What about jump starting a hybrid car? The complexity of today’s hybrid cars, even cars like the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius with its petrol engine and electric power means that a roadside mechanic repair is no longer easily possible. Owning a hybrid means that dealing with a dead hybrid battery or empty fuel tank gets much more complicated.
Here are some tips that we can share with you.
- Turn off the engine on the donor/assisting car that has come to assist you. Be sure to turn off anything that runs on electricity as well such as the radio, air conditioning and any GPS unit connected in both cars. The surge of power could damage the electronics that run these features.
- Open the hood of each car and make sure the cars are close to each other for the batteries of each car in reach for the cable you have.
- Connect one end of the jumper cables to the positive terminal on the hybrid vehicle. Clamp the other end of the same colored cable to the positive terminal of the working car. Red is always positive and black is always negative.
- Clamp the end of the other jumper cable to the negative terminal of the working car. On a Prius, connect the remaining end on an unpainted metal strip on the car. For a Honda, there is a grounding strap, generally located toward the front of the engine compartment. Check the owner’s manual if you are unsure how to locate the grounding strap (pictured below).
- Start the working vehicle and let it run for a few minutes. Now start your hybrid car.
- Remove the jumper cables, carefully, in the opposite order you connected them.
Drive your hybrid for at least 15 minutes before switching of and see if it restarts. If it does not then you need a brand new battery. Repeat process and drive to a battery supplier/dealer/workshop immediately.
