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Charge Management of the 2 Toyota Prime Models

Discussion in 'Prime Plug-in Charging' started by El Cuajinais, Mar 31, 2022.

  1. El Cuajinais

    El Cuajinais Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    Two
    Hello everyone,

    This month I traded my 2010 Prius and 2013 Prius v for a 2022 Prius Prime XLE and a 2022 Rav4 Prime SE. Toyota Hybrids treated me well for the past decade so I’m hoping for another trouble free decade with great fuel economy. I’m charging both vehicles at 240V with the included EVSU’s due to this community, so thanks! My wife drives the Rav4 and I the Prius. Our daily commute is roughly the same at around 28 miles. I’m getting home with around 6% EV battery left while she comes home with about 15 miles of EV range left (so call it 32% EV battery left).

    Since I like driving my own car, I’ve resolved to plug it in after I come from work and unplug it at a time where it gets the Prius battery up to 60%ish. I do this to have more electric range available for errands after work. This plugging and unplugging is not a large inconvenience in my case because of my daily routine.

    But now I’m wondering if given the unique situation I am in in which I could choose to drive the Rav4 in EV mode for evening errands if necessary, should I really be recharging the Prius to 60ish % daily? Why not just take the Rav4 and run down what is left of it’s EV range if I need to go out on errands?

    The only reason I ask is because neither car has driver memory for mirrors / seats and such and we all keep some stuff in the car, so I would much rather drive my own vehicle. But since I intend to keep these vehicles for a decade, and we are talking about a daily routine (weekdays) here for 10 years, I would like to hear opinions on which of the 2 options is better for the batteries of the vehicles.

    So in summary:

    Morning both vehicles are at 100%. Afternoon Rav4 will be 32% and Prime at 6%. At this point do I:

    1. Charge Prime to 60% in case I need it? (If I don’t, it spends the rest of the evening at 60% until the early morning when it will get charged back to 100%) Meanwhile the Rav4 was sitting at 32% and it too will be charged to 100% in the early morning)

    This means I will ‘deep cycle’ the Prius every day. And every day the Prius will get a half charge that may or may not be used. And the Rav4 will get a 2/3 cycle every day.

    2. Do nothing. If I go out on an errand take the Rav4 which will have enough range to cover errands.

    This means I will ‘deep cycle the Prius’ every day. And the Rav will either get a 2/3 cycle or a deep cycle on any day.

    I’ve read similar threads here on this subject and some people respond that this can be over-thinking it, but this was a giant expenditure that I’ve just gone through and I would like to maximize the life of the batteries. I guess another reason I prefer to use the Prius for errands is that is more efficient and cheaper so I would prefer that one to have the higher mileage.

    Thanks for reading this far if you did.
     
    #1 El Cuajinais, Mar 31, 2022
  2. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2009
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    Location:
    Greenwood MS USA
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    Three
    You list no location, so I don't know about time of day pricing for electricity.

    I would charge the Prius to 100% each evening and charge the RAV4 after that.

    Both will last 10 years with some minor reduction in range. If you need to go out you have whatever charge you had time for.
     
    #2 JimboPalmer, Mar 31, 2022
  3. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Other Hybrid
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    Either will be fine. But if you have enough EV range left in Rav4Prime without charging after coming home, then option 2 and just setting the schedule for both cars to charge fully for the next morning would be the easiest, and likely to be the best for the longevity. Do you have an L2 charger? If so, you can plug in the PP after coming home if you know you are going out again that evening and drive PRIME. That will save you some electricity.
     
    #3 Salamander_King, Mar 31, 2022
  4. john1701a

    john1701a Prius Guru

    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2004
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    Location:
    Minnesota
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    That is not "deep cycle". When you see 6% remaining, it is really 18%. That displayed percentage is really only EV capacity, not overall. In fact, continuing beyond that depletes HV capacity. Even then, it is not deep. There is still a buffer remaining. To be "deep" you would have to draw even more electricity. The system won't allow that.

    For the 5 years I owned a Prius PHV, it got recharged twice every workday. I would start with a full battery in the morning and recharge it back up during the day while at work for the commute home. Work was further than the entire capacity, so it was quite handy having chargers available. I filmed many of those drives. Here is an example:



    I did the same with my Prius Prime for 3 years... until the pandemic. Now, I work from home most of the time. But that commute was no different. The drive to work started with 100% and so did the return home. Here is an example of that:



    No big deal. All of it was just fine. In fact, the new owner of my PHV is still using it after a decade of service. He liked it so much, his household now has a RAV4 Prime too.

    For an example of the entire EV capacity being used, watch the following video I recorded. On the right side is an aftermarket app. It shows true battery-capacity, so you can the entire range... not just EV. Including that HV and longevity buffer is useful toward understanding how the system operates. There is more at play than what the dashboard information presents.

     
    #4 john1701a, Apr 1, 2022
    road2cycle, JimboPalmer and jerrymildred like this.
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