Question about charging

You're going to get a lot of replies about "state of charge," "cold soak," and "charge cycles." If you are sufficiently geekish, there's a lot of interesting information to be had.

However, in my experience after a little over 3 years with a 2017 Prime, I'd just plug it in when you can and let it decide when to stop charging.

(Buried somewhere in the manual is something about it being 100% charged when the battery is at 80% of it's capacity and 0% charged when the battery is at 20% of its capacity -- thus keeping the battery within a comfortable range for optimum efficiency and maximum useful life. Also noted is that it's better not to leave the Prime plugged in for weeks on end, like if you left it parked while you went on that African safari that you've always wanted to go on. This, I am told, has something to do with the Prime's various electronic control systems staying awake while plugged in. They run off the 12-volt battery which only gets charged when the vehicle is turned on.)

The Prime has been designed to be used by the average motorist and really does not need to be overly pampered. Just relax and enjoy its many features and smart capabilities.

 

100% with Old Bear's reply.

Follow best practices as much as possible but don't get so caught up that it takes away from using and enjoying your car.

I'll add to use common sense too. Leaving the car fully charged for a day or two every once in a while, I don't lose sleep over. If it's an outrageously hot day, I'd avoid leaving it out in the sun all day fully charged.

An example: I don't have access to charging at home. When I get the chance to charge somewhere else, maybe a couple times a week, I take it even if it means leaving the car at 100% overnight so that I can drive in EV when I go to work the next morning.

 

Agree with others. Although Toyota recommends not to keep the battery fully charged for a long time, I don't think you will notice much degradation just keeping the charged battery for a day or two. That being said, I am in the same boat as you are. When I had a daily commute pre-COVID, I charged my car every night on schedule. Now, I am working from home and have no daily drive. I keep my car charged at 30-40% most of the time and only charge it fully if I know I will be driving soon after the charge is completed. This way, I have at least 10-15 miles of EV on the occasion when I have to drive a car out of the routine.

 

Late to the party. Just found this.

I have an L2 charger so total charging time is about 1:50. When I get into situations like that, I try to leave the car at about 40-50% charge. That way, if I need to go someplace, and that SoC isn't enough, it won't take long to get it up to 90-95% or more. The charge rate tapers off as it fills, so that last 5% of charge takes a lot longer than the first 5%. As I recall, if I unplug when it shows 20 minutes left, it'll be at least 95% charged.

 

Hello
Not sure if this the the right place to post. I am new to this forum as my Prius Prime is only 1 month old.

My question is about charging. I can set my charging timer at night and that part is easy but I am wondering about leaving my Prime charged at work all day long. I have a charge station available to me in the morning so I can fully recharge at work but it will sit at 100% charge for about 6 hours. After it is fully charged I need to move it to a different parking spot. Is this bad for my car?

I have read various thing about trying to keep the battery off the extremes (100 or 0% charge ) for long periods of time but I have never seen a number or specific time. What is a long period of time? 10 mInutes, 1 hour, 1 day, 1 month?

Thanks

 

Welcome. Congratulations.

Charging when you get to work and leaving it with a full charge the rest of the day isn't the best thing to do to the battery. Is it possible to move the car after lunch and let it charge at the end of they day? That would help the battery last longer.

On the other hand, there are folks who don't set a schedule and they just plug it in when they get home and let is sit with a full charge all night every night.

That's a great question and it's been debated for years. Toyota has never answered it. That's probably because "long time" is a continuum. It's like, "How dark is dark?" or "How bright is bright?" One hour fully charged is better than two hours fully charged, and that's better than four hours, and so on. No one knows where to draw the line because there is no line.