I usually keep my car plugged in so battery heater will keep the traction battery ideal. But I'm finding out that it's not good for the charging cable at low temperatures. I have a Chargeport and I believe they say at low temperatures can cause the cable to freeze and snap. So I guess in the morning I will use the defroster to heat up the car and hopefully heat the traction battery. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Your source is quite incorrect. I have never heard of such a claim and certainly haven't experienced it, despite plugging in day after day in Minnesota during the winter. At work, I used the same charger for years. It was outside, exposed to the extreme cold and never had any trouble whatsoever. The chargers at the grocery get used really hard, they haven't ever exhibited any trouble after years of use either.
I’d agree with @john1701a. I’ve never had any issues even when using free chargers I had to walk through a snow bank to get to at -20. iPad ? Pro
i've used mine down to zero foralmost 8 years, still like brand new. not sure where you got that info. leaving your car charged all night every single day, now that's a whole nuther issue.
The owner's manual has this note: and Note that inanimate objects don't care about windchill, only the actual air temperature. I'd probably still plug in below -22F to keep the battery heated.
Thanks everyone for the feed back. I use a Chargepoint Home Charge. The cable is very thick. So when i unplugged it the cable is very stiff so i am careful not to bend it. I just let it stay in my garage until it thaws out. I'm guessing they're rated at lower temperatures because of the ones the public views which is outside in the cold weather. With my chargepoint app I can see when the traction battery heater comes on. That is one of the reasons why I keep my car plugged in since it is outside in the cold weather. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
A cable sitting in the cold at -40C doesn't act very bendy. But the same cable, even just doing a trickle charge, is happy.
Last winter we experienced -26F here in Chicago. I didn't attempt to charge or keep the car plugged in at those temps. The car worked in HV mode, but of course never worked in EV mode at all. Even at 10 degrees F, my L2 cable is so stiff I dare not even try to uncoil it. I suppose I could also use the OEM charge cable since it bends more easily in severe cold, but gas usage is OK by me 10 days a year in the dead of winter.
I think this answers some of my questions. Like why does the car engine start if the battery is at 100%? Or how bad is it to have the charger exposed to snow and cold? We never experience anything below -10F in NJ so I will be ok. But I noticed how stiff my charging cable gets below the freezing point. This winter has been mild for us with the lowest I recall being around 15F. iPhone ?
Or sometimes the question is why the gas engine doesn't start when it is 9 degrees, state of charge is just below 50%, and I begin turning on the seat heater, the steering wheel heater, wipers, the windshield and footwell heat/defrost on full fan (with the heat pump - not the defrost button), the radio and the headlights and fogs. Normally, that would make the gas engine start immediately. And yet, sometimes it doesn't. The Prime can be a strange beast sometimes.
