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How many weeks of not driving will ruin the Hybrid battery?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by Sal43, Mar 23, 2020.

  1. Sal43

    Sal43 Member

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    My county is on lockdown because of Rona and only essential personnel are allowed to drive. How many weeks without driving can the Hybrid battery survive before permanent damage/shortening of life?
     
  2. cnc97

    cnc97 Senior Member

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    Go out and start the car. A couple hours every third day. Just because you can’t drive, doesn’t mean you can’t sit in the car and let it run.
     
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  3. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    From Owner's Manual, page 30:

    upload_2020-3-23_21-48-59.png

    FWIW, our 2010 had build date August 2009. We bought in November, 2010. It had ten kilometers on the odometer. Didn't notice the build date till months later. So far it's been champion. To be fair that initial hiatus was with a brand-new battery.

    Right now, in the same boat as you, we're driving the car very sporadically. Drove about 3 kms last Tuesday to get groceries. I do have it on a 12 volt smart charger, round-the-clock.

    If you don't have one of those, in a pinch you can just disconnect the 12 volt battery lead. It IS a bit of a pain, you will lose various memories (nothing dire), and the car might do an odd rev-up, the next few starts.
     
  4. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    If that was necessary, mine would have been dead years ago.

    A battery tender on the 12V overnight, every few weeks or month, will help the 12V longevity.
     
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  5. Elektroingenieur

    Elektroingenieur Senior Member

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    I haven’t seen an official answer to this question for Prius cars that are already in service.

    For new vehicles stored at dealers before delivery, Toyota in the U.S. has consistently recommended that the hybrid system should be started (READY) and left on (with the transaxle in P⃣ and the parking brake set) for 30 minutes every two months (60 days), so the engine can run to recharge the HV battery. It’s also prudent to disconnect the negative (–) terminal of the auxiliary (12-volt) battery if the car is to be stored for that long.

    For current models, see bulletin T-SB-0006-19 Rev1, “Maintenance for HV and Auxiliary Batteries” (PDF), but the basic procedure is the same for all Prius cars, 2001–present.
     
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  6. royrose

    royrose Senior Member

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    My 2010 Prius sat for a year while I lived abroad. A friend was supposed to drive it periodically but hardly ever did. When I got back the 12v battery was dead but the hybrid battery was fine and is still in good shape 6 years later. That said, running it once in a while is a good idea as is the trickle charger if the lockdown last for long.
     
  7. cnc97

    cnc97 Senior Member

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    My comment was simply a suggestion, because staying in the house doing nothing is boring. At least if you go sit outside in the car with it running, you can imagine that you are going somewhere.


    I consider myself lucky that I work in auto parts sales, with multiple contracts with companies that repair emergency vehicles. That having been said, my employer has given all FT employees a bank of 80 hours of ETO, that if not used by the end of the year gets paid out the beginning of the calendar year.
     
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  8. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    IMG_6668.jpeg

    My Gen 2 is getting pampered while it sits in the garage with a trickle of 12 volts and periodic starting. We use our plug-in for driving now which is all local.
     
  9. Maarten28

    Maarten28 Active Member

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    And the whole world is wondering why the USA is using such an enourmous amount of energy, on all fronts... :eek: Oh wait, they're sitting in their cars with the engine running imagining going somewhere.
     
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  10. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I needed to drive yesterday, drove an office chair and phone cord to a family member starting work-at-home. And of course when I got there realized I was missing one of the chair's wheels, so a 6 km excursion became 12. Another week, another drive. :)
     
  11. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    I think this is the easiest approach.
    I've been doing this with my ICE vehicle, just because I don't like it to sit too long without the engine running.
     
  12. Robert Holt

    Robert Holt Senior Member

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    If you have the vehicle-settings control menu as we do on our 2012, you can reduce the parasitic drain on the 12-volt battery during storage periods by selecting the “Supplemental Key System —> off” and the “Remote unlock —> off” and then saving those settings and turning off the car. When you want to restart the car, you must use the physical key on the fob to enter the driver’s side door, and then put the fob right next to and touching the “power” button as you push it and depress the brake at the same time.
    We have left our Prius for a minimum of 6 weeks to 2 months i this state and not had any problems restarting it. The self-drain discharge on the Hv traction battery seems to be either not observable or quite minimal during these pauses in operation, at least on our car.
     
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