EV range—brand-new 2021 Limited vs. 2020 XLE with 7,000 miles

I just had the first EV driving with my brand-new 2021 Limited. It broke the record of having the worst miles per SOC.

Why is this so? The car is a fresh arrival—manufactured in October.

Possibilities:

• Battery needs to be conditioned by a few cycles before it reaches its maximum capacity.
• Toyota has changed the battery vendor.
• Dunlop tires are not as efficient as Toyo tires.
• Limited advanced systems drain power.
• 12 V battery needs charging, which is draining power.
• Toyota has updated the hybrid system. In fact the new car sounds entirely different than the old one when it idles. I hear a strange sound when it first starts and I don't seem to hear the usual tone every ten second as with the old one.

Perhaps the range will increase after a few cycles.

 

Yes, in the hot weather in the summer, I could get almost 40 miles per 100% SOC on occasion. With colder weather it has dropped down to around 31 miles. Last night it wasn't any colder than last week, and I got around 28 miles.

I think it's partly the 12 V battery that is still charging, partly the fog lights that I kept on, and partly the battery that needs to be conditioned by cycling a few times. More data points are certainly needed.

Nevertheless, my 2020 battery apparently didn't degrade at all after 7,000 miles. Perhaps charging the battery immediately to 100% and keeping it charged wasn't as detrimental as some have said.

On a separate note, I love the Blue Magnetism color. The Classic Silver Metallic color was kind of cold, boring, and uninspiring.

 

Yeah, but we typically get 35 miles.

 

It wasn't the fog lights.

I think it may be the battery calibration. Hopefully the battery will self-calibrate after a while.

Today during warmer weather, mediocre range (~ 25 miles) continued. I was scratching my head as the battery percentage was changing every ~ 0.2 miles as opposed to ~ 0.3–0.5 miles on my 2020 XLE.

The car does sound totally different though. I get this light grinding-like sound at times, like at idling and in reverse, which starts and then stops and then starts again, which I never heard in my 2020. Also, the 2020 made strange musical tones—kind of like you hear during door closing on subways—that I've never heard on the 2021. It looks like they've made changes to the hybrid system.

Hopefully the EV range improves because currently I'm getting more than 25% decrease in range in comparison to the 2020.

 

Stuff like that would defeat the purpose of buying a new car. LOL

The noise also happens at rest.

 

Hmm, I wonder if it is the new artificial sound for safety. I also wonder what happened to the musical tone.

With regard to the EV range, I'm hoping it will get better after a few battery cycles.

 

You can drive 100 miles in the EV mode with 0% battery remaining if you find a long downhill slope and in addition charge the battery to 100% while going downhill and drive a bonus 30 miles afterwards.

 

The range has increased a little from 28 miles to 30 miles. I was getting about 31 miles with the 2020 at the same cold night temperatures; so, this is almost normal. So, the battery calibration seems to be a factor. However the main factor seems to be the temperature. In the summer months when the temperatures were around 80–90 °F, I was getting 37 miles and I think I even got 39 miles once (on a very hot day?). Now, with temperatures around 55 °F at night, it is having a huge impact on the range. I can see how the range in cold climates can be a lot worse.

Likewise I think the HV mpg increases quite a bit in the summer.

I really like the 2021. They have done some improvement and the car steers a lot better than the 2020. TSS 2.0 is great with its lane tracking, road-sign reading, etc. Now that I have the BSM and HUD, I've realized that I can never do without them, especially the BSM. The BSM must be mandatory on all new cars.

 

I don't remember my 2020 being so loud in reverse in the EV mode. Does this transmission sound normal?