I flew into Nashville at midnight last night after a week in FL. It was 5 degrees with -20 windchill, the door was frozen shut at first, the windows were frozen shut, the wipers were frozen to the ice on the lower windshield, and the tires were frozen to the pavement in the airport parking lot, but that old car fired right up!
I know what you mean! When I lived in Michigan, I made fun of any southerner who complained about the cold weather! I was so worried the car wouldn't start because it sat for a week in the cold, and I haven't had it long....no clue how old the battery is. Does the aux . battery start the engine, or does the traction battery start the car? My knowledge in Prius isn't that advanced yet, although this site certainly helps
The 12V auxiliary battery powers the ECUs and the high voltage traction battery provides power to MG1 via the inverter, which spins the gasoline engine to start it.
-21 today in Wisconsin. Our gen 1 gave us the turtle symbol one day recently, but still started great. These are great winter cars! 300 volt starting battery, good control at low speeds. We put narrow winter tires on ours, and it's the best snow and ice car I've ever had. While climbing a notoriously hazardous driveway recently we had to stop to push a Buick up the hill. After clearing the way we easily puttered up the rest of the hill. That little ICE doesn't put out much waste heat though, I drive to work with winter gloves on and the cabin is still cold when I get there.
Congrats it started and yotatoter is right, we in MN put shorts on when it gets close to 0 degrees. Funny as just this morning it was -13 and I went out to start it not in garage with normal clothes on and I said to myself, self, it feels pretty good out today! I also agree that this car is much better than I expected in winter driving even when needing struts. TomK
