I'll be gone for many weeks and there will be no one to charge it for me, which it doesn't seem to be charging anyway.

The HV battery does not lose charge while the car is off. You only need to worry about the 12 volt battery while you are gone. Just get a Battery Tender (name brand for a 12 volt battery maintainer), hook it up to the 12 volt battery and the battery will be fully charged when you get home. That is all you need worry about.

As for charging the HV battery, it is impossible to charge that while the transmission is in neutral and the gas engine is idling. To charge the HV battery, it can be done by regeneration, or by the gas engine via MG1, but only if not in neutral.

You really don't need to worry about the HV battery charge level. The computer will watch that and charge it when needed as you drive. The computer is careful to not over charge it or let it run down which would shorten it's life.

 

Thank you. It has been confusing lately. I read somewhere on here that if I start the engine and I see it say 'READY' and leave it, then that will (somehow) charge the hybrid battery.

Then there's those at the dealership say that the hybrid battery will die while I'm gone for months or weeks, that I had better drive it a couple times a week.

As for the 12v battery on the left side in the hatch or trunk... yeah, I can charge that with a battery maintainer while I'm gone.

But I guess Toyota has warned me that the hybrid battery beneath the back seat will be dead and it will need to be replaced. Up to $10k for a battery and to pull the dead one out and put the new one in.

Kinda makes me feel I shouldn't have gotten it. But we'll see what happens when I return home. I may be leaving November 1 and be back on March 20.

Thanks again.

 

You're overthinking things. Nothing will happen to your hybrid battery. If the battery died while you were away for 4 months, then no Toyotas will sell. The only battery you have to worry about is the 12 volt battery. Either put it on a battery tender or unhook the battery cables.

 

Thank you, 23RAV4Runner, FKHeath, and all. I got it now. Just was concerned that the temps over here can drop down to (with the windchill) as low as 70°+ below zero, and making the garage not much warmer than about 25°F. Vehicles here rust badly and often you'll see a car that won't start just after a couple of overnights.

 

For cars, wind chill doesn’t mean anything. The actual temp is all that has meaning.

 

Thank you, 23RAV4Runner, FKHeath, and all. I got it now. Just was concerned that the temps over here can drop down to (with the windchill) as low as 70°+ below zero, and making the garage not much warmer than about 25°F. Vehicles here rust badly and often you'll see a car that won't start just after a couple of overnights.

For cars, wind chill doesn’t mean anything. The actual temp is all that has meaning.

When I lived in a lesser colder state, my batteries weakened outside overnight when it was about 17° regular with the windchill down to about -14°. Then there were nights when it was about the same regular with no windchill, and my batteries were fine. After that, I've been bringing my batteries indoors. But I'm not gonna remove my RAV's battery because it requires resetting its computer, which I don't know how to do. So my RAV will be in the garage.

 

But I'm not gonna remove my RAV's battery because it requires resetting its computer,

When I have disconnected my 12 volt battery, the only thing I have had to reinitialize is the back power hatch, never the computer, radio, or anything else.