Just got my 2005 Prius! I travel a lot, sometimes for weeks at a time, so I was sure to ask the dealer if this would be a problem. He said the hybrid battery "was really big" and "wouldn't be a problem" even if the car wasn't started for weeks or even amonth. But the manual states that the battery will deplete after two weeks of no driving!! Anybody have any knowledge to share?
it's probably refering to the small 12v battery the car uses for acc and starting the system. if you have the se/ss (smart entry/smart start) system, it constantly looks for your key fog.. and after a week or two it can drain the system. there is a button under the steering column to disble it.. just i case you go for a trip or something.
Yes, remember there are 2 batteries. The large Traction Battery (aka HV battery or NiMH battery) will tolerate sitting unused for 6 months to a year from a full charge. It should not be a concern to you at all. The small 12v PbAcid battery is smaller than the ones used in most 'regular' cars. Add to that that if you have the SKS and it is active (ie. doors locked) it will continuously sense for you key fob which drains the battery. Some have reported as little as 7 days, others have gone over 2 weeks without incident. If you know you will be away for more than 10 days AND you plan to leave the vehicle locked AND you have the SKS then you should disable the SKS by pushing the button under the steering column...this is covered in your owner's manual. Anything at a week or less, or if you don't have SKS, or if you don't leave the car locked you probably don't need to worry about it unless you'll be gone for more than 2 weeks. If you will be gone for more than 2 weeks you may want to consider pulling the master fuse or having someone start the car for a few minutes once a week to allow recharging of the 12v battery.
Thanks for those great replies! I hate Navigation systems, so I got the "Package 1" on the 2005 which does NOT include the Smart Key System, so I think I'll be okay. Thanks again...and I LOVE THIS CAR!
I have a 2005 Prius and was driving about 5 minutes, going uphill when the car went dead and started rolling downhill. The only explanation I can come up with is that I had the heater up as high as it can go. Anyone experience this?
Chickie - First, you didn't run out of gas, right? If not, did you get the ugly exclamation point in the triangle? I think you want to take it to your Toyota service people and have them pull the codes. I don't think the heater on full should cause ANY problem.
Never ever heard anything of the sort, and frankly find it incredibly hard to believe. Did it go into neutral? That's the only way the car could roll backwards even if it was totally dead. You need to give us a LOT more details...batter SOC, warnings/alerts, pre-dead behavior, did it restart? Did you take it to the dealer and have it towed or did it start right back up and run normally? What was the fuel level? How many miles on the car and how many miles. I can assure you that if this did occur as you described and is not due to you hitting neutral on accident or running out of gas or something like that then Toyota will be extremely interested in testing the vehicle to try to find out what went wrong as they build in multiple redundant fail safes to prevent just that kind of problem. Also, how the heck did it start rolling down the hill...you had forward momentum, right? When the car died and started slowing didn't you pull to the side of the road and apply the brake to stop and park it? Who would just let it roll to a stop then roll back down the hill...and if you...then why?
Is it possible to accidentally put the car in neutral? I may have freaked out too in that situation and continued to roll backwards for a few seconds before I applied the brake. Yikes.
Neutral is the default gear when you do something stupid....try to put the car in park or reverse or try to power off and the car will go into neutral.
although the car is not supposed to roll backwards when in drive, i have been on a side of a hill at a red light and rolled backwards if i didnt keep my foot on the brake so i know its possible if the slope is steep enough.
I noticed that when I park the car at night with a full blue state, (so that's.. 6? bars) and I start the car the following morning, the battery shows a state of 4 bars or so. Is it suppose to lose that many bars just by leaving it overnight? The temps not that cold - about 5-8°C for morning temps.
I find that the SOC at a given moment is often not completely accurate. I tend to use my EV button as I go the 1/4 mile or so down the little road to my house from the main street. The SOC of the battery rarely moves at all during that 1/4 mile. But the next day shortly after start up it'll drop a couple bars pretty quickly reflecting both immediate use and a reset SOC from the energy used the night before. I really doubt you're losing any charge at night...if you are you'll know it soon enough and you'll need the battery replaced...you'd be the first in Prius history with that problem! Seriously, as long as you're not dropping a huge amount and the car functions normally there's likely not a problem at all.
well you will lose some charge... although i dont think it would be a measurable amount. and battery that charges and discharges will get warm. as the battery cools, it will lose a small charge. I use NiMH batteries in my RC car and the battery will have more punch when taken straight from the charger and put in the car. even letting the battery sit an hour will noticably reduce the charge. but at the same time, the battery can sit 2 weeks and seems to be about the same. realize that when the battery is being charged it gets VERY warm.
The Prius battery cooling system is designed to strictly keep the temperture under 45 degrees C (113 F)--not that warm. This is to keep it in the peak functional range and to help maintain battery life. Also, you are using a lot more battery power than you think on those short EV only drives. Listen, the SOC indicator jumps all around. I parked last night with 5 blue bars...this morning with an EV only drive down my 100 yard long driveway and then regular start up mode the 1/4 road to the main road dropped me to 2 pink bars...that's rare, but she charged up to 5 blue bars before I went 4 miles and the car had no problems. These variences are not something to get hung up about. All this hand wringing over the SOC indicator almost makes me think Ford was smart to eliminate that indicator on the Escape...people will just drive the car and not worry about such minutia.
Alright, just checking if it's normal that's all. I don't know about the US spec Escape HEV but in Canada, if one orders the navigation system (which is on a rather small screen btw), then one gets the hybrid energy monitor. Those without nav do not have the energy monitor
