How to Activate your Complimentary ChargePoint Card (P.S. it has a limited life span)

If you add the $100 Toyota "promotion" to an existing Chargepoint account with a balance in it, Chargepoint will pay charging fees out of the $100, and not touch your original balance until the $100 is exhausted (or it expires). I verified that today.

 

I didn't get one


iPhone ?

 

If it isn't' in the packet with the user manuals, then just go to toyota.chargepoint.com, set up an account, and use your VIN where it asks for "Promotions" in the payment setup. They will send you a card at no charge.

 

I did what you suggested and it worked like a charm! Thanks!

 

Is the standard fee for ChargePoint stations $2/hour? I assume 2 hours with a Level 2 charger would be sufficient?

Where I'm at I have 2 ChargePoint stations under cover and 28 Level 2 chargers on the roof of the parking structure. Once the Level 2 chargers are hooked up, they will be free, but the car will be in the sun for part of the day. Otherwise my Prime stays on a lower floor under cover while at work. Decisions....

 

There is no standard fee. It varies quite a bit. The property owner can set a fee by time, by consumption, per use, a combination, or free.

In the hottest days of summer, I move the car from the shade to the sunny charger just before charging.

 

Thanks for the info on the charge fees.

Right now I have access to a L1 charger, but am a bit concerned about the possibility of someone stealing my charge adapter (even though it is a permit only parking structure).

Is theft of the L1 charge adapters common?

 

Here's a suggestion for securing your charger...

John's Stuff - Toyota Prius Photo Album 173

It's a simple locking method that takes very little effort.

 

Nice solution! Going to get on that right now.

I think a replacement charge adapter runs about $200 ? Do they even have aftermarket (L1) charge adapters for the Prime out yet? Or does everyone recommend buying OEM if needed?

 

ChargePoint is different from other charging station networks (such as Blink) in that fees are set by the owner of the charging station, rather than being set by the network. As mentioned, their are multiple fee schedules that the owner can pick from (including "free"). The owner can also restrict usage to certain users, so, for example, if an employer wants to restrict usage to only employees, they can do that.

 

My work has a bunch of Chargepoint stations in the parking so I checked into using one this morning. They charge $.196 per kwH. Why would I plug into that? I can do math. The Prime has an 8.8 kwH battery. So to charge it fully, it will cost $1.73, which nets ~26 miles of range. In total hybrid mode, I am currently getting ~52-54 miles on a gallon of gas. So a fully charged battery is ~ .5 gallons of gas in hybrid mode. Therefore, the "gas cost" of this electricity is 2 x $1.73 or $3.46.

For the Prius Prime and the current gas prices in my area, it's a lot cheaper to use gas.

 

Your work isn't making a profit on the charge rate of $.196 per KwH; in fact the Eversource rate in NH is just a little bit higher than what they are charging. If they are using an independent power supplier, they might be providing you access at no additional charge. NH electric rates are among the highest in the country.

As you point out, gas is cheaper than electric at the moment but it is also contributing more to pollution.

 

It takes about 6.3kwh to charge the Prime's battery.

 

How can it take 6.3 kwH to charge an 8.8 kwH battery? Are we not getting the full 8.8 kwH that Toyota is advertising? This is the first I've heard of that.

BTW, even if it only takes to 6.3 kwH to charge the 8.8 kwH battery, that's still the equivalent of paying $2.47 for a gallon of "electric gas". It's still cheaper to use the hybrid system.

 

8.8kwh is the full capacity of the battery. Charging and discharging it fully will ruin the batter in a year or two. Not fully charging it or discharging will extend lifetime by a factor of 10 or so.

The Prime will discharge to something like 25% before switching to hybrid mode. Something like 15% to 25% is reserved for that mode. A full charge will stop at something like 85%.

 

I understand. The reviews I read gave the impression that the plug in battery was a separate 8.8 kwH battery and that it was fully usable.

I learned something new today. Always a good thing.

I just moved to southern Maine. I checked our last electric bill and we were charged $.066/kwH. I guess it's quite a bit cheaper here!

 

Very interesting. . . thanks for the info.
". . .they can create a larger buffer, and then increase that buffer as the car ages to maintain EV range using software so that the experience is similar throughout the car's usable life. (Rather than what you're seeing with LEAF and Model S owners that have experienced reduced range as the car ages)"

 

This isn't the reason I the opinion of various discussions in this on this same topic.

The reason is to prolong the life of the battery by stressing it less. There is no evidence that Toyota change the battery headroom as your quote suggests. Indeed the manual says that the battery will lose capacity over time. Although estimates vary as to how much.

But Toyota are always very over cautious in their user manuals, so the fact that they day this doesn't necessarily mean the degradation will be significant for all or many users.

I say 'for all users' because it will depend on how the car is used and charged and the temperatures in which it is used and parked, according to the info from those in this forum who knew about these things.

Suggest you have a read of this thread:

https://priuschat.com/index.php?threads/177767/

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.