hello real life THC drivers.

how long does battery charge last in your Camrys in stop and go traffic?

it's around 25 or so minutes here, from full charge to single bar and ICE start.

just curious.

oh, and it's 07 model; 52k MILES.

 

Too many variables to give you an answer (heat, AC, etc.), but the answer is, not long and it's normal.
In traffic it will drain and when you start driving again it will recharge quickly.

 

thank you.

 

I'm also a new to me owner of an 08 TCH that I purchased in 9/2010. I drove about 20 miles, long enough to charge the main battery pack. I then was in rush hour traffic with the AC running. The main battery pack discharged in about 10 minutes of creeping along on battery only. The ICE fired up and rechaged the battery. I don't remember if I even realized that I could turn the ECO switch on to extend battery at the time.

 

thank you. so yeah, it is not so much of a useful time.

one thing i am SERIOUSLY missing in TCH is lack of pickup power in that motor. there is no meaningful acceleration possible to accomplish with it. so, you either are a menace to drivers behind you, trying to take off in e-mode, or that ICE kicks in right away.

personally, i'd rather have 2 motor wheels up front, say 90hp each, running off battery pack, charged by ICE. well, it's coming.

 

Life is a compromise. I wanted the 3500 LB Camry ride and comfort vs. the Prius. I like the fact that I can get > 35 MPG in real world city driving vs. the 12 MPG in my old Crown Victoria. The key is to avoid rush hour situations when possible to take advantage of the existing technology which does have limits.

 

when i said - it's coming, this is what i was referring to (nothing new under the son; this is same g'ol design Ferdi Porsche became famous for; see my post First Hybrid here):

As part of its ongoing celebration of its 75th anniversary, Jaguar unveiled the C-X75 supercar concept at the Paris Auto Show. This Jag is a unique 2-seater that blends electric power with gas turbine technology.

In short, it’s a range-extended electric like the Chevy Volt—it’s able to travel 68 miles on a single 6-hour plug-in charge of its lithium-ion batteries, but when that range is exhausted, two 94-bhp micro turbine engines supplied by Blandon Jets take over, recharging the batteries on the fly and powering the 195-hp electric motors positioned at all four corners.

The all-wheel-drive aluminum-bodied Jaguar C-X75, thanks to its combined output of 778 hp and 1180 lb.-ft. of torque, is capable of accelerating to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 3.4 seconds and has a top speed of 205 mph. Jaguar says the gas turbine engines extend the range of this sporty EV to an amazing 560 miles.

The sleek shape recalls previous Jaguar supercars like the XJ13 and XJ220. The twin turbines are positioned amidships in the Jetstream Silver supercar. The intakes, which provide up to 25,000 liters of air per minute to the 80,000- rpm turbines, are an integral part of the design. The sleek exterior shape has a drag coefficient of 0.34.

 

We took a cruise out of Charleston last month. Parking in the terminal parking lot is apparently an easy thing but not that day. We, and a million others (cruise ships now carry millions, it seems) waited for 2 hours in line on the terminal property sometimes creeping forward a few feet but mostly stopped. All the idiots in their SUVs kept their motors running (it was chilly) but our car just sat there using the battery even while creeping. Of course we gloated about those lowlife gas wasters and terrorism supporters.

After about an hour or so, the battery level was pretty low and I was concerned about the car sitting for a week with a very low battery. Periodically the ICE would come on but the charge never seemed to rise very high. Finally, I started shutting off the car off. When we finally got to park, the battery was about 1/4.

Six days later, it started right up and soon was at full charge.

 

You do know the Japanese weren't actually perfect citizens during the war and the Chinese (suppliers of 97% of the rare earth metals needed for these batteries) have a long history of treating their dissidents disrespectfully.