Prius Prime 2020 not connecting with commercial charging stations

I'm just going to jump in here, not to pick on the OP, but just general thoughts about the Prime and 240V charging (Level 2) I guess. I don't have a Prime and probably never will. But I've been following this forum since the Prime came out trying to understand where the Prime fits in the grand scheme of things. First thing I'd say is the Prime is a PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle). The emphasis to me is the hybrid word. The Prime is still a gas-electric hybrid vehicle at its core. That being said, I see lots of Prime owners on this Forum obsess about the EV range and EV charging. Okay, so EV driving can be fun, I guess, because of the silence and instant torque and such. But you've only got 20-25 miles to play with? So why hassle with 240V Level 2 charging. Just plug it in to your 120V at home overnight and take what you get. Keep it gassed up and let it switch to HV as needed. You're probably doing more harm to the ICE by trying to never use it. Run it all the time and let it get to full operating temp routinely. If the nature of your trip is such that the ICE will switch on only at the end of a journey, I'd say manually switch to HV early so the ICE has a chance to reach full operating temp. Just my 2 cents, for what it's worth.

 

I have never used a charger that needs an app, so I can't speak to that. But I have used some free public chargers on very rare occasions most commonly at the airport. One time, it took several tries before I gave up and moved to another charger. The trick, if you have a charging schedule set up, is to make sure you select "Charge now" when it pops up on your screen as you shut off the car. If you miss it, there's a button on the lower left of the dash that's pretty well hidden. It allows you to switch to charge now via the MID and the steering wheel controls. All this assumes the battery is not too warm to begin charging immediately.

But I don't obsess over it and I NEVER EVER pay for public charging. In hybrid mode, this car is still only a few pennies per mile.

 

Some public chargers are more finicky than others. Some you need to use the app to unlock the cord from the station then push a button to start charging. Others you need to plug the EVSE into your car then use an app to start the charge. Generally the prime takes a little bit to initiate a handshake and start charging. Usually it isn't a problem but if the public charger is having a connection issue or you're Prime is set to wait for a scheduled charge it won't start right away. If you unplug the EVSE and plug it back in that'll override the schedule.

 

This would be a reason enough not to use the public pay charger on a PP. If you don't have a problem with an L1 charger at home, it must be some "hand-shake" problem that happens between the L2 EVSE (or app) and the car? Have you tried an L2 charger at home or one that is not app-controlled? I use an L2 charger (CrepperCreek model EVSE) at work, but it is not app-controlled. No timer or any switch. It is always on and plug and play, starts charging immediately after plugging in just like an OEM L1 EVSE charging at home. As @jerrymildred already commented, you do have to make sure that the car's charge schedule is disabled and "Charge Now" is selected for this to happen.

 

In most cases, electricity is cheaper than gas. Some of us including myself run multiple short trip a day so L2 charger help to get it charge faster to get as much juice as possible for next trip.
80% of my daily driving are 100% EV.
In the morning I drop off kids at school and wife at work... round trip is around 20miles...back home for lunch plug in L2 and it takes 1h30-1h40 to get it full again for next 25-30miles in the afternoon.
Last with all the tax credit/incentives offer last few years, the Prime is actually cheaper,than the HV so why not get the Prime instead

 

I think the @FuelMiser point is mostly about the commercial charge station as asked by the OP. If it's not free, then I agree with him that messing with it is a total waste of money. If you already have an L2 charger at home, by all means, use it. But for me, the L2 charger at home cost $10K to install. The cost that I can never recoup by owning a PP. So, the L1 charger at home is fine. That being said, I do use a free L2 charger provided by my workplace. That is the only place so far I have charged my PP outside of my home.

 

Doing my second charge of the day right now. My morning trip today was early enough that L1 would have worked (barely), but that's not always the case. I have multiple charges several days a week.

edit to add: charging at work (25 miles away) is free. Home is almost free with solar power. No way would I pay for charging.

 

Guess it depends where you live—right now, public charging costs me 4.8 cents per km, while gas costs me 8.3 cents per km. So I certainly do plug into public charging when I can.