Toyota Rav4 Prime Charge Hold Feature Test & Review
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- Опубліковано 23 сер 2024
- What is the "Charge Hold" feature on a 2021 Toyota Rav4 Prime? What does it do? How much does it cost to use? That is what I talk about in today's video. Please hit that thumbs up button!
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Page 79 on the owner's manual says "The maximum charge amount in the hybrid battery (traction battery) charge mode is approximately 80% of the fully charged
capacity for the charging from an external power source." So the system won't let you charge it all the way using the Charge Mode.
Thanks! I just saw @madsbp's comment too. I bet it stops when the charging current would normally begin to taper.
James - My Prius Prime behaves the same way: When charging from an L1 or L2 external power source, the battery can be charged to 34 miles EV range. But when using the gas engine to charge, the charge is truncated at only 25 miles. I have not been able to find out "officially", why Toyota limits the ICE Charge mode this way, but I've seen speculation from Prius gurus that it might be so that the battery always has some remaining capacity to accept charge from MG2 during regen braking while you are driving. On a long 7% downgrade, I've seen my Prius Prime battery pick up 1.5 miles of charge for every one mile of coasting down the hill while the cruise control is set at 55. The regen braking mode engages to keep the car from accelerating past 60, and if the battery was already full when you arrived at the top of the hill, the energy that might otherwise be reclaimed has to be wasted by using engine compression and the wheel brakes. Prof. John Kelly of the Weber State U automotive technology department says that the Rav4 Prime has an especially good regen braking system, because the rear axle motor can also contribute some regenerated power to the battery. I can't wait to get mine! The sales guy at Elk Grove Toyota says he might have one for me by May 10th.
I would think the reason why Toyota set it up this way is because they want to leave some room in the battery for re-gen. I would think a good use for this feature would be, so you could charge the battery as you are driving to your hunting grounds, and then be assured you could drive silently/EV mode while off-road. Also, I would think it would just be nice to drive silently at times, especially off-road.
Two comments.
I have a BMW PHEV that functions exactly the same. Charging the EV battery while driving knocks a big hole in your fuel economy! I use it if I'm on a road trip, and want electric function when I exit the highway in whatever town I'm going to. The engine will charge the battery to 80% and hold it there. Beyond 80% State of Charge, the lithium batteries take much longer to charge, so Toyota (and BMW, with whom they have shared technology), limit the on-board charging to 80%. Makes sense.
Second, I have my name on a list for a RAV4 Prime. I know - it'll take a while. I'm willing to wait. Everything I've heard about the RAV4 makes me want it all the more. I do NOT want a pure EV. Charging infrastructure, along with battery technology, isn't far enough along yet.
@@laura-ann.0726funny mine will come around the same time 😅 , cant wait! I am from Holland and it will be the plug-in Bio tone model , cool 😎
Here’s my two cents on the charge feature. Comming from an Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV I use that cars charge feature to allow me to drive pure EV on longer trips when the speed is below 42 mp/h as that is the turn over point (for that car) when EV efficiency goes down and fuel efficiency goes up. The extra EV also helps to keep mpg up when climing as the EV motors help and thus keep revs down on the ICE. Charging with ICE while standstill the Outlander will do about 7,5kw/h (80% SoC) in 45min at about 0.68 gallons wich would give it close to the 21mpg you got in this test. This however ineficient as all energy conversions will suffer from a loss. Using the charge feature strategically on longer trips while driving gives me about 40mpg, and that is good on that car. I’ll have to wait 4 monts on my Rav4, but I’ll be sure to test it out when I get it. Love your vids on this car btw.
The charge hold feature is really good when doing smooth driving or going down hill, its also a good way to charge while driving if you are going to be car camping during breaks on road trips.
or also run the AC when camping, i think the rav4 prime has a heat pump too
@M J I have a prius prime so car camping more than just a few hours sucks but its good for safety naps after driving for hours
I like that you did this. No one else seems to give these types of comprehensive tests. In summary, unless you NEED to conserve battery for EV mode only driving (like in DT London?), it's not cost efficient to use the CHARGE MODE.
