How many Charge every time?

I really wouldn't worry about it. We've had our 2017 Prime for two years and pretty much run 100% electric except for a few occasional long vacation trips of hundreds of mile. We probably average about 10 to 20 miles per day and keep the Prime plugged into a L2 EVSE (charger) when ever it's in our garage at home.

Somewhere in Prius Chat there was a discussion about running the gasoline engine and it was pointed out that the Prime is smart enough to run the engine briefly every few months. There was also discussion about gas going stale from sitting unused and the general consensus was not to worry about it -- but there were a few owners who just liked to switch to HV mode and consume a full tank of gas every few months.

 

While I normally have mine scheduled for leaving in the morning, since COVID happened I've been running mostly on gas after reading about heat and leaving a charge if not driven much on the forums. But when things get back to normal I will charge on schedule. I DO charge proactively if I know I'll be using it later in the day or something so I'm ready.

 

Yeah, my daily drive has diminished to zero for the last three months now and continues probably rest of this year or longer. I stopped daily scheduled charge for now, and only charge a car if I know I will be driving my car. When not in use, I charge only up to 30-40% SOC and the car sit for weeks.

 

I'm trying to charge for departure but this burned me a few times this week when unexpected outings left traction battery empty or near empty. No big deal, I'm not fanatic about EV mode but I do gain visceral pleasure from costing OPEC and big oil companies profits.

That said, I wish there was a way to stop charging at 80% indicated capacity. I'm thinking of inserting an inline high-current countdown timer (I use L1 charging). Anyone use a timer to stop charging at some estimated time less than full charge?

 

I just wait to plug it in if I don't want a full charge (a rare situation). I'm forgetful, so I set an alarm on my watch to remind me to plug it in. Or I unplug it early.

 

Unplug early is my goal. I just ordered this:

BN-LINK Smart WiFi Heavy Duty Outdoor Outlet

from Amazon.

It is a hassle to go out and plug-in/unplug. If something like this works then I can remotely trigger both from an app. If you don't like IOT around the house (like me) then the device has a dedicated app from the manufacturer.

 

^ That will work just fine in this application.



Rob43

 

Looks like it should work. And if the contacts burn out, it's only $20.

 

Yes, hopefully it will work. The price is right. We need this for Christmas lights, too. I have avoided Alexa and Google Assistant because it is too intrusive and hack-able. This will be our first online IOT device. I think it is OK if this gets hacked. The car won't be harmed. LOL.

 

But it'll need to be on the same network as whatever you use to access it, so that potentially makes all that stuff vulnerable. They won't get to your car since it's not on your network. But other stuff is, so you'll want your wifi locked down well.

I do not trust Alexa or GA on little bit, btw.

 

I'd like to report that this smart outlet is working well in order to "short-charge" the traction battery right at plug-in. I check the estimated time to full charge and set the countdown timer to T-minus-1-hour and the following day the traction battery is between 80%-85%. This was the goal. In the morning I just set it to schedule the final top-off at departure and everything is good to go. This changes once work-from-home ceases but for now it looks like in NorCal we will be restricted from working at the office for awhile.

I'm using an app to control the outlet and it is working well over local wifi.

I plan to buy another one of these for Christmas light control, too.

 

Thinking to upgrade from my std. 2016 Prius to a Prime. We also drive a 2012 Mitsubishi iMiEV as a second car. Plan to trade both in for a Prime. So battery discussion is interesting to me for the PHEV.

The bottom line seems to me that there is no consensus. Nissan is not too keen on promoting frequent DC charging, Tesla seems to caution on only a bit about frequent Supercharging. All others are quiet about this topic. When you have longer range, charging the drive battery to full can easily be kept at below full and that supposedly helps the drive battery's longevity. This seems to be a std. recommendation from all EV manufacturers - including Tesla.

With shorter range EVs, like our Mitsu100 km and with no ICE backup, and PHEVs this becomes a quandary. As for real life experience: We use our Mitsu a lot, particularity now in KOVID times. I keep the charge most of the time at 100% to maximize the car's 100km range. From Xmas to April she is garaged with about 45-60% charge. After six years and 42,000km the battery is as good as new.
(Pssst ... you wonna buy our Mits??)

No question that Toyota has mastered battery management on hybrids over the years. If they did transfer this knowledge to their PHEV, one would assume that the batteries are software managed to shelter them from harmful user behavior.

 

I'll share my experience and habits. We have a plug in hybrid that everyone in the family likes to drive. Since it is so popular it is without exception plugged in unless it is being driven. I can not think of one instance where this vehicle hasn't been plugged in when it wasn't being used since new.
Our Level 2 charger is in the garage and it doesn't matter if it is 100 degrees of -20 degrees it is always plugged in. It currently has 20,000 miles on it and it is 14 months old. Rating for all EV mode is 26 miles. We average 32 miles in all EV, that is same as when it was new.

I feel the engineers who designed the car and the battery management system are probably just a little smarter than myself ( actually probably twice as smart as me). Also I am not going to spend one minute of my life worrying about a car batteries health. We bought the plug in hybrid to plug in and drive and that is exactly what we do with it.

 

Now that I've had the car for 6 weeks or so...I'm still on the original tank of gas from the dealership .

Since I leave at about the same time every day for work, and I generally don't go very far (work is only a few miles), I don't have to charge every day. But I do have my charge target set for about 80min after my leave time. That will give me anywhere between 80-100% of charge (I'm surprised there's that much fluctuation).
So, even if it's at 100%, it's only there for at most 1/2 hour.

If I wind up having to hit the gas tank, then that's fine. I still have over 400 miles left on that tank . Gotta use it eventually. (I wonder if I should consider putting in some of that ethanol stabilizer...my next (ie FIRST) fillup will probably be ethanol-free gas)

Luckily my predictability of my commutes enable me to do this. 'Course, if I expect I'll need to go out shortly, I'll tell the car to "charge now".

 

I don't pay much attention to how much or when to charge. With the 10-15% top SOC and roughly 10% bottom SOC unused, the relatively slow charge rate of the Prime and the car being used daily, I think most of the bases are covered adequately as far as I'm concerned.
Yes, I charge everyday and use charge almost everyday.
I don't care where SOC is at the end of the day. I'll charge as soon as I return from a trip (as long as it's not TOO hot ambient temps) or I'll schedule the charge for 15 to 30 minutes before I'm leaving (especially when it's cold ambient temps) Edit: and I do use preconditioning when available with the plus and/or it's cold and/or hot enough.

One thing I personally like doing when it's very cold is to add heat to the cabin while charging. And if I lived in a HOT area, I'd be thinking of ways I could add A/C to the cabin while charging. But that is just my wasteful cautious side showing.

@ plug-it-in fast charging large lithium packs like Nissan. Tesla and perhaps the Mitsubishi iMiEV too, has it's own set of restraints to go along with the methods used, amounts of charge and frequency of plugging in at those high rates of charge.
I'm I preaching to the choir?