Hoping someone can educate me on this. How the heck does the EV charging status notification system on the Plug-in Prius work? I'm travelling in Canada and the data services on my 'bluetooth-linked' cellphone are turned off so it can't be using my cellphone's data plan. Yet I am still getting 'car fully charged' or 'charge interrupted' notification by email (which was a pleasant surprise). Can the car still send some sort of 'data' signal to Toyota that triggers an email notification about charge status even though I'm outside of the USA?
The charging status notification communicates with Toyota's Entune servers via the SafetyConnect cellular radio.
Is the email sent to the old fashioned, antique thingie called a computer, or do you have to have a dumb phone connected to the car before they can send it? If it can be done without giving them a phone #, how can I get it to send me an email here on my iMac? I talk on my telephone (as little as possible... hate the d@mn things) but spend a bit of time here online every day, and read my email most every hour. it would be nice if I can check to see if the charging is complete before I go to bed at night and not have to go outside to do it.
On the Advanced only, there is a cell phone built into the car. It has voice service so you can call for emergency service, and will automatically call in a crash (air-bag deployment, I believe). It provides GPS coordinates to the dispatcher. It is sort of like GM's OnStar. For the charge management and locator services, the app on the smartphone talks over its data connection to a server somewhere, and that server makes a data call to the car's built-in phone to get the data. You can also configure it so that charge completion e-mail is sent to the address of your choice; the car makes a data call to a server, which generates the requested e-mail. As a customer, you are not told the phone number of the built-in phone, and its service plan is between Toyota and the service provider (Verizon Wireless, I think). The data connection is low speed 2G service, since only a small amount of data is transferred.
Great, thanks for the info! Glad to see that it works even in Canada then (I'm assuming the car's built-in phone must be roaming then here), despite the fact that Entune itself is not offered on Canadian plug-in Priuses. I've got it setup perfectly now where it will email me when the charge is completed, and my email account (gmail in this case) uses a filter to detect when it receives a charge notification email from entune and then forwards that email to my phone as a text message so that I don't have to keep checking my email. It's been really useful to have the 'text' message notification to know when to unplug the car as I am plugging into standard outlets at work and at my condo, where I'm trying to minimize drawing attention to it.
It seems like a high-tech solution to non-problem. Estimated charging time isn't very far off most of the time.
Hey folks, 4 years later, I too have this question. I just bought a used PiP 2012, advanced model. Is Etune something I buy as a subscription? Or do all PiP advanced customers get it (or entitled to)? Thanks!
This functionality on Entune is only available if you activate the Safety Connect subscription for your PiP Advanced. You can download the Entune app and use some of the radio features without the subscription.
Will the charge notifications work? I tried installing the app - but to proceed into the main section of the app, you need a safety connect contract ID - which I assume is only available on subscription
In my case, even though I bought the car used, I bought it from a dealer, and the satellite radio and the Etune both came with trial periods for a new owner.
