My friend bought a Prime but he can’t charge it as he lives in apartment. The best way to ensure battery life and vehicle performance should be with 40-50% charged traction battery. But every time when I start the vehicle it would squeeze the last bit of electricity in EV mode automatically before switching to HV mode. Is there any way to let Prime remember the last used mode?
Not in my UK version as far as I’m aware... Why is it getting a plug in vehicle if he can’t plug it in? If it’s only a temporary thing while he’s moving house or whatever then I wouldn’t worry about the state of the battery too much - it shouldn’t be impacted much.
I don't think there's a way to change that. He'll have to use the Charge Mode to keep it around 40% to 50% if he can't plug in.
I do not see anything wrong in using the Prime as a normal HV vehicle, with the bonus of a big traction battery that can be charged not only through the grid but even through CHARGE mode, or descending hills. However, pressing the HV pushbutton to stay all the time in HV mode it's not a big deal... maybe a "PRESS HV" post-it on the dashboard could help at this regard.
toyota states that the best resting place for the battery is wall charge completely discharged, and anywhere in hv mode charge. perhaps the prime battery is somehow different from a laptop or cellphone.
Some in California are buying the Prime for the single occupant HOV access. This was also the case with the PiP and Volt. The other incentives making it cheaper than a Prius doesn't hurt.
