Need to park it for a month. Plugged or Unplugged?

CHeck the owners manual. I think you would want to discharge the Ev battery as much as possible.

But, the battery will continue to degrade if it has a charge or not.

I would worry about the 12 volt from what I have been reading, that has a tendency to go dead.

 

leave it around a third to half charged and don't plug it in.

 

This is correct. Do NOT discharge it to the lowest level. That would not be good.

Read the manual!

(it specifically talks about this situation)

 

i read the manual on a flight out to cali and back. i have no idea what page it was on.

 

Page 93

Leave a low level of charge in the hybrid battery when leaving the vehicle undrivin for a long period of time.

(I think it means low but not super low, at in the minimum).

Sorry, I didn't remember it correctly. I guess it doesn't say anything about 1/3 charged. I should read more before I respond thinking I know the answer.

 

Ideally they tell you to leave it in non-EV, hybrid only for long term storage. That puts the SOC somewhere around %25. I don't think it will matter much for a few weeks to a month, it's best to not leave it with a lot of charge over several months of non-use.

 

mitch, are you saying to switch to hv before shutting down the car? and, if so, how does this effect the system when it's sitting?

 

It shows in the manual, for storing the car, run it out of EV miles, and leave it in HV, in other words, if storing ther PiP for an extended time (months), leave the pack with no EV miles left. That still puts the pack at about a %25 SOC (State Of Charge).

thats Toyota's recomendation, not mine.. I did see it in the manual, somewhere...

 

I stored my PiP Advanced for a week, unplugged. Came home, and found my battery completely dead. Needed a jump start to get me to my Toyota dealership, which replaced the battery. I'm not sure whether this was simply a defective original battery, or a bigger problem.

Has anyone else had an issue like this?

 

There's been at least one, maybe two people who have said something about having their 12V battery replaced (in the PiP). This happens with the no-plug Prius as well (when the cars are relatively new).

From what I've read, it seems to be because the 12V battery is so small and weak to begin with, if it was "abused" prior to delivery (like the battery was left unused and died, then revived at the dealership), then the 12V battery is most likely irreparably damaged and will need to be replaced.

Its seems in your case, the dealership recognized this situation and replaced your 12V battery without issue (hopefully at no cost to you).

 

I'm going to be in a situation a couple of weeks from now where, again, I'll need to leave my PiP idle for a week. I won't be in a position to leave it plugged in, but I don't see why that should make a difference. I just want to have some confidence that it will start up when I need it to.

 

You should be fine to leave it for a week. The main issue you'll need to be worried about is if the 12V battery is weak or bad. Just make sure no lights have been left on, doors are shut and locked, etc. The big HV traction battery will be fine for a week no matter whether it's at 80% or 20%. The warning about not storing it fully charged applies to long term storage, which to me really means months and months at a time, not a week.