Jim, Based on my experience with the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, the charge feature is really useful when you are towing something near the tow limits of the vehicle, especially in hilly or mountainous terrain. Out here in Utah, I frequently tow a boat 300 miles over several 6000ft passes. Being able to recharge the battery on the fly is vital for the next pass. I haven’t made that trip with the RAV4 Prime yet, but I will on October 8th and let you know how it goes! Also (and I’ll have to look it up) but I remember reading in the RAV4 Prime manual that you can only change to 80% with the engine. Outlander PHEV is the same. Great video BTW!
I look forward to hear about it!
Good point. I tow a bit too so Ill have to report back about that in the future.
I bought a RAV4 prime while still living in an apartment in a city. I don't have an easy place to plug in and I don't have a nearby charging station. The charge hold feature has been essential for me to be able to gain EV range to keep my battery healthy and at stable levels until I move back to the country. I think this feature is necessary for this car to so flexible for different lifestyles.
Are you able to drive it around without ever having to plug it in? I’ wanted to get a Rav4 hybrid but now I’m thinking about the Prime but was wondering if I can drive it around year round without plugging it in and just using the charge mode.
Not useless at all... With my PHEV when I'm low on battery, I may want to conserve the electric and even add to it for when I get into city and suburban driving, because those places I like to drive in all-electric mode. It's particularly good, therefore, on long-distance trips on the highway where you cannot plug in and where I want to drive without emissions in urban neighborhoods. My 14-kWh battery pack charges fully from zero at highway speeds in 30-45 minutes, so the engine is much more efficient at charging my PHEV than is even a 240-volt AC charger, timewise (though my mileage drops from about 28 mpg "hybrid" mode to about 18 mpg in charging mode). I don't know how the RAV4 Prime compares but will be testing that out when I get mine. But being able to charge while driving is a fantastic feature. Your test results are very different from my non-Toyota PHEV, sadly.
Coming back to this video nearly 2 years later is pretty amazing. In Hawaii, gas is $4.55 a gallon at its cheapest, and electricity is $0.444 a kWh. I would consider using charge mode if stuck in a storm and there is no power, that way I can run my fridge for a few days.
I've long been aware that residential electric rates in Hawaii are among the highest in the US (mostly because a lot of your electricity is generated by diesel). Seems to me that Hawaii would be a perfect location for people to install rooftop solar. It's a large investment up-front, about $2.50 per watt in California. That's $12,500 for a 5 kW system, but it could make it a lot more attractive for people to own EV's and PHEV's. Our cheapest regular gasoline here in central California is $5.25/gallon (September 2023), so I am grateful to be driving a PHEV for sure. My Rav4 Prime can run on home-charge electricity for about 5¢/mile (up to about 45 miles on a full charge), compared to 12¢/mile for gasoline.
@@laura-ann.0726 that’s in ideal conditions. 5kw is nowhere near enough generation for a family of 4. Yet alone the cost of everything else.
I just paid $25K for a 4kw system with 2 Tesla powerwalls. of course before tax rebates.
For the Rav4 Prime XSE premium package which lets you run 1500W off the built in inverter, you could power an entire campsite off the EV battery. In fact, you could run a 1500 watt space heater in your tent from your Rav4 Prime's battery, and in theory, it should last you 10 hrs. The charge hold feature is like a built in generator. If you can't leave the campsite to charge, you could just charge the battery from the car and get another full charge for the night to power your heater or whatever else. That's what I plan on using it for.
leggendo tanti commenti sulla ricarica , questo è quello che mi convince di più.
The XSE fully loaded has a 1500 watt inverter built into the cargo area to make your next test more convenient to use. I use a 1000 watt inverter for my Prius Prime as an emergency home power generator. Works quite well. I used gas from the engine and have used the battery voltage that was already charged to the battery. I have already ran extention cables without the garage and house and all I have to do is run the cord to the car and connect the cables to complete the backup power circuit. Works quite well. For an hour and a half, I used 1.8 miles of electric range, which would give me about 15 hours of use before the gas engine kicks on.
Very cool! This is exactly what I want to test. I bought a 4000 w inverter but I will be limited by how much power the car's DC to DC converter will give. I cant find a spec on it anywhere.
@@JamesKlafehn I would assume 1500 watts being that is what Toyota installs from the factory.
@@dfoulkerjr Probably. Im hoping for 2000. The chevy volt DC to DC is 2kw but its larger. I have a DMM with a current sensor. I should be able to find out.
