Charging Speed, Battery Capacity and Prime itis

Today I celebrated 4 weeks of EV Prime itis. Around 2,150 miles. Luckily around six 24/7 free Chargepoint level 2 stations within five miles of my office. More with limited availability. No level 2 at my home yet. Didn't plan to have purchased an EV yet 95% of my local miles are sans gasoline.

My goal is 1,000,000 EV miles. Well 100,000 first.

Averaging 33 miles per full charge. 2 charges per day . . . will take a while with this vehicle.

When will Toyota double the battery capacity?

Took 11 days before my gasoline engine even started. That was on a 450 mile round trip.

J1772 has a 6.6 KW rating according to Chargepoint yet we charge @ around 3.3 KW per hour max.

When will Toyota double the charging rate of the Prime?

Already have one friend ready to shop for a Prime.

Just signed up for electrive.com newsletter.

My middle son lives 2 miles away. We are already talking about sharing a pure EV vehicle.

This is getting serious.

Hurry up Toyota.

Oh what a month can do!

John

Blue Magnetism Prime Plus

Previously 2001 Gen 1 and two 2010 Gen3 s: one Level II and then other Level III; booking over 800K hybrid miles.

 

Well we had snow here overnight and the heat pump handled it just fine. Love having heat and no gas engine waste!

I am averaging 68 MPG on the 1,000 or so Gas (Hybrid miles) Must admit got lucky with some nice tail winds on two of the trip legs.

Experience drove my choice to Prime not to mention $3500 from Toyota, $1100 from NYS and a juicy tax credit next April.

 

Noticed the NIO has a liquid cooled battery. Wondering if Toyota or someone else will sell a module battery to upgrade the current one in a few years?

 

Okay Old Bear, where can a purchase a pre conditioner like that?

 

Approaching 2 months of ownership (officially Nov. 18 th 1 PM) Now 4919.4 miles. 2 trips to NJ accounted for around 1,000 miles. One trip to NC and other places south about 1,800 miles. One trip to PA and back 200 miles. All other miles in EV mode with the exception of unwanted gas engine start up. So by the time I stop in for the 5,000 check up next Tuesday about 40% of the miles will be EV. Trip 1 = 1331.8 miles 87.1 MPG (current tankful) Trip 2 = 4919.4 miles 115.5 MPG (lifetime stats).

Of note EV miles peaked in the 33 to 34 miles available after a full charge until heating season kicked in. Now only 28 to 29.5 EV miles. Many rainy/snowy days this month up here in the Finger Lakes region plus less daylight.

Have started to "pre heat" the passenger compartment on colder mornings using the same electric plug in heater I used in my 2010 Prius for years.
Thought there was a way to preheat the Prime Plus with the charging cable plugged in, yet have not yet figured that one out.

Most home charges are easily done overnight so for the moment I am postponing a visit from my electrician to add 220 V charging. Also what I read implies the slower the battery charges the slower it will age.

Read about the Nissan Leaf issues w/ battery capacity deteriorating so now working on understanding more about battery systems and charging protocols.

At least five free Chargepoint stations are within 3 miles of my office so if I am going out of town I stop at one to top off and walk while the charge completes forcing me to be more healthy.

May rent a car on longer out of town trips while Tumbleweed 2 is newer so as not to depreciate it so quickly.

Now I feel pain when the gas engine kicks in . . . at least for the first mile. One problem is my home is about 500' higher in elevation than my office and just 2.5 to 3 miles away depending on the route. Engine never kicked on for the first 10 days of ownership. Now usually kicks in before I reach the bottom of the hill. Wondering if the colder weather affects it? Also gas engine started up once going up a hill with 26 EV miles left. These are all hills I had driven many times during warmer weather in strictly EV mode..

Noticed Toyota now offering $4,000 cash back on 2018 Primes.

Enuff sail for now.

Just go buy one!

A great place for newbies and Prius owners to migrate.

John . . . '01 Level 1 . . . 10 Level 2 . . . 10 Level 3 . . . '18 Prime Plus

 

Thanks! The charge was down about 10% this AM w/temp of 33 degrees before leaving home and the gas engine came on; though it was just as I reached the bottom of the hill. When that happens I generally pull over; shut off the engine and restart as my office is 3/4 mile from there with traffic and the road is flat. No need to waste gas by warmingf up the engine just to park the car for hours.

One last thing I forgot to mention is I have owned a California Waterblade (now apparently just called a Waterblade) for years. I always use it to remove any water/condensation inside and out before starting to minimize the defrost cycle. I even use the handle as an ice scraper in the winter.