She has a 52-mile round-trip commute. A total non issue...with a full battery. I had only driven the car once since the weekend (see my post about my first DC fast charge for free at EA). When I parked it Saturday, it had 81% SOC and I didn't plug it in due to expected snow and ice. Wife didn't have work on Monday and drove the AWD RAV4 Tuesday and Wednesday. I drove it just to the local fast-food establishment on Monday night (less than 5 miles RT) and left it with just under 80% SOC. Still didn't plug in, again due to expected snow and freezing temps. Wife DID drive it today, which surprised me. Last time I looked it had 72%, I think. It may have been less due to the programmed conditioning each work morning without it being plugged in. I remotely checked on the car while she was parked at work and saw that it was at 36% with estimated 28 mile range. For her 26 mile drive home. I texted her and warned/reminded her not to take any side trips on the way home. Turns out she's been freaking out on the way home. Stopped for fast food and then at the hair salon for appointments (her and the female child). Fortunately both right on the way home. She's there now with 8% SOC and 6 mile est. Luckily she's 2.5 miles from home. I told her she'll get home with 5% still, but she doesn't believe me. I'll report back with the actual SOC at arrival. Rob
We had a saying in the aviation world: Worthless things: Altitude above you. Runway behind you. Fuel in the truck. The head in the FBO. Always Be Charging, my friend.
She did! I suggested she do that when she texted me from the fast food place and she said she did before she left work! Rob
Tacoma doesn't have as many free Level 2 charging stations on plugshare. Hopefully there is a Safeway with free Level 2 nearby...
LOL. It got frozen in place before, which was OK since we didn't plan to drive it with much ice and snow around. But I didn't like it freezing up the handle and the port door. Just seemed like a bad idea if not necessary. Rob
How about a makeshift garden hose faucet cover if you are charging outside. Probably an affordable DIY solution rather than an ECO-DOME.
You can ignore the mileage estimate by the GOM as it’s hopeless. I’d suggest the car should have been charged sometime on those preceding days, if it wasn’t actively snowing/raining as freezing temp shouldn’t matter if the connector and port are dry. It sounds like it was not charged for 5 days but used and the poor thing has to be charged at some point, especially with reduced range due to what sounds like cold weather… As you don’t seem to use it daily and don’t plug in daily I’d turn off scheduled preconditioning and tell your wife to manually turn climate on 5 mins before leaving if she wants that for comfort reasons. It won’t help the range though as heating the cabin before driving or while driving takes the same amount of energy. Edit: I’m also curious about her drive home as it sounds like it used 34% battery to go 26 miles (not counting detours to appt) which even in freezing temperatures and speeds of 45-60mph (with plenty of stop lights though) that 34% would still carry me 45 miles. Is her trip home uphill at 80mph? Was there a headwind maybe?
I would disagree…. Cars are meant to be outside, they just can last longer if they have less sun and water hit them. To be fair, having a frozen charge port though, does not sound fun. I wonder if in the future if models will incorporate a heating element around the charge port so when the car is preconditioned and plugged in it ensures the plug can come out? Frozen plugs seems like a good question to put to Tom Malogne… Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
What about Mice chewing the through the high voltage wires? The Mini puts these wires between the floor and the plastic underbody cover. Not much there to prevent a mouse from chewing through those wires.
ZAP! Only once… We do have problems with pack rats in this area, and they do seem to like chewing wires. So far no damage to either plug in car, however. Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
I've never seen a mouse-proof garage. It gives them a nicer environment while they're munching. After how MINI bungled the LED in the charge port, I wouldn't hold my breath. Why put a charge-indicator LED in the charge port without enabling it to illuminate the charge port to make plugging in easier? Also, the door on my Clarity's charge port includes the plug covers--no rubber plugs need to be removed to charge it.
