I've been using my charger timer to have my PiP fully charged within an hour of my driving it. In so doing, I consistently get an estimated 10 miles on a full charge with my PiP. The other day I did an experiment: I charged the PiP on the afternoon, but did not drive it until the following morning. I got an estimated 9.8 miles. I'm wondering whether using the timer is worth it. Not so much that it's a burden to set (it's not). Rather, if I plug in the vehicle at every opportunity, it will always be ready to go with a charge. By using the timer, I'm out of luck if a change of plans causes me to need the vehicle sooner than expected. Any thoughts? Am I missing something?
Using the timer helps you target lower electricity rates. Late at night is typically less expensive than during the day, especially peak hours. It is better for longevity of the battery. Allowing the battery to rest in a depleted state rather than plugging in right away will help make it within last longer. That lets the pack cool down in the meantime too. There's always tradeoffs. Take advantage of the timer when convenient. Others times, start the recharge right away.
I use the timer because it improves the overall life of the battery pack. Leaving a PIP with a "full" charge in hot environment should be avoided. I am hoping to drive my PIP for 15 years ~250,000 miles
I don't have variable electric rates so I didn't think about that possibility As for prolonging the battery pack, I'm all ears on that one. I too hope to get at least 10 years out of my PiP. But I thought the Li-Ion battery was robust, and handled frequent charging well. I saw some comments about not wanting to charge a "hot" battery, but does Toyota say anything about that? Is it an urban legend or is there real science behind that proposition?
It is and it does. Toyota protects the battery from deep discharging and getting too hot, while the vehicle is in operation. The system cannot control what you do with it off, like park the car in blazing temperatures for hours on end with the pack at full. There are some best practices to follow. Many are common sense. After all, who wants to drive car that's been roasting in the sun. As time goes on, the list of things to avoid will become easier to find & follow. In the meantime, you'd be surprised how misunderstanding there are. Terminology alone is a challenge at times.
perhaps you can recharge after the battery has cooled down a bit. it doesn't matter this time of year, but when temps are in the 80's and higher, it might make sense.
Below is a interesting link to a article with suggestions to extend battery life: Eight Tips to Extend Battery Life of Your Electric Car | PluginCars.com
From the Manual - Capacity reduction of the hybrid battery (traction battery) The charge of the hybrid battery (traction battery) will decline gradually when the hybrid battery (traction battery) is in use. The rate at which it declines will differ in accordance with environmental conditions and the way in which the vehicle is used. By observing the following precautions, battery charge decline can be suppressed. ● Avoid parking the vehicle in areas with a high temperature under direct sunlight when the hybrid battery (traction battery) is fully charged. ● Do not accelerate or decelerate frequently and suddenly when driving in EV mode. ● Avoid driving near the top speed for EV driving. (→ P. 40) ● Leave a low level of charge in the hybrid battery (traction battery) when leaving the vehicle undriven for a long period of time. After confirming that EV mode has switched to HV mode, turn the “POWER” switch off. ● Use the charging timer function as much as possible in order to fully charge the hybrid battery (traction battery) immediately before starting off. Also, if the hybrid battery (traction battery) capacity reduces, the EV driving range decreases. However, vehicle performance does not significantly become worse.
yes, I think you are. namely, i think that you SHOULD be trying to charge at every opportunity, while ALSO using the timer overnight to make sure you have a full battery right before leaving the house. you can easily enable/disable the timer to accomplish this. EDIT: I think I see what you mean now. Yes, if you think you might still need to run some errands, I would say you should plug in right away.
EV experiences | PriusChat I started that new thread just now to document owner stuff just like that, since plugging in right away to run some errands is exactly what I did this evening.
I recall reading a study that showed that if you can decrease the average battery SOC by 5%, you'll extend the battery life by about 6 months.
That's one way to do it but it'll affect your EV range (lower). Another way to achieve it is, to charge it up only before you are about to use it. The "Finish" timer comes in handy. This way, PiP sits unused at very low SOC, dragging down the overall SOC. You can have PiP at 23% SOC for 20 hours. It'll charge/ramp up the SOC to 85% in about 3 hours. You'll deplete it back to 23% in an hour. Total 24 hours and repeat. That would be the ideal scenario to keep the overall SOC low. The worse scenario is to have PiP charged up at 85% and let it sit for 20 hours. Drive and deplete it to 23% in a hour. Recharge it back to 85% in 3 hours. Total 24 hours.
OK, but you are saying two different things. One is that you want to keep the time-based average SOC as low as possible. OK, just try and charge just before using. Second, you are saying to lower your peak SOC. OK, only charge to some lower point, such as when the charging amps drop in half (if you don't need the full range) But there must be some relationship between the two...or not. Is the only charge up to max-5% just lowering the average SOC? Or is it worse than that? I'm not expecting that anyone "knows" the answers to this. Mike
Lowering the peak SOC would be better for the battery life, not worse because you are decreasing the depth of charge/discharge. 1) Minimize the SOC the battery sits unused 2) Lower the depth of charge Both are good for the battery life. Using the Start or Finish with the timer will allow us to do both.
