I travel a lot, and have an extended trip coming up in a week that will be at least 2 weeks long. Can anyone advise if leaving the vehicle sit at the airport parking garage will have negative effects after 2 weeks ?

Thanks in advance,


Gary

 

The owners manual specifies it, but from memory it says to run the ICE once a month to keep the HV battery charged (Since that's what starts the car, it's the vital one).

 

Thanks...I do remember seeing that somewhere...must have been in the manual. Sounds like 2 weeks parked won't be a problem, then....

Gary

 

"Your vehicle must be started and run for a minimum of 10 minutes once
a month in order to maintain the high voltage battery charge. This will
maintain the high voltage battery but it is not enough to maintain the
low voltage (underhood) battery and additional low voltage (underhood)
battery charging may be required after 60 days.

If your vehicle is to be stored for 30 days or longer, the low voltage
(underhood) battery negative terminal must be disconnected. Failure to
do this could damage your vehicle’s batteries."

-2008 Owners guide (2nd edition), page 265

 

30 days without a start and I'm 99% sure you will be just fine.
60 days without a start and I'm 95% sure you will be just fine.

I've gone 45 days without a start and have had no issues whatsoever.

As a precaution, run the car in park at the destiniation for 5 minutes to make sure everything is "topped off".

The car may lose 5% charge per week, and you need about 25% charge to start the car. So parking at 50% charge buys you 5 weeks. Parking at 55% buys you 6 weeks, etc. *


*In general if everything else is operating correctly.

 

I want my airport parking lot to be at the bottom of a mountain....

 

All levity aside... think of the parking fees for 6 weeks!

I just parked at DIA for 8 days and about had a heart attack when I got the bill.

 

Thanks, GPSMAN1...sounds like I really don't have much to worry about.....

Gary

 

Hummm, what about at the top? Can you push charge the HV batt? ie get the car rolling down a hill, shift to L and regen life into the batt?

But yes, parking $$!! yikes, after a point it's worth it to bribe a friend for a ride, or even a super shuttle, gotta be cheaper in the long run, but on topic car will still be sitting a while.

Don't suppose putting on one of those tricle solar chargers would help much either, other than keeping the 12v topped, which can then jump the HV batt.