Hybrid vehicle air conditioning service As models become more popular, demand for A/C service will increase By Mike Mavrigian
battery voltage concerns. Remember, hybrids don’t feature a traditional 12-volt here are over 1.5 million Toyota hybrid battery alone; a high voltage (HV) battery vehicles in North America (and well pack is present that, in the case of the over 2 million hybrids total, includPrius, contains from 201 to 273 volts. It’s ing Toyota and other brands). Even though vital to be familiar with the power system these numbers represent perhaps less than before attempting any service work. We 1% of the total North America vehicle popu- strongly suggest obtaining HV training, lation, it’s evident that hybrids are here either from Toyota or from an independent to stay, and their population will increase. hybrid specialist training center. Based on this, it’s time to become familiar Hybrid battery basics with A/C systems in hybrids. While there are several variants of hybrid Before attempting any service to the A/C designs among the OEMs, here we’ll take a system, you need to be aware of important
Photo courtesy ACDC
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Craig Van Batenburg of ACDC explains the critical handling safety concerns when testing voltage once the HV battery has been removed from a Prius HV.
22 | March/April 2013
