Shipping 2018 Prius Prime - battery question

Nope. You should be good. The 12V is fed from the DC-DC converter and unless you shut the car off it will stay charged long enough to make it home. If the traction battery is discharged the engine will start immediately.

 

So you're saying if I lock my prime in my garage for a year and the traction depletes the engine will start in the enclosed space? Sounds unsafe.

 

i think he means wall charge.

the traction battery will not discharge much in 3 months, if at all. take a jump box with you, or be careful with the connections if you jump it from your vehicle.

 

I hope when you say "Also, the traction battery is likely discharged." you mean that the traction battery has no EV range left on it. If the traction battery is truly discharged to absolute 0% SoC, then you are going to have a huge expense to replace it, or at the least towing to a dealer and have them charge back up the traction battery.

The fact the trucker can move the car after jumping means only the 12v battery is low,. If that is the case, then you are fine. just make sure you have a way to jump-start the car when you get there. As long as the car goes to READY mode, then it will continue to run even if there is no EV range left. That is provided the car has gas in the tank.

You don't have to lock your Prime for a year. If you just run down the EV range to -- and don't charge the car, the next time you start, the engine will automatically start up as soon as you start the car. That is no different than a regular Prius or even any other gas car parked in a garage. I don't see that as a safety issue, unless, you continue to run the engine on idle with your garage door kept closed.

 

I misinterpreted as meaning the locked car would start spontaneously when the Traction batter became depleted. I realize now the poster meant the engine would start immediately upon starting.

 

Extremely unlikely. Yes, you should bring a 12V boost pack to bring the car to READY state, if needed. Once in READY, the Hybrid System will operate normally to keep the Traction Battery in the HV zone.

 

Just take a couple of gallons of fresh gas and a jump-pack - you should be fine. Double-check and triple check jump-pack connections BEFORE activating jump-pack. Your car should start right up; but you may loose all your presets and the car may have to relearn sensor settings - so it'll seem to drive "funny" for a few days.

 

"I hope when you say "Also, the traction battery is likely discharged." you mean that the traction battery has no EV range left on it. If the traction battery is truly discharged to absolute 0% SoC,"
The traction battery had enough charge in it to power the motor-generator that cranked the engine to drive it up onto the transporter. Once you've got it going home it'll be OK. On the drive the engine will power one of the M-Gs to supply electricity to the 12 volt system. By the time you get home the 12v battery will likely be partly charged. Plugging the car in and charging the traction battery will also charge the 12v battery. If you shut the car off for any reason it might need a jump to get it going again on that drive home.

Deep discharge of the 12v battery shortens it's eventual life. If you have starting problems after fully recharging it might be time to replace that 2018 (or late 2017) battery. See how it goes.

 

The 12 volt isn't charged when the car is plugged in. The manual actually warns that leaving the car plugged in will drain the 12 volt, as it powers the systems monitoring the connection and charging.

A trip of 2 to 3 miles isn't going to be long enough to fully charge a starter battery that is near dead. It might take close to an hour for the car to charge up such a battery.

 

My Prime is charging while I'm writing this. While under charge the 12v battery reads 12.414 volts. When I pull the charge plug the 12v battery immediately drops to 12.21 volts. It is while the car is plugged in after the charge has completed that the 12v battery is drawn down. And--it isn't a starter battery, not in the usual sense. The 12v battery doesn't crank the gasoline engine which doesn't have a starter motor. It provides power to the electronic circuits that let everything work. With 12v power on the electronic circuits the traction battery powers motor-generator #1 to crank the engine.

 

Just to clarify, on a PP, plugging the car in and charging the traction battery will also charge the 12v battery to some extent. But it is usually not enough to bring a deeply discharged 12v battery back to life. There are at least three different modes of EVSE charging. In most cases, it only charges at ~12.7v to maintain, but occasionally it does charge at ~13.5v for a while. But the charging voltage never goes higher as in the case of the car being in the READY mode in which case the 12v battery is charged at ~14.4v.

Please refer to my thread on this topic for the complete descriptions.

Hopefully, ultimate 12v battery charging system discussion on PP | PriusChat