@@JamesKlafehn I believe that I read somewhere 120W for the SE. The same as the voltage.
Dallas Foulker Jr Nice. Did you buy or lease your XSE? Do you think it justifies the cost over the SE?
As always, deeply grateful you've taken the time and effort to answer the questions that were also running through my mind! I've done the LED conversions, added the LED light to the rear door and a homelink/auto-dimmer mirror from a Lexus. Next up I'm installing the tow hitch and electrics for a trailer.
It would be interesting to compare the cost of internal charge mode vs public charger cost. Comparing the cost of gas vs the public cost of charging. Great video. I own a 2024 RAV4 Prime SE.
Thanks for this excellent video on the Prime. Charge hold works very well and charges the battery faster then with the 6.6KW charger. When you drive longer distances you can fully charge your battery on the highway and use EV when entering the city. I never use the cable to charge and never have waiting time to charge. That was the main reason I decided for the Prime. You are the only who covered this.
Glad it helped!!
Nice work. Please consider doing a video on selecting a wall "charger." There are a lot of choices out there and you could discuss the considerations for buying one for a RAV4 Prime. Also, can't wait for the video on using it as a generator.
I actually plan on making a multi part series about wall chargers and EV charging. I think it’s too much to put into one episode
I can't wait for the next video where you plug in your house to the rev 4! Keep us updated!
I did. ua-cam.com/video/EuZpGNBIFQI/v-deo.html
I think the next test should be how much gas you lose while doing this on the highway driving in hybrid mode. In situations where you are using gas anyways like when you run out of EV mode and your gas engine kicks in anyways. In my wife's Highlander hybrid, when it runs out of juice for the hybrid system it uses gas to regenerate enough battery to be more effective. So if you get let's say 38mpg on the prime after you have no EV, and let's say it only drops to 30mpg while doing this, then maybe it's worth using that mode when you run dry. Then you can use another solid 40 miles on only electric
The engine and generator will be more efficient and run cooler going down the highway. I have thermistor temperature sensor epoxied to my alternator. The temperature will exceed 240F+ at idle in the summer. Going down the road, runs between 140-180F. The exhaust manifold heats up under the hood immensely.
I am thinking the Charge hold feature may be more useful on a long highway road trip. Where your EV mode mode has been depleted. Since your on Hybrid mode and still have a way to go, recharge with Charge hold while driving. Once your nearing your destination (35 miles or less), go back to EV mode for the last few miles of the trip.
That's precisely what it's intended for!
The purpose of the feature is if you want to have a fully charged battery when you are camping/sleeping. That way you can sleep with climate control/AC/heat without being woken up by the engine coming on while you are sleeping. For me, it is the entire reason to consider purchasing a rav 4 prime, because a typical hybrid will turn on an off all night and wake me up. I am actually trying to decide between a rav 4 prime and a Tesla model y. Thanks to your video, I was able to figure out that I would be able to last about 4 days using climate control, on one tank of gas, which is actually the same as using 80 percent of the tesla battery for climate control. My conclusion is that a tesla will last the same time as a rav 4 prime for AC, but possibly twice as long if using the heat, so I am leaning towards the model y instead.
When charge mode is enabled and power is being drawn from the outlet, will the engine start and stop automatically to keep the traction battery charged ? I have a home grid-tied solar installation with 20Kwh of LiFePO4 bats. I would like to use this feature during an extended grid down, low solar period.
Sorry if someone already pointed this out but if you re-watch your footage from the dashcam you can calculate how much gas or HV mileage it costs you to gain EV mileage. For instance, when you started, your EV mileage = 15, HV = 471.
When you first checked back you had EV = 25, HV = 453
So it cost you 18 gas miles to gain 10 EV miles. I think most folks can related to that a little better than all the other metrics.
I'm guessing that if you try to charge the battery over the 80% level the efficiency of the gas charge will go down even further per mile of EV gained.
Those dash numbers are just estimates. That’s why the fuel that actually goes into the tank is a better measurement.
It’s used for when you go into a zero emission zone, to hold the battery till then., yes like London..and I’m sure many other city’s will follow
London is the only city that I have heard of that has that regulation. I live in the US obviously. I havent heard of it here. But yeah, I can see the feature being useful if you drive in a city with that regulation.
