How long is too long for a plug-in to sit not being used?

New 12 VDC battery, all fluids/filters, brake resurface and probably tires minimum.

 

If the HV battery hasn't been charged in 3 years, you need to carefully determine it's condition.

 

lion batteries don't like to sit around, so there's probably going to be a shorter lifespan. how much shorter?

 

Trip to the Dealership.

 

Who is they? Dealership, Joe Bob's Used Cars, private seller?

 

New car Warranty effective from time of purchase?

 

2012? too bad there isn't a good way to determine battery health. and that's an expensive battery. you still get 8/100 from registration, but unless it throws a code, you get what you get.

 

NC is not a CARB state. Do your home work, but I see red flags. Battery service life is use and time limited...and the worst thing you can do to a machine is not use it.

 

it's tempting, but who wants to be the guy here, asking, why am i only getting 8 miles of ev?

 

Ask them to fully charge it. You test drive it and see how many EV miles you get. If it is above 12, it should be good.

 

Our 2010 (not a plugin) had build date August 09, and we purchased November 10, so 16 months. The 12 volt was dead. Brakes and tires fine. So far no hybrid battery issues, seems fine. It had about 10 km on the odometer. It was stored under cover, indoors, fwiw.

Didn't realize it's age till I happened to look in door jamb, a whiles after purchase. Maybe best that way, lol.

Not 3 year tho. Did you check build date in door jamb?

 

I now have an Avalon hybrid. Do you have an opinion as to when the 12 volt battery should be replaced? I'm thinking just replace it when it is 4 years old to be safe or as safe as can be.

 

Without monitoring it, 4 years is a nice conservative number. FWIW. I've heard of emergency vehicles getting fresh battery bi-yearly.

When you buy a car it maybe sits on the lot neglected for some time? Almost better to have ridiculously long time (our case): then you get a fresh battery, to replace the unarguably dead one. But trust me : they did try: had the car running, and fingers crossed, when we showed up for a test drive.

Sorry, rambling. Consider getting a multimeter, and periodically check its voltage. You can get decent ones for not much, say $40~50. Or go nuts, that's always a danger, lol.

As long as you see voltage around 12.5~12.6 or higher, you should be ok for a while.

Also, I like to turn off as many "courtesy" lights as possible. There's sneaky ones: the visor lights for example, on some levels only? Got caught with one of those left on the other day, but not left on too long.

 

Thanks for your opinion. I agree with you about the "courtesy" lights. There are several of them and it is very easy to overlook one and leave it on. I think I will buy a new 12V battery when it is 4 years old. I will check it occasionally though. Getting out anywhere and getting stranded because of a dead battery is something I do not want.

 

does the avalon have the small prius battery?