Driveability with battery issue....

vegasbar10der said:

Maybe this is a silly question from a new member...if the HV battery craps out, will the car still run using the sport mode/2.0L engine?
I guess thats my biggest concern considering the cost of battery replacement

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As I understand it, even in Sport mode, you need to have at least 15% battery charge available. This is the equivalent of having a flywheel on a traditional engine that smooths out the electrical flow to the motors and also allows the ICE to turn off when the car is not moving. As long as the HV battery can hold and maintain the 15% reserve charge, Sport mode should work just fine.

But the reading will show 0miles(km) available in electric on the dash panel. Because obviously my car can run with no electricity showing available on the dash console.

What happens if the battery actually drains completely? For example the car sits for months at a dealership? Or driving across country, only driving in sport mode?

vegasbar10der said:

What happens if the battery actually drains completely? For example the car sits for months at a dealership? Or driving across country, only driving in sport mode?

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The car will not allow the battery to go below 15% SOC when it is running, so driving it across the country, or running in Sport mode only would not cause that. The only time you would worry about this is the long-term storage scenario.

I experienced something like this first hand when I picked up my car. The dealership's L2 charger was not working correctly and the car had been on ships and trucks and had not been charged since it left Finland.

I had to pull over and shut the car down for unrelated reasons. When I tried to start the car up again, I get a very serious "Out of Energy" warning and all sorts of red lights come on and the car refused to start. I think the SOC must have been just below 15% because when I did a hard reset, the computer allowed me to get the ICE going, which then charged the battery up to the required minimum as I drove the car.

But normally, you would find someplace to plug the car in just long enough to get it up to 15% (3 KWH).

Thanks for all the info guys....much appreciated!!