I have a 2013 Prius with 76,000 miles. I live in Alaska and do not have access to a garage. The car has not been driven for a month and temperatures are below 0 consistently. I am worried for the health of my hybrid battery pack system and was wondering how I should go about fixing this while causing the least amount of damage. I’m considering the task of removing both batteries, letting them thaw out inside and trickle charging the 12 volt then placing them back in to start. Any feedback or advice is greatly appreciated.
Scotty has a video on battery packs in hybrid vehicles. I would strongly recommend you watch it.
Wooh, wow, can’t help you with this problem.
But I am very curious about in your area what type of cars are used for taxi?
@mink
Typically larger SUV’s are used. Ford explorers, expeditions, a few four runners, the occasional Yukon. Only in the summer do you see many of the classic crown vics
Hy!
Cold temperatures are something bad to any battery. It shortens its life. Do you really need a hybrid?
If not, I recommend you to sell it and get a gasoline car.
Good luck.
@g-t
I have an old 05’ Silverado that I used to use as my driver. In the summer I was driving too much for work and decided to buy it used for fuel efficiency. I suppose you’re right, hybrids are not practical for -20 winters. I’m probably going to sell both in the summer and get a Tacoma or rav4
Question: Have this car been driven by you in Alaska previous winter?
Anyway, … owners manual: get one for your specific car and look for, How to jump start a car with dead battery? - or something like that. All owner’s manuals should have such a section. Follow the procedure.
Another question: … assuming it is an Alaska car, surely it has to have some kind of electric block heater, yes? For example, we in Calgary, Canada, can not buy a new Toyota car or truck without mandatory block heater installed. If no block heater, however, try a heat lamp, - something in order of 250W will do, … place it under the car for a few hours. I did that with my olden ‘97 Pathfinder, … it didn’t have a block heater. And a heat lamp worked just fine whenever it got colder than -25 deg. C. Best of luck, …
F.S.
@figmund-sreud
Yes the vehicle is winterized with a block heater and I believe also a battery heating pad but I don’t believe it has a trickle charger installed. My greatest fear about jump starting would be that the battery solution has frozen from lack of use and expanded. By jumping I would hate to cause a catastrophic failure. I’ll try plugging it in over night and see if she turns on in the morning, if not then it looks like thawing the batteries is my best bet
Wow, 😮 they have winter fleet and summer fleet.