Someone's battery was dead at the aiport and they said jumpstart was different; it was not instant charge but 30 minute slow charge. Is this true? Can most tow trucks handle that?
What's different about a Prius that needs a jumpstart compared to a regular car is that if you accidentally reverse the terminal you can do $10K in damage to the car... And yes a 30 minute trickle charge to the battery works, but you can jumpstart the car normally as well. Just don't get how you connect to the terminals wrong!
Your Prius has 3 main batteries 1) The HV battery is unlikely to completely discharge, but if it did, you need to tow your car to a dealer. Even they may not have a charger, they may need to have it shipped from Regional. 2) the 12 volt battery is small, so charge it from a non running car. Be very careful about the jumpers, wrong polarity can cause multiple thousands of damage to parts. My advice would be to replace the 12 volt if it is worn down to needing a charge. 3) the Fob battery is under $5 and is a common watch battery.
Use 8 D cells in series to jump start it. They won't supply enough current to do damage (at least for alkaline D cells) even if connected backwards.
If you do that with a discharged 12V battery still connected, I question whether the D cells could supply enough current to both be charging the 12V battery and raise the voltage enough to power on the car. Undoubtedly, it depends on just how far discharged the battery is. To the OP; you can jump start a Prius from anything. Hook up the cables, press the power button. No need to rev the other car's engine, or even let it charge first. Once the Ready light is on, disconnect the cables; the HV battery is charging the 12V battery even before the engine comes on. The engine is started from the HV battery, not the 12V battery; the 12V battery just powers on all the computers. (However, if the 12V battery is dead, the computers can't power on, and thus the HV battery can't be enabled and the engine can't be started.) The reverse is not true; because the Prius has a small 12V battery, and because the 12V system is being supplied through a DC/DC converter from the HV battery, it can damage the Prius to jump start another car; the converter can't safely supply enough power to crank the engine on the other car. And as with any car, damage can occur while jumping or being jumped. On the Prius, it can be especially expensive, since electronics are deeply integrated into the drive system, so many owners are overly cautious, and may prefer to use a battery charger, many of which can detect reversed polarity, overcurrent, or other fault conditions.
