Traction Battery charge time/distance?

[Emgee44]

Hi, I have a question. How long, time wise, or far do you have to travel to charge the traction Battery? 
My commute to work is about 10miles and typically takes around 30minutes, sometimes less depending on traffic, it’s mostly three lane A roads around London, I’m trying to get an idea how much the engine would be running compared to the electric motor. Would this be sufficient time/distance to maintain the Battery or is this a non-issue to begin with?

I should point out that I don’t currently own a CT200h yet (no option in the sign up menu) although when conditions allow I will be looking for later model. 

Many thanks.

Edited January 27, 2021 by Emgee44
Needed to add to my original question

[olliesgrandad]

My RX450h has gone from 500 to 30miles a week during lockdoy. The traction batteries easily get charged fully during a 12 mile round trip as long as the car doesn't decide to run electric. You shouldn't have any issues and having driven several thousand miles in loan CT200h s they are extremely economical.

[MartsCT200]

I think it's a non-issue. When driving the car the Battery will always be charging. Every time you break/slow down it will charge. You can see when it's charging on the display. If the Battery isn't enough charged yet, you just can't drive it in EV and you will run on the "normal' engine.   

My experience is that the Battery is fully charged in less than 10 minutes. Usually you will run more on the electric engine in city traffic.    

[MartsCT200]

Just to add; I don't know what the speed limit is on A roads around London, but you probably will be using the engine more than the electrical engine on those roads. The car changes to EV mode automatically at lower speeds which, funny enough, makes driving in a traffic jam or innercity traffic more fuel efficient because it will run in EV more.   

[Emgee44]

Many thanks gents for the replies, you pretty much covered what I thought but wanted to be sure after friend asked me the same question. 

[Thackeray]

14 hours ago, Emgee44 said:

it’s mostly three lane A roads around London, I’m trying to get an idea how much the engine would be running compared to the electric motor. Would this be sufficient time/distance to maintain the battery

The point of the Battery is to store the electricity regenerated when braking. If the Battery is full, there's no room for the regenerated electricity and it has to be thrown away as heat.

So the computer aims to keep it at around 50% charge (or it does on the IS300h anyway). This is a reasonable compromise between leaving plenty of storage space for regenerated electricity, but enough power for an extra burst of acceleration.

In practice, it's charging and discharging second by second. If you press the accelerator some power from the Battery will often be added to the power of the engine. But as soon as you lift your foot off the accelerator the motor operates as a generator and produces some electricity to store in the Battery. If you put the car at a fixed speed on cruise control you can see this happening second by second on the screen graphic.

The computer also keeps the Battery in a range of 40-80% as this prolongs its life. So one bar on the dashboard meter is around 40% charge and eight bars on the meter is around 80%.

So to answer your question, the engine will be running most of the time, assisted by the electric motors from time to time. Though on a long flat stretch at 30 mph it might switch to electric only for a while, but not more than a mile or so.

[Las Palmas]

Our engine starts when on 2 bars and keep it there and going downhill it most of the time is on 7 or 8 bars. The car is not very economical in mountains as climbing it needs petrol and going down it soon gets to 7 or 8 and then braking is just heating the brakes. Still not sure when to use B.