James Klafehn thinking about it, their must be other uses, like going through a park ,with animals around ,at low speed or hunting maybe 🤔.. sneaking home very late at night so if you don’t disturb your wife and neighbours 😉
Only charges to 80% just like the Prius Prime was designed.
Another test, write down odometer readings each time. HV mode only on full tank. Then Full tank on HV mode plus charge mode running while driving and then switch to EV mode and use up the charge, switch back to charge mode and repeat until tank and electric completely out and see what the difference is.
That seems like a worthwhile test.
just excellent, Thank You!. My calculation based on energy used per mile and an estimate of losses (plus a healthy dose of safety margin) was 2 gallons of gas to fully charge the EV battery, that's way to close to your 1.7gal to charge it 80%. Sounds like a full tank would charge it about 7 times, toss in 5 gal or so of boat gas on site, I could be looking at 2 weeks of emergency power even before I add in some solar panels.
I think this car is amazing. If I can make it work as a super efficient generator that would be a huge plus!
I'm loving these Prime videos James. I'm hoping to get an XSE with premium package in 2021 in Ontario, Canada. I've had a deposit on one for several months. You're doing all the things that I'm curious about. You read my mind when you decided to plug it in to see if it would charge more after the charge/hold stopped charging.
Glad you like them! Thank you so much for watching.
If you drive it in charge mode it’s much faster. Like 45 min to an hour
How long does it take to charge while driving on the road?
I feel like they didn't mean to have it called "Charge Hold" but more likely the text on the button meant "Hold to Charge," since that's how it works. When I bought my Prime, the dealer made it sound like that's how you switched to gas/HV mode in order to save the battery charge, when really you just press that button to switch between EV/HV manually. From what I understand, there are performance limitations if you're driving and using that mode, so it would almost be better to use it when parked, like with what you're doing.
So yeah, it's basically useless unless you desperately need those extra EV miles, especially If you're using 1.79gal to get the less than the equivalent of a single gallon of gas (assuming 40mpg efficiency). Where I live, electric and gas are pretty similar to your rates, so it doesn't make sense to use the Charge feature. The efficiency is definitely interesting though.
Very curious to see how the inverter test goes!
It is called "Charge Mode". The word "hold" is simply an instruction, just like they have for buttons on the remote.
@@john1701a exactly. When I got the car at the dealership that called it "charge hold" and explained it as such, not as "hold the button and it will charge"
The reason and use for this is on longer trips you charge up first from home, Start in EV only, deplete the battery charge hold while continuously driving and replenish 80% of EV power and continue on EV and repeating the process.
This let's you drive farther distances without stopping for a charge as the ICE engine is a simultaneous "GENERATOR".
On top of the fact of the extra brake regeneration from the 3rd motor!!
Please don't let it sit there and run to charge.
Completely defeated the purpose of CHARGE MODE/HOLD
What you're saying makes sense. There are many that will argue it's impossible to gain range or efficiency. I need to test this theory and see if Prime can actually improve efficiency with this feature.
Charge mode seems like it's just a very inefficient hybrid mode. I don't think you'd save any mileage by running pure gas to charge the battery, then driving the battery down again. The car will regen charge the battery to 20 or 30% so it can do hybrid. Beyond that, you're just wasting gas.
electrify America or $.43 per kilowatt hour and where I live in central California we have three levels prime time is $.48 and off peak is 17 which is midnight to 3 PM seven days a week
Hey of course using Charge Mode while car is parked is absolutely the less efficient way to charge the battery. This function works great while you are driving on highway with steady speed, then it becomes much more efficient. I use this a lot as I drive on highway and I can charge my battery to use EV in the city traffic to reduce city pollution. Toyota claims about 10% more fuel consumption while using charge mode and in My Prius Prime it is about right.
