Hi,

I just got my TCH over the weekend and still excited about all the electronics and mileage I am getting.

Last night, I was on the Toyota owners website and was viewing some of the video tutorials. I was surprised to learn that the TCH should not be left undriven for 2 weeks otherwise the battery will be toally dead and need to call Toyota dealership. we usually go on long vacation out of the country which last more than 2 weeks. I wouldn't want to come back to a dead car that I only left for 2 weeks!

Anyway, does anyone here in this forum let their TCH undriven for more than 2 weeks? How do you prep the car if you need to be away for more than 2 weeks and wanting to avoid having your car towed to the Toyota dealership just to revive it?

Ed

 

I went out of the country for 3 weeks 2 years ago and the TCH worked fine after sitting for 3 weeks in the garage (it was winter too, temperature constantly below 32F).
We went for vacation for 2 weeks earlier this month and the TCH has no issue with starting or battery after 2 weeks.

 

If you drive 45 miles per hour for about 15 minutes should fully charge the traction battery. It should hold a charge for a very long time.

I searched these forms and found this below to your question.

https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...ing-tch-14557/

 

My 07 TCH started just fine after leaving it parked for 4 weeks this summer. The SOC of the traction battery was unchanged, reading 6 bars before and after the vacation. The 12V battery dropped to 12.3V which is about a 40% charge. Not bad for a 4 year old battery.

The worst that will happen is the 12V battery may need a jump if you leave the car for a month. If you are worried about it, I suggest a battery maintainer like this Harbor Freight unit. I bought one for future use. It will not charge the battery above 13.2V, preventing the battery from discharging. Note that it will not charge a weak battery.

Do not use a trickle charger (2 amp) or your battery may be toast by the time you get back. Trickle chargers will float above 14V and cause the battery to gas constantly while gone, eventually killing it.

If you are going to be gone over two months, I would suggest having a trusted friend drive your TCH for a half hour or so ever few weeks to avoid the risk of the traction battery discharging too far.

 

I think the issue here is not the 12 Volt battery, which can easily be recharged, but the traction motor batteries, which are 275 Volts IIRC, and are used to spin MG2 and start the ICE. These would require a special high voltage charger, which is only available at the dealership. Ford says that my Fusion Hybrid should not be stored for more than 30 days without starting, for the same reason.

 

Thanks Nash, I had forgot about the 14.4 charge trickle rate for the 12 volt deep cycle battery.

I removed my suggestion you mentioned and for your charger information.

 

We have gone on vacation for two weeks and didn't have any problems. We made sure the lights were set to off and not on auto.

 

Mine has sat one time for 4 months and one time for 6 months while overseas, came back and started it up and the bars for the traction battery was 3/4 way up the scale. Unless something is left on i would not worry.

 

Word of Caution...

Make sure when you press the power button to shut off the engine, that the clock on the dashboard is off. (not lit) If not, press again. This will insure the power is off and will not run down your 12 volt battery.

This information is included in haroldo's very informative, New Owners FAQ 2.2

 

thanks