Charging battery off grid

[tsh]

Am I right in assuming that there is an independent 12V starting system, so normally the hybrid battery pack is only chargeable from the engine? Apart from the issues of battery maintenance, does anyone see any benefit in topping up the battery overnight? What is the typical state of charge at the end of a journey for people? What's the fuel equivalence of that amount of charge? (or any pointers to places where Civic owners have been playing these games already?)

[varg]

Couldn't you do this with some kind of engine warmer system. Not even sure that is the correct name for the thing in English. Do ppl even use those anymore? Had it on my old Mitsu at least. Was nice for those cold winter mornings. Don't really think about it much now as I have a garage.

[Whittaker]

My grandmother still has a block heater cord "engine warmer" but she lives near the UP in Mich. I don't see them in the south often but in the far northern areas with the harsh winters its almost necessary

I don't think this car is going to have any issues and since it charges on the go you should have no worries with the battery. Over charging a battery is never good for its life anyways

[bizzybear]

i'm not sure what this would accomplish b/c the CR-Z will still use the gas (petrol) engine to drive around and charge the batteries at the same time... now if there was an EV-mode then having full charge would make sense...

[varg]

I'm still kinda curious how the battery will hold up in the winter here though. Anyone had any experience with the Civic Hybrid maybe? I at least like to top off my starter battery with a charger when it gets really cold out. But then again the CL9 has a super small starter battery.

[tsh]

Originally Posted by Whittaker

I don't think this car is going to have any issues and since it charges on the go you should have no worries with the battery. Over charging a battery is never good for its life anyways

That wasn't really the concern I had. It was more in terms of saving money by burning less petrol. The gain clearly depends on the balance between charge/discharge and how much electric assist is provided.

I am assuming that at times during regular driving, the electric assist will not occur because the battery is depleted. Normal use will charge it up again at the next bend/junction so usability is not really affected.

As an example, assume my journey to work goes over a hill, drains the battery 100%, but only charges it 50% (standard engineering efficiency assumption). When I come to drive home, I only get assist half way up the hill, and get home with the battery reading 50%. If I top up the battery overnight, it will save some fuel.

Question is really how much? What does it take to drain the battery in terms of full-load driving? Is the system balanced so it never usually stops providing assist, or does charge vary between 0 and 100% quite frequently? Is battery capacity a limiting factor?

[Ducman]

Another consideration is the A/C running during auto off, if you can plug in at work for free it would be a nice free fuel solution

[kenoshainflames]

i have 1000 miles on my crz and ive never fully depleted the assist battery yet. thats with very spirited driving around town.

[bizzybear]

i was gonna say... even tho i only went on a test drive... i DROVE that car hard and the batteries never dropped below half...

[kenoshainflames]

ive brought them down close to empty. just never fully empty.