landonm86

Hi all,

I have been driving my ES hybrid in Sport Mode quite a bit lately, and wonder if anyone has heard whether or not this will decrease the longevity of the hybrid battery. I assume the battery is working more aggressively during Sport Mode. My gut tells me to just enjoy the car and not to worry about this. 😅 Thanks!

kingofire

Probably the opposite. In sports mode you probably don't use the hybrid battery as much as in eco or normal mode. So the battery should last longer in my opinion.

TechNut

I can’t offer anything more than an opinion, but I would just drive it and not worry about it. I suppose sport mode could use more electricity which may discharge/charge the battery more but I just doubt it makes enough difference to be material.

LS500Fan

Toyota has 25+ years of hybrid battery experience so you have nothing to worry about unless you are modifying or abusing the hybrid system in some way. In terms of the different drive modes, forget about it.

dezymond

I wouldn't worry about it. When have you ever heard of an issue that changing drive modes impacts longevity of the battery? I for sure haven't and Toyota/Lexus have done the research and engineered the car in a way where there is no adverse effect on the battery when switching modes. Drive as you would.

Popped mine into sport mode earlier today, have been driving eco mode for the last month or two, am surprised at how sensitive the throttle response became.

E46CT

Technically, yes, sport mode will cause more battery degradation. But I wouldn't worry about it. IIRC, sport mode as in other Toyota hybrids, makes available the full voltage of the battery at partial throttle and the voltage ramp up is more aggressive. So yeah the car has to discharge and charge faster and more aggressively. Nothing comes for free. I'd say just enjoy it. by the time you experience any such degradation, you'd be onto the next car anyway.

landonm86

Thanks everyone for weighing in! I appreciate each response.

ESAsh

I've been liking sport mode on the ESh recently, not for the reasons one might think though. With my conservative driving style, sport mode actually makes the car drive smoother and quieter than normal or eco, even though the rpm's are on average slightly higher in sport mode (maybe 200-300rpm).

So I did a quick acceleration experiment and to my ears the engine was making more noise at the same 2,500rpm while in normal and eco, so perhaps in sport something is adjusted for more power, but also more smoothness as a byproduct, maybe it switches from atkinson cycle to otto in sport?

Also in normal and eco I often feel like I am lugging the engine while putting around town, but no such issue in sport mode, also the increased electric power is nice, and can get you up to speed with slightly less reliance on the petrol engine, again making the drive smoother and quieter.

To top it off my fuel consumption has not gone up after switching to sport, actually it went from 42mpg to 43mpg, but that may be due to break in or other environmental factors.

ESh

I drive on Eco mode and it feels sluggish but that’s enough for my driving style. When I put it in Sport mode it feels different. Maybe the gasoline engine doesn’t rev as high as in Eco because in Sport mode MG2 goes full regalia.