witnessed exactly what I expected for battery charge and EV range. It actually surpassed my expectations on "electric only" EV speed and range. Highway speeds in EV Mode?? Wow! I want that! And that was flat terrine similar to what I test on here in the Hudson Valley. If I could get the same results as AutoTech, I would be thrilled.

So what is going on here? Why is our system not charging to anywhere near 100%? Why is the computer terminating the charge long before getting near 100%? Do I have to run Sport Mode? Or is Eco Mode the issue? Auto Tech may have been in Normal Mode, as I didn't see the green leaf on his display. I have not driven in Normal Mode much at all due to trying to get maximum MPG. Thoughts about this???

Phil
 
#6 ·
I ran on normal mode and the EV light comes on much less than when you're running in eco mode. Also the battery charge got up to 6 or 7 in normal as apposed to eco which is like 4 max most of the time. Running both modes on the same route I saw eco engage ev mode any chance it could until you're down to 2 bars. I think eco tries to run ev as often as possible to enhance gas mileage hence the lower battery charge for more demanding situations and long distance ev mode.
 
#7 ·
Good to know, thanks. Maybe sport mode will charge it even more. I want to experiment on maximizing charge, and running forced EV Mode until it needs to recharge, and see if I can get it back to MAX on Normal Mode or Sport Mode. I guess the trick is to not push the car into "power" demand, keeping it below that threshold. Can't wait to try this. I would have gone out today, but the roads are full of salt and mud, I'm not taking my new baby out in that muck! :D

So I discovered how to get the battery charged up to 100% while defrosting the car and setting up some station presets. The Insight initially charged to about 75% in ECCO Mode and ran down to 50% while it was going between engine on and off for heat. It wouldn't recharge any more than 50% in that mode. I restarted the car and it went back to 75%. I restarted again and it went up even further to 90%. Then I tried Normal Mode and it went to 100%. It ran down some listening to music and heating the car, and would not go back to 100% unless I restarted again. Sport Mode did push it to MAX, and was better at topping off even more after it said it was full. So Sport Mode may be the only way to maximize battery charge. Mind you, all this was done while parked.

I'm a firm believer in fully charging and discharging (to a safe level) batteries for better battery service and life over time. I hope they can improve the battery charge algorithm in a firmware update. ;)

Phil
 
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