>Of course. I live in Florida. Im almost always using the AC. My main concern is the summer heat in mid july as the car bakes under the sun and the interior is 140F+ Ever since we bought our 2007 Touring about a year and a half ago, I have been concerned about keeping the HV battery cool. (See my post https://priuschat.com/posts/2559081/) Since that incident, I have been keeping a thermometer in the back under the tonneau cover. I have never seen the temperature on that thermometer exceed 110 F. This was while spending a couple of weeks in Las Vegas in June, a month in NYC in July, (there is not much difference between the daytime temperatures in July in New York as compared to Florida), and most of the month of October in Florida (still in high 80s or low 90s every day). It probably helps that our car is white in colour with the maximum legal tint on the back windows, but I think the cover does block most of the greenhouse temperatures which probably are close to 140 F at times in the rest of the car's interior. Since the 137 F temp experienced by the HV battery in Las Vegas in June, we have put another 13k miles on the car to get to 253k, still on the original battery.
Seriously thay thing is huge. Looking down scares the crap out of me. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Thanl you very much for this. You have eased my concerns. Going to check that post as soon as i get home. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Every time I drove to Jupiter, spring and fall, for a week, my traction battery, would, after a day, sometimes on the way, in fla, if it was really hot, starting in ‘05, just give mileage in the 30’s, it was usually in the 50’s, I assumed it was heat soaking into the traction battery, if I lived there I would park in an air conditioned garage to keep the traction battery cool, or to col it off periodically. Here I am in NH with a plug-in and now I want to park in a heated garage, my charge all summer was 38 miles, now I’m at 26 and dropping, and it’s really not cold, some mornings in the 20’s most in the 40’s.
It's pretty wild. I can think of two that are worse that I've been on, though. One was the Mackinac Bridge and the other is the Royal Gorge Bridge. Holy smokes!! Anyway, I'm glad we eased your concerns about the heat. It's a factor, but not a deal breaker.
I have an 06 that has spent its entire life in south Texas with identical temps to Fl (85f a couple of days ago). It has heavy tint windows and very low mileage: 51k. The original HV battery failed a couple of years ago and was repaired three times before being replaced this summer with a new Toyota battery. Using an aftermarket grid charger is a good preventive measure but I wouldn't invest in one for an original 2004. Put all money into a battery fund. YMMV.
They don't call it the Royal Gorge Bridge for nothing. My heart threatened to leap out of my mouth the whole time I was in that wretched thing. It's like Wile E Coyote's worst nightmare. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
LOL! Try it on a motorcycle sometime. It's interesting to be able to look right down through the openings and see the river a thousand feet below. I can't make myself walk out there.
