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What do you do when you have no immediate travel plans?

Discussion in 'Prime Plug-in Charging' started by Lee Jay, Apr 28, 2017.

  1. Lee Jay

    Lee Jay Senior Member

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    I'm not expecting to have to leave the house until Monday. That's not to say I won't go to the store or something, but with 6-12 inches of snow coming tonight, my usual spring activities are on hold.

    When I got home today, I had 1.6 miles of range remaining. I don't really want to charge up to full and just leave it that way in case I need to go somewhere, because it will degrade battery longevity over time if I do that frequently (this is why the manual recommends using the charge timer).

    What do you do in such circumstances?

    What I did tonight was charge up to 92% of full (and, yes, I know that full is probably 85% of truly full) and then stop charging. That gives me a range of something like 20-30 miles (probably more like 20 in the snow), which is more than enough to go to nearby locations.
     
    #1 Lee Jay, Apr 28, 2017
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i put about 50%, or 6-7 miles for pip, it only takes 20 minutes to get to 80%. but i'm not likely to go very far, spur of the moment.
     
    #2 bisco, Apr 28, 2017
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  3. Lee Jay

    Lee Jay Senior Member

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    Yeah...I'm thinking I over-did it. The farthest store I commonly shop at is about 2 miles, and most are within 1 mile.
     
    #3 Lee Jay, Apr 28, 2017
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  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    that is always an opportunity to go for a spin and burn some electrons.(y)
     
    #4 bisco, Apr 28, 2017
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  5. mmmodem

    mmmodem Senior Taste Tester

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    When I first got the PiP, I "timed" myself. I used to charge just enough for what I think I need. I used to wait and charge at the last minute to full. Oftentimes, I underestimated how much I need or plum forgot to charge before Monday. Then I read about the longevity of batteries in a Volt and Teslas and in a lot of cases, even a Leaf. IMO, all this extra thinking and calculation is for nought so I charge my car to full as soon as I get home. No one seems to know definitively what is a major factor to battery degradation.

    The 15% degradation I have is acceptable to me after 22,000 EV miles. From what I've read here, my battery is performing on par to others and better than expected. I do absolutely nothing special to prolong its life. Is it just luck? My sister turned in the lease on a 3 year old Leaf with no bars missing after a constant diet of free L3 charge courtesy of the college near her home.
     
    #5 mmmodem, Apr 28, 2017
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  6. Since2002

    Since2002 Senior Lurker

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    Besides potential long term degradation, I suppose some of the charge will drain during two idle days. Would more electricity be lost during those two days if the battery was nearly full as compared to say 20%? Or does that not make any real difference.
     
    #6 Since2002, Apr 28, 2017
  7. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Unless you really don't want to use a drop of fuel, leaving it as is would've been fine (yes I know you already charged it but for future reference...). Two days won't really make a huge difference over the life of the car (well.. unless it was fully charged and sat for 2 days). So I think you're fine either way (leaving it at 1.6 miles or what you did)
     
    #7 Tideland Prius, Apr 28, 2017
  8. Lee Jay

    Lee Jay Senior Member

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    Obviously once doesn't matter. But if this happens on average once a month for 10 years, that's about 120 times multiplied by about 64 hours per time which is 7,680 hours which is nearly a year. I kept my 2004 for 13 years.
     
    #8 Lee Jay, Apr 28, 2017
  9. mdhare

    mdhare Member

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    As you pointed out it is all situational. Our longest "normal" city round trip is about 12 miles but mile/kw can range between 4 and 6! We generally discuss (30s) next days travel plans by 8pm and charge by 0630. So I usually charge to full of I can't make the trip assuming 4 mile/kw. My wife tolerates it :). In two months ran out of ejuice one day only my so far.
     
    #9 mdhare, Apr 29, 2017
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  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    at 33,000 ev miles, i'm estimating 15-20% loss from new, and very cautious with charging. you are probably right in the short term, but for those in it for the long haul, we probably don't know.
    and prime chemistry may be different from pip, for better or worse.
    agree, we don't have much to go on.
     
    #10 bisco, Apr 29, 2017
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  11. martydallas

    martydallas Member

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    WOW!! yall are on a TOTALLY different level
     
    #11 martydallas, Apr 29, 2017
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  12. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    we've been hacking away at it for the last 5 years.:p
     
    #12 bisco, Apr 29, 2017
  13. giora

    giora Senior Member

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    Traction battery is disconnected and completely isolated when the car is not in use, so only self-discharge which is very slow with Lion and really non-noticeable in two days.
     
    #13 giora, Apr 29, 2017
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