Is there any way to charge the battery while not in use, so you can start off with the battery mostly charged every time? could a solar trickle charger be plugged into the accessory slot while your at work to do this?
No, other than a plug-in conversion, which is a major, expensive project. A solar charger would only charge the 12 V accessory battery, but won't do anything for the traction battery. That could be good if you are going to leave your Prius unattended for a long time, but not very useful otherwise. If you do want to do that, you need to modify the 12 V power socket to be always on, or otherwise connect directly to the 12 V system. Tom
There is a technique called 'force charging' where you depress the brake and the accelerator at the same time while in drive. But don't do it. It's VERY fuel inefficient and will ultimately make your FE worse. Just let the car do its job regulating the battery SOC and it'll be fine.
