Traction Battery

[Marinna]

Does anybody know what happened to the traction battery and re-gen break after the battery gets full?

I am recently in a trip that is seeing 20-25 miles amount of down-hill slopes, I’ve noticed the battery pretty quickly got charged to full. I was wondering if LC will do the same thing as Prius, essentially stop using re-gen break and switch to regular breaking pad instead? I tried to turn on everything in my car that uses electricity but not sure if it matters at all. I was hoping I had a load connected to the 2400 AC outlet that can reclaim some of these wasted kinetic energy back

 

[Nuke]

Wow, let me think about this! To say the least, a very interesting question. The only place it can store energy would be the traction battery. I suppose one could attach something to the 2400 watt AC outlet and put the energy to good use, but what? Freeze ice, a crock pot, or ??? Seriously, I think the energy savings would be negligible, but can certainly see your point.

 

[Marinna]

Wow, let me think about this! To say the least, a very interesting question. The only place it can store energy would be the traction battery. I suppose one could attach something to the 2400 watt AC outlet and put the energy to good use, but what? Freeze ice, a crock pot, or ??? Seriously, I think the energy savings would be negligible, but can certainly see your point.

A spare lithium that can charge at 200-500w.

Still not that much energy reclaimed but that is not a point. I just want to know how the hybrid powertrain works on LC.

 

[Nuke]

I think you are correct, short of using engine compression to slow the vehicle down after the battery is fully charged, sadly the traditional brakes come into play. No way does Toyota wish the traction battery to overcharge and risk damage. I suppose a dummy load resistor could be incorporated, but this would appreciably increase the price of the vehicle.

 

[Marinna]

I think you are correct, short of using engine compression to slow the vehicle down after the battery is fully charged, sadly the traditional brakes come into play. No way does Toyota wish the traction battery to overcharge and risk damage. I suppose a dummy load resistor could be incorporated, but this would appreciably increase the price of the vehicle.

That "dummy load resistor" is my lithium power station. Right now I only connect it to 12V plug but the power station will only charge @ 100W to avoid melting the fuse. In order to charge at higher wattage we need to either directly wire to the 12V battery with thicker wire and fuse, or wire it to the front engine bay where traction battery is converting its high voltage to 12V. Either way that is a lot of hassle and potentially higher consequence if installation is not done properly.