Not long after my wife got her 2002 Prius, she had the misfortune of running out of gas, and drove the car for about a mile on battery only. Will this shorten the life of the HV battery? The car currently has about 46k on it.
Doubt it. The car has safeguards in it. As a matter of fact, when the battery gauge reads 2 purple bars, the battery itself is only down to 60% charge. I drive mine all the time on electric only until the elctronics forces the engine on and I often will drive for 2-3 miles when I reach this point. I think you're fine.
i plan to garage my 2010 prius in phoenix for about 3 months(no driving at all) during the summer. will this be hard on the hv battery?
If you do not disable the smart key system you may have trouble with your 12v battery. Not sure how the 2010s work but on the 2004-2009s leaving the car idle for 3 months would kill the 12v battery if the SKS was not disabled.
Whether or not SKS is disabled, the 12V battery will likely be dead after 3 months of storage. It would be better to either disconnect the 12V battery before you store the car, or else hook up a battery tender. The traction battery should be OK after that period of time.
yes, i forgot to mention that i plan to disconnect the ground(black) wire on the 12v battery. but i am concerned that the hv battery may be damaged for such a long period of sitting in high heat.
I imagine that a garage in Phoenix would be less than 45 oC inside. This is reputed to be about the maximum safe temperature for NiMH during charge and discharge. This question has also come up when Prius is being repainted, because some paint shops put the car inside a large oven to bake the paint at a higher temperature. In that case the NiMH could certainly reach unsafe temperature.
