Hot temps and Prius battery questions

no, keep your vent clear and your a/c on. if you're comfy, so is your battery. if you carry any pets, add a pre filter to the vent. all that being said, statistically, warmer climes may have shorter lifespans than cooler, but there's not much else you can do. don't push it hard if you can help it i suppose.

 

i think the leaf made some adjustments after those problems turned up. it may be that toyota's conservative battery usage is helpful, and it's not all ev like the leaf. you can find threads here though, from people who have had issues. not enough for a recall or tsb, etc.

are you not in new york?

 

gotcha. i think you'll be good for at least 100k.

 

Just to provide a counter-argument, here's a portion of an August 2010 Honda recall notice, regarding a software update for the second gen Civic Hybrid system:

"Frequent stop-and-go driving with A/C use during warm weather speeds up the IMA battery deterioration"

Not saying it follows with the Toyota hybrid system, but I would pose the question:

Has Toyota recommended A/C use as a way to prolong the battery? Or is this just conjecture? Cooler air to the battery sounds good, but does the additional loading of running A/C outweigh the benefit?

Bottom line, I don't see it being a slam dunk that using the A/C is a benefit.

 

Simple experiment. Drive one day with AC and another day without. Compare HV battery temp and report back. Quite eye opening experience.

 

One thing to look out for, on hot day the Prius battery can heat up after parking if it is fully charged (all green bars on a Gen2). Does not impact most of us, but some folks have a huge downhill coming into work with battery all charged up. If this is the case, try to run the batt down a slight amount. Otherwise all you can do is try to keep the battery cool via A/C.

The other I am trying to do more, is warm up. if you have 60-secs, warm-up the car in park. The ICE engine will come on and charge up the batt a couple bars. After about a minute the car is warmed up, the ICE goes off suddenly, and you're to the next stage of WARM-UP, and if you pull out there is less of a chance the battery will drop down into the low charge area. Especially after vacation if the car was sitting for a week, I see the HV battery struggle the first 5 minutes if especially A/C is on. This is especially when a short warm up is in order.

 

Do you know if that's doable with a Scanguage, say with one of the XGauges? I'm game to try, but a bit of a luddite when it comes to programming.

Addendum: Ok, see hybrid battery temp is available. I've never programmed and XGauge before, though. Will give it a try.

Addendum02: Well, maybe easier for younger, more nimble minds. But me and my Scanguage reached an impasse, lol.

 

Please believe having the A/C on will prolong your battery life. I am from SoCal, and I frequently visit Vegas. And there's a 17 - 20 mile climb on the way that has claimed many vehicles, especially during the summer months (triple digits). I have experimented with the A/C. Result: car performs much better when A/C is on. Battery SOC maintains its 40 percent minimum and engine does not go into panic mode. Car has 271k, and it's still on the original HV battery. To OP, crank that A/C. Don't worry about saving a few MPGs.

 

There's a Taxi in Cairns ,Qld, Aus. (Tropical) that's had it's original HV battery for 600,000kms.

 

you can't beat the gen II batteries.

 

The fan's the white cylindrical at right side of battery in this pic. The black tube piece sitting on the flipped-down seatback connects between the fan and the back seat vent grill.