I can't speak for the HCH-II as I have an HCH-I. Typically, the battery never goes below 3 bars for me before entering force-charge mode.

However, there are situations where I've had it down to 2, 1, and even zero bars:

* Climing the 6 mile hill between exits 2 and 1 on the Mass Pike in the Berkshires.
* Last year when I took the car on a cross-country drive, this happened very often in the Colorado Rockies.

But yes, usually it won't go below 3 or 4 bars.

 

I agree with tckma - and I'm in a HCH2. I've not seen zero bars, but I've seen 2 bars 4 or 5 times, and 1 bar twice. All in 3500 miles of driving excitement. But typically only down to 4 bars, sometimes 3, before it works harder to charge itself back up.

 

I've only seen 2 bars once, sitting at a ridiculously long left turn signal with the AC going while it's 100+ degrees outside (I was waiting for the car to come out at Auto Stop at any moment but the light turned green).

 

Find my post re: "500+" and you'll find someone on here who has seen 0 bars of battery charge. If you run your car out of fuel then it will run 100% off the IMA and if you keep driving then the charge will go all the way down to 0 bars and after that you slowly grind to a halt (read the post to see how I know this).

I drive about 150 miles a day and even after 150 miles with the battery charge at only 3 bars it only takes a downhill of maybe 2 miles long to charge the battery to nearly 100% again. If you drive down the hill in 2nd gear then it charges at full power and does not usually require brakes (which saves your brakes). If you descend in Drive then you have to use the brakes or else take the 35 mph curves at 57 mph.

I'm always surprised how even after a 200-mile trip even a short 2-mile gently sloping uphill will drop your MPG by 0.1 or 0.2 mpg which tells me that if I go down a 2-mile gentle hill at 100+ mpg then I should either be able to regain those 0.1 or 0.2 mpg OR charge the battery (or maybe both).

I've been experimenting with getting the car into the "nirvana" which is getting the MPG meter pegged at 100 AND getting the IMA to assist to about 2 or 3 bars (I held 4 bars today for at least 1.0 mile of gentle downhill on the Interstate which is my distance record for 4 bars of assist). These are times when the speed doesn't need to increase or slow and the terrain and traffic allows for it.

I'm still wondering about the "shift the car to neutral" theory. When I shift to Neutral on a downhill the MPG meter drops to 0. I don't typically drive that many miles down hills in Neutral (I don't like having a car NOT be in gear as emergency maneuvers are left up to Physics and gravity and Newton's laws). I don't know if the overall MPG increases more in Neutral going down a hill than if you get the car at a max 100+ mpg reading going down the same hill. I will try this some time when I have some free time but let us know if you have found this already. Also, in Neutral I don't think the IMA recharges so that is another reason I just keep it in gear so I can recharge the battery.

 

I saw 1 bar again Thursday.
I was washing/drying the car with the radio on. The wash/dry job took about 15 minutes, I suppose. When I got back in, I was at 1 bar. Doesn't take long to drain it down!

 

Flash,

If you shift the car in neutral, the ICE is still on and burning gas, albeit less than if your foot was on the gas. If you peg the car out to 100+ mpg, the engine is still spinning but the cylinders are closed, and thus NO GAS is being burned. So its actually better and it will use LESS gas to keep it in gear and let the cylinders shut off.

Not to mention the safety of keeping the car in gear

 

Don't forget the MCM and BCM black box that may have gotten fried and subquently ruined the batteries.