Also Charge Mode will charge your battery to 80% and the switch automatically to HV mode to preserve the battery level. In my opinion Toyota is limiting to 80% in charge mode because to charge last 20-10% of battery it takes very long time ( charging speed drops ) so I asume it would be super inefficient to use ICE to charge last 20% at the slow charging speed. Toyota is all about efficiency:-)
I believe charge hold is to allow people who live in high rises or apartments without charge capabilities to partially charge their cars while driving. Or someone on a road trip. Why? Because they want the performance the combined electric and gas gives them. Power in a Toyota suv at a good price point is a big selling point. Plus its not great to leave an expensive battery low for long periods of time. Perhaps another benefit is situations requiring extended periods of waiting in the car. While running the ac but without cycling the motor frequently, which is hard on the hv battery as demonstrated in a standard hybrid in hot climates. Is charge hold a significant feature essential to the design? No, but its just software and it is a nice to have bonus.
Awesome video James - like seeing these as give me ideas for when I possibly get mine maybe. (on the fence about upgrading / also if i do SE? or XSE?).
Looking forward to your video on likes and dislikes - our models up here in Canada will be slightly different but curious to hear your thoughts. I am curious, does your SE have the light-up drive mode selector? or that an XSE thing? - something that's a little neat.
If you installed a level 2 charger (240vdc) in your home, with the XSE Premium Package, you can charge 2x faster. 6.6kwh vs 3.3kwh.
Pretty sure it’s actually 4X faster because L2 is 30A vs 15A for L1. Power is current x voltage, so L1 is 110V x 15A = 1.6kW.
I see you think the charge hold feature is essentially useless, but I have a couple scenarios where the charge hold feature can be very useful.
First, If you are leaving the car for several months it is nice to leave it at its max charge so that the traction battery is not dead on return. If the traction battery goes dead it is impossible to have the car started. If that is the case the worst case scenario is that traction battery may become drained or defective and unable to hold a charge. A Toyota or battery replacement shops may have a traction battery charger. Either of these cases may cost a fair bit to resolve.
Second, If you are using the car to run an inverter, or run A/C in the overnight room mode its nice to start with a full battery so that the gas engine does not start every 10 minutes. Even tho the car is designed for often restarts during use, it will still cause some wear to have it restart often.
It makes sense. The gas engine is over 40% thermal efficiency. I am not surprised it makes for an efficient generator.
Further, you can charge a lithium ion battery to 80% fairly rapidly, and slower to 90, and very slowly to 100% (really should not charge it to true 100%, but I mean 100% in the sense of this vehicle). Reason being, if you charge it as rapidly at the end as the beginning and middle, its life span will suffer notably. So Toyota just cuts you off at 80%, because the extra 20% remaining would have to be throttled, which would be very wasteful of gasoline and make no sense.
4 Cases of charging:
Case 1),120volt, 3.3kw charger: takes 12 hours
Case2), 240volt, 3.3kw charger: takes 6 hours
Case 3). 120volt, 6.6 kw charger: takes ? hrs
Case 4). 240volt, 6.6kw charger:takes 2.5 hours
(Canada gives you an onboard 6.6kw standard)
(USA gives you an onboard 3.3kw standard charger)
[That’s my best recollection from other UA-cam videos on R4P]
Sorry that does not make sense because a kw is a kw. 3.3kw should take the same amount of time to charge whether it's from 120v or 240v for example.
Why don’t you read the owner’s manual. I must say having looked up a few things myself it’s not all that intuitive or useful for what I was looking for, specifically the tire pressure readout in the instrument panel. After about an hour in total time I found it. It ask weather I want to use psi or [kPa] I think. The only reason I was doing this is because a warning message came on the 9 in screen informing me something was wrong and if I wanted to wanted to take it back to the dealership. I only racked up 1800 miles so far. I was able to determine it was because of tire pressure because a little dark orange light with the cross section of a tire was on on the right side of the instrument panel. So then I wanted to which tire it was. It would not show me that. I finally found it, or where it would tell me if it could let me know . Now I paid 10,000 dollars more than the msrp. It’s a prim xle. And I thought for sure it would have some kind of pressure sensor for the tires. In fact I think it should be standard on almost all cars these days. It’s a safety feature. I mean the car has drivers assist for lane departure and a whole lot of things I don’t care about and won’t use. But it will not let me know which tire is low on pressure. That’s something I might expect from A Ugo or something. Not a $50,000 suv from Toyota.
i do not know much about the rav4, but they say it is ideal to only charge battteries to 80%. so i am thinking that the engine stopped it at 80% and condiders that as being full.
