For you folks who already have your Prius Primes, I have a few questions about the battery-cooling vents and fans: My 2009 (Gen-2) has one vent outboard the right rear seat. I see that the P.Prime appears to have two, somewhat larger vents, one on each side (observation, not question ). Are those two vents both intake, both outlet, or one in one out? Are there other vents (e.g., external)? How often do the fans run when you're in EV mode for extended time periods under moderate weather conditions? How loud are they when they run? I saw a thread from earlier relating to Gen-4 normal Prius saying that they're pretty quiet, but obviously the P.Prime's battery and associated cooling system are very different.
Sit in your car while it is charging. You can hear the fan running and decide for yourself how loud you think it is. It may take a bit before the fan starts up depending on the temperature and whether you are using a 120V or 220V charger.
The only time I have heard my fans run is when it is charging, otherwise I have not noticed. It is however cold out, so maybe will be different in the summer when its 100 out
I've had my Prime Premium for 3 weeks. I noticed how loud the fan was right away (I owned a gen 3) and has gotten louder to the point I really notice it and it's quite annoying. There doesn't appear to be rhyme or reason to when the fan comes on. I liver in the Seattle area and it's winter so heat isn't an issue and it's rarely below freezing. Been telling my self that I hear it b/c the car's so quiet but I'm now having to admit that it's unacceptably loud to the point I plan to take it to the dealer. It doesn't come on that often and I can't hear it above about 25 mph, but when it is on it's very noticeable. Don't think I had anything that bothered me like this in the 10 years I owned my gen 3. Any ideas would be appreciated.
I never sat in my car when charging, but I think I might now. I have never heard the fans running while driving. Both the upper vents are intakes for what appears to be two centrifugal blowers, one on each side. They a ducted into the rear of the battery with each duct covering 1/2 the width of the whole battery. The almost 1/2 is the is what appears to be an exhaust duct that goes through the bottom of the trunk area. I got under the car and that area is covered by a plenum, perhaps to keep water from getting in that way. The is also another blower under the right rear seat. There are two vents, and I haven't completely determined which is intake and which is exhaust, or neither on is exhaust. I came across your question searching for answers. I have two temperature probes, one on each of the under-seat vents trying to determine direction. I would prefer it if the hot air was ducted out of the car like the battery vent. Ducting only goes the rightmost one, the center one is just open. After I finish this experiment I plan on moving the probes to the battery area for similar experiments. I wish I had thought of doing this while charging before I heard it in this thread. Climb back in my car 1/2 way through my charge cycle (240 VAC) and see how things are going. Now that I think about it, if you are driving your Prius like a Prius the battery ECU and battery itself wouldn't require much cooling. CHARGING is where it's at! Then it B**** to the wall!
