I haven't received my new THC yet but I'm quite concerned to hear that it possibly needs to be started every couple of weeks to keep it operational. Is this true, or can I still do my winter snowbird thing, i.e. go away for several months without any problems? I would like to come back to a vehicle (as in the past) that does not have to be towed to a Toyota dealer to be rejuvenated! Is there a way to "mothball" the car before I go?

PS I have enough trouble trying to find a caregiver for our plants & cats!

It should be fine for a month or two. The service manual tells dealers to start their invenventoried cars every several months for 30 minutes to keep the 12volt and traction battery charged. You could get a battery "tender" which is a trickle charger for the 12volt but that would do nothing to keep the traction battery (the big high voltage bettery charged). My gut feeling is the traction battery can go a much longer interval before being depleted based on my Prius experiences.
YMMV.
J

If I was going south for winter I would take my car with me, especially TCH, otherwise I would miss it too much . Now, seriously if I was you I would drive the car right before the trip and made sure the traction battery shows full charge and then disconnect 12V battery. That should be good for about 6 months give or take few weeks. I would also try to look on the internet for winterizing tips, so the car doesn't rust too much, especially disc breaks (those get rusted even after only one day outside in humid air) etc. I wish I could leave the winter behind and watch horror winter stories from North on TV.

There will be info in your owner's manual on proper care and feeding for that situation.

- Shannon (Geeky, Wild Texan)

Paul,

Drop it off with me. I'll be happy to babysit it for the winter.

I researched this a month ago as I travel overseas a lot. if the large battery is fully charged it will last 3 months or more, if in doubt or if gone for a longer period, my shop
manual shows the large battery disconnect. (orange connector) just pull it out and the battery is isolated.(wear rubber insulated gloves). By the way when the orange connector is disconnected you must wait at least 10 min for the capicitors to power down before doing any repair work on the high voltage system. Small battery it would be best to use a battery tender as leaving it unhooked will cause all memory systems to be reset.

TCH-43mpg
VW TDI--48
08 LS 600 HL-20
08 LX 470-16