To be efficient, you use ev mode until depleated and charge mode on the highway on long trip, you then use ev mode again until depleated and so on ! Why ? Because charging is more efficient while doing millage at the same time. And I agree with some, in camping site, it is quieter and useful.
I wonder what the milage reduction is while driving in this mode?
Seriously! I guess I'll have to experiment since I can't find anything on exactly this.
Is this the XSE? I have the XSE PRIME and it only takes 2.5 hours to charge with the level 2 wall charger
The use I see for the charge hold feature is doing long climbs on the highway. Living in Denver if I head west the EV battery will be empty just as I’m getting to the steepest climb up the mountains. I’d use the charge hold feature while driving toward and up the mountain to maintain maximum performance while climbing.
I’m not sure this feature is to be used when the car is stopped.But it’s a Toyota they must have foresaw that as usual and the filling of the engine has been adapted
It’s not a useless feature. You can also use it during a natural disaster to power some household appliances or when you’re camping off the grid. The RAV4 is a generator on wheels.
I plan on putting that to the test in an upcoming video.
What you need to do is change the car when you’re driving at highway speeds say at 65 mph. The actual HP to move the car will be minimal and you can efficiently charge your car. 😊. Then switch to EV when you get into city driving where the EV is very efficient.
On a long trip the first 40 miles are electric in the engine kicks in can you not hold down the battery charge button at that time? Because it seems like you could cycle back-and-forth if that would work. Charging the battery while doing normal driving would be kick ass.
Some R4P have a 120 Volt , 1500 watt standard A/C receptacle in the trunk space area. Enough to power a small microwave or small refrigerator
It's available on the XSE model only. I have the Se model and it doesn't come with it.
@@tsdr6830 thank you
I don't think letting the car sit is the intended feature of this. When actually using it Its great for Highway miles to recharge the battery Your fuel economy only takes a slight hit, its not terrible.
Thank you very informative.
Glad it was helpful!
Great video. Cool test!
Thank you!
SIX hours to charge on a level 2 charger?? I use a level 2 charger (ChargePoint 40 amp) and from "empty" (0 miles) My RAV4 Prime XSE takes a little over 2 hours to be fully charged (42 miles).
Thanks for the videos. Hopefully I get mine sometimes next year as I have put deposit on it in Ontario,Canada.
Question: Simply how much does it cost in electricity to charge a battery in full when it is almost empty? It seems every you tube video talks about the efficiency of this vehicle, which is great. But surely the hydro bill will go up. Just how much?
Good idea. I can make a video about how much it costs to live with an electric car.
Regarding James' next project of powering the house with a inverter fed from the Rav4 Prime, I'm puzzled how he would connect a 4 kw inverter onto the traction battery output? Isn't the traction battery DC voltage several hundred volts? I don't know of too many consumer inverters designed to operate from a high DC voltage. If simply powering from the 12 volt car battery, that doesn't make much sense since its holding capacity is insufficient for sustaining much of a load. Doesn't the gas engine drive an alternator which charges the 12 volt car battery, or is the car battery charged via an inverter (or DC step-down converter) fed from the traction battery? If the car battery is fed from an alternator, that would mean the car engine has to run all the time in order to keep the car battery floating, and therefore the current would be limited to whatever output the alternator could deliver. That's a bit dicey to control without a protective current/power limiting inverter. Popping alternators isn't a good thing as their repair/replacement costs could be high.
If you buy an external inverter, it might be far simpler to buy a gas engine and charge a battery wall when the solar panels don't keep up.
This could be useful if you need to burn thru a tank of stale gas.
If you charge at home a lot and stay in electric mode, you might not use up a tank of gas for months.
Most gas has Ethanol in it now, which absorbs water and starts to deteriorate after 3 months. Hit 6 months and the gas is definitely stale - it won't run well and can gum up your fuel system. Leave it long enough and your gas tank might just rust out from the inside.
So using charge mode on purpose after 2 months to use up old gas isn't the worst idea.
(I'd still fill this car with ethanol-free gas to be safe.)
Yeah I can definitely see that as a top use of it.
I swear he's not a paid actor.
Whos paying who? Can I have some?
So this charge button is inactive if you have 80% battery or more? and active only below 80%? i don't live in usa and we don't have speed limit here. I have a Bmw 330e plug in (have the same mode as this RAV4) with a power raised to 410 hp. I like to get in the car and hit the gas all the way down from the start. doing this to cold engine with cold oil is bad for the car. So this mode is great for me. I turn on the engine to charge the battery. The car heats up and is immediately ready for hard driving. I recommend for those who have fast plug-ins like BMW and they want their engine stay healthy
I think I heard Toyota had said that you can use it as a Generator for your home, if there in an outage.
I definitely plan to put that to the test in an upcoming video!
@@JamesKlafehn been try to find the video where Toyota make the statement in one of the RAV4 Hybrid reveal, but can not find it back. I believe it might be specific to the Hybrid RAV4 the have the 120V AC inverter, like the XSE RAV4 Prime and the RAV4 Limited Hybrid model. I found two article of were they use their Prius to power there home. www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/running-our-house-on-prius-power . lifehacker.com/use-a-prius-as-an-emergency-generator-5118575 and this video by this guy for his Priusua-cam.com/video/6NercMbUmXw/v-deo.html , which I do not think his way is what Toyota mean.
Hi
Very interesting video, another useful feature. In the uk its .18 pence per unit and to charge away from home its .60pence per unit. so Its cheaper to use petrol.
Great video
Thanks
Thank you for watching! Dont forget to hit that thumbs up for me. :)
Couldn't you charge it while at highway speeds, like on a road trip, since the RPMs are up already and then once you reach town it is charged up?
Yeah you could, but overall mpg is less compared to just driveon that gallons instead of converting it to E and then driving on it
@@RomanRoman-xi3dv does it change the MPG tbough if you already at higher RPM to charge up?
@@mattschins5883 yes. It always change a mpg. There is no free lunch. If some ice energy is going to battery, then it is not going to wheels.
Regular gas?
Think it stops before 100% cause of the increased energy need from 80-100%.
Cant remember where I read it though!
@@madsbp You might be right. It might stop at the point where the charge current would normally begin to taper.
Yes over 80% battery charging get slower so would be less efficient
This is very useful to me because I'll have limited access to charging
You are better off using gasoline than to use this. Its very inefficient.
@@JamesKlafehn Thank you. Since I made that comment I've learned there are several charging stations here downstairs, many no fee. So I'll plug in when I can and otherwise use the hybrid mode.
@@zi0cat Awesome! Congrats! Did you see my charging video? That should help teach you about charging details. ua-cam.com/video/EaUT8GnGCuE/v-deo.html
Any thoughts on using an extension cord to charge . I bought an expensive one that is suppose to be approved for the Rav4 so I’m hoping I don’t have any issues with it. Thanks
You have to be careful. You shouldnt go too long because there will be a voltage drop at the end. Buy an extension cord with the thickest wire you can afford. A 10/2 cord should be ok.
Only up to 80% for engine charge
You have the wrong understanding in charge mode. You’re supposed to use it while you’re running on the highway and use ev mode on sidestreets
The feature are probably made for passing EV-only areas.
Example; Several cities in Norway may establish "pollution-free" areas when the weather conditions demands it. If you are on a longer trip and need to pass such an area, you may need to charge before entering.
Yup. Totally useless to me otherwise. Unless I can make my home generator idea work.
@@JamesKlafehn maybe camping in the car. Ice would wake you up turning on in the night...warming or AC
@@RomanRoman-xi3dv If you are camping you can leave the car on for climate or if you are plugged in and camping you can use the "My Room" feature. You wouldnt need the Charge Hold feature for that.
@@JamesKlafehn as i said. If you camp, and i did in my Prime, ICE would wake you up. Obviusly if you are pluged in you dont need charge mode. If you camp in nature, and have 0% battery, and DoNT wont to be waken up by ICE climate, you can use charge mode.
Awesome video
Thanks!
I kind of look at that feature as something you do while you’re driving the car like when you’re on the highway your RPMs are much higher than idle if your battery is dead and then you would charge up the battery while you’re going down the road???
Using it while not moving is horribly inefficient. The purpose is to take advantage of the hybrid system while under a load, like while cruising on the highway. It's beneficial when you want EV on a road-trip, but don't have anywhere to plug in.
@@john1701a Agree. Also taking advantage while descending a mountain..
I averaged 88