Hello I'm Steve and I Just leased a 2014 Prius plug-in last night 4/17/14. And I mean late last night. They where real busy so the wife and I left for a couple hours and came back. When we left the dealer as the last people out of there it was 10:45. So today was the first real day using it. I charged it last night and once during the day. I'm loving every second of driving it. It's for my wife/family car. Nothing but happy thoughts thus far. Looking forward to learning more on this site.
Welcome to PC & the Prius family! I hope your car brings you many happy, trouble-free & efficient years of service. This is a fantastic site! Don't hesitate to ask questions, as there are many knowledgeable people that are willing to help.
Thanks for the warm welcome. It's been great for the 2 days we have had it. My wife is already in the habit of charging it anytime she gets home. Today she used 0 gas. She's dedicated to not filling up every month. I hope that's the case!
Not a super big deal, but it's actually a little better on the battery to charge it right before you are planned to leave.
Well she makes multiple short trips a day so I thought chsrging it when when gets home made sense. Am I wrong?
Definitely makes sense to get the most EV miles out of the car. However the jury is still out on if it could be slightly harmful on the battery leaving it at "full" for hours and hours.
I see. Well I rather not harm the car. However I don't see how it could hurt to keep it full. I was told once it's don't charging it stops and that I can't overcharge the car. For the night time I'd really like to set a start time so that it's just finishing up in the morning when she would possibly be heading out. But during the day it's never "full" for hours on end as it gets used often throughout the day.
Nice purchase NJBuilder...well we live in VA now but we were 25 years in South Jersey...presume NJ means NJ as in state of NJ? (Bruce Springsteen, Snooky ...and good corn and tomatoes )
Thank you and you are correct I live in Brick, NJ which is by point pleasant, toms river ect. I'm a custom home builder and renovation contractor. That's how I made my name. Reason for my prius was simple. My wife spent $350 in gas last month in her 04 lexus rx330 and she drove around town.... So now she's dedicated to filling up 0-1 times a month. I like her idea.
Hi NJ I live in northern Bergen Co. With a second house down in Bayville, bought the PIp to help with traveling back and forth between homes.
I'm definitely not an expert on li-ion tech, but if you do enough research on it you can definitely see that batteries are happiest when not extremely full. Toyota mitigates most of this problem by not letting you charge past 85%. That is the "full" amount. But they also have taken measures to help you not have to keep it there very long either, one of which is the timer. I would try to get very familiar and routine with using it. But I totally understand there are times when it isn't as practical. Again, the jury is still out on this, but it doesn't hurt to err on the side of caution.
Hi Steve, Congrats on the PIP! Contrary to popular belief, let your wife know that the AC in the PIP hardly uses any battery capacity- so once the hot and nasty hits our area take full advantage of the AC. It's also beneficial to the PIP's battery life to keep it cool during the hot weather.
Yes I'll stay on the side of caution and use the timer for overnight charging. It only needs to last 3 years for me lol. Then ill trade it in and lease another. During the day it gets used up often so I'll let her plug in every time she's home.
That's good to know. Especially since we keep it cool anyway. How exactly does the "AC" button on the key fob work?