Burn Down Battery in Garage

Short version:

Any issues with running the heat pump inside the garage for a while?

Longer version:

Yesterday, our 2017 Prius Prime got into an accident (at age 62, my first-ever accident where there was any appreciable damage). Nobody was hurt and no damage to the stationary object I hit.

I have an appointment to begin repairs in a little over a week.

However, I had just charged the battery up to full and the object I hit was literally yards from our house. So, it just occurred to me that this means the battery will be sitting fully charged for a week, which fits into the “not recommended” category!

Although the right-front fender has been “can-openered,” it appears to be drivable, and everything under the hood looks to be intact. Nevertheless, I’m not sure it would be wise to drive it more than necessary.

I’m thinking the simplest way to burn down the battery a bit would be to “warm up the garage” for an hour or two — run the heat pump in the garage, with the windows and doors open.

Good? Bad?

 

Update: Maybe it’s not a critical question. I did so for about a half hour and the battery is already down to 80%ish. Perhaps that’s sufficient, and no need to burn it down much further.

 

I’m familiar with charging margins, but still, better to … store (sorta) … the battery at about 1/2 to 2/3 charge than even at 85%. This is a rare circumstance though, so storage at somewhat-high charge, just this once, may not be so bad.

My main concern, however, is that it will undoubtedly be in the shop for a month or so, and holding a high charge for that long may not be so good. However, I do expect to drive it to the repair shop, which will burn off more, so probably not too bad.

Anyway, yes, I have indeed been lucky to avoid accidents. Some other factors undoubtedly also have helped, such as driving familiar routes most of the time, driving conservatively and alertly, living in areas where other drivers also tend to drive comparatively conservatively, and keeping the car parked in our enclosed garage. My luck ran out though, it would appear…

 

The only potential issue I could imagine was if something might overheat in the small space of my garage. Seems unlikely…

 

Indeed, driving mostly well-known roads only helps, potentially, for cases where you’re at fault.

It didn’t help in my case either though: I just pulled out of my driveway, and turned straight into the morning Sun. I suddenly couldn’t see a bloody thing! I began braking then “crunch”! Somebody had parked a trailer, apparently made of steel bridge girders, in my path! That’s OK though, because they oh-so-kindly parked in the shadow of a fence, to maximize invisibility…

Pre-collision didn’t help because of the changing angle (near-zero time in the radar’s line of sight), but the parking sensors did go off, best I can recall, a fraction of a second before impact.

 

Actually, thinking about that again, that seems even less likely considering that a heat pump actually cools the air around it, so, if anything it creates a cold spot in that area of the garage!