after having a 2007 Prius until a year and a half ago, when it died a very expensive death, I just traded in my RAV4 Hybrid that I got to replace it for a 2024 Prius Prime XSE Premium yesterday, and am in the middle of charging it for the first time as I type this. It's switched off and locked in my driveway. Newbie question, since all I've found in the manual so far is "when it's done charging, unplug it", but so far have yet to find HOW to know when it's done charging. So far the only place I've seen that tells me the charging status seems to be on the Toyota app. Other than the dashboard display (since the car is off), how do you know when it's done charging? TIA!
They got rid of the 3 status lamps on top of the passenger side dash board, like on the gen4? They flash status indication while charging, off when not plugged-in and charging. You can also check the status lamps on your charge cord.
Yeah, there's no proper charge indication, like the G4 had. Wouldn't be surprised if they just assume everybody is going to use the app. I usually just go by time - you don't have to unplug it as soon as it's full, but you know roughly how long it's going to take. Unplug it a while after that. If it's not cold, the green LED at the charging connector will do as a charging indicator; when cold it might come on just when it's heating. Still, if the light goes off, it should mean it's charged. If you really need to check charge, you can unlock and open the door, and the dash will show the charge. Except it's not as good as the manual makes it sound - the "door open" pop up always covers up that display, so you have to faff around to get rid of that. I think it may not be possible to dismiss the door pop up without also dismissing the battery pop up - you may need to close the door again. You don't really need to worry about unplugging it at any particular time though. My intended schedule is plugging it in the evening (if it needs charging), charging starts at midnight, it will be finished by morning commute. If I happen not to be using the car the next day, no big deal - it can stay plugged in all weekend. In cold conditions, keeping it plugged in keeps the battery warm and ready to go EV. I'd just say don't leave it more than 3 days - that's the time limit on the heating, so there's no point, and beyond that it's just an extra load on the 12V battery, which you need to start considering as you head into a week or more of disuse. (People have got overexcited about the "danger" of leaving it plugged in, due to some text in the manual pointing out leaving it plugged in isn't a good idea, and due to a fault in some 2023s that would trigger a drain while plugged in. Leaving it plugged in is just another minor load shortening storage time like leaving the keyless entry enabled or leaving the DC cut fuse fitted. But an easier one to avoid.)
I've found that the cable is BARELY long enough to plug in from my wall outlet to the car. It works, but it's kind of a pain to unplug it and put it back in the trunk. If I leave the cap on the end, is it safe to leave it outside 24/7 if it's under an overhang? I'm fine with unplugging both ends, but I have to feed it behind a small greenhouse every time I put it back in the car; if I could leave it where it is and just unplug it each time, is that okay?
Mine's permanently outside, with the plug cap removed and popped into a special cradle. Assuming the US one is similar, it should be water/whatever-proof enough to cope with that, particularly if under cover. I never gave it a second thought. Main issue is if you treat that cable as your permanent installation, how you going to get charges elsewhere? I bought a second mode 2 cable to stay in the car - a third-party one with some fancy cable management and a "fast charge" feature. (12A for 2 hours before dropping back to the required long-term 8A - knocks 1 hour off the charging time). I was thinking that would give me enough extra length that it could be the permanent installation with the box wall-mounted, but not quite. So using the original with the box loose. Also picked up a lighter mode 3 cable - here in Europe they are supplying 22kW EV cables - great thick heavy 3-phase 32A things. Totally pointless for a Prius. Splashed out for a significantly smaller, lighter and more flexible 4.6kW (1-phase 20A) one. And a bag. (I'm not getting any commission on all those links - they just had all the bits I wanted. They're a Nordic firm with limited US presence anyway - looks like they don't sell the EV bits in the US.)
Well, for me, most of the time I just drive to work, to home, and to shopping, so don't really NEED to charge anywhere else, while I'm just driving around locally. I had it complete charged yesterday morning and was able to get from home, to work, back to home, and still had about 7% charge left when I plugged it back in last night. That's good to know I can just leave it where it is on the back deck when I'm doing my local driving. If I DO go someplace out of the norm, it's easy enough to go ahead and pull it if needed, but definitely easier to just leave it where it is for my day to day stuff. Thanks for the answer, and the links, may look into getting a spare cable to keep in the trunk to use for the out of town stuff. Do you know if cables come LONGER than the standard? Mine reaches, but BARELY. Would be nice to have more wiggle room for it. Thnx!
The short answer is NO, not a Toyota OEM charging cable. I'm going to assume that your charging @ 110-120VAC. The normal current draw is 12A, so some of us will use an extension cord. The OEM manual specifically states not to do that. That being said; I've been using a 15 foot extension cord for 4 years now. It's a 12 gauge stranded copper wire and I check it semiannually as the car is charging. I've already had to snip and replace both ends of the cord; due to heat buildup at the connections. I believe that 'not so cheap' construction grade extension cord was put together sloppily. I replaced both ends with hospital grade plug and receptacle. Been 3 years now, no more issues, but I still check it with an IR temperature gun once in a while. Since your outside, you need to make sure the connections don't end up in a puddle; otherwise that puddle could get energized and someone could get hurt. Hope this helps.....
I got tired of packing my OEM charging unit away all the time, so I bought a 3rd party charger off Amazon for $160 Canadian. I was also concerned about theft, considering that a Toyota replacement was quoted to me at $1600. I have been using this one for almost a year, and I think I like it better than the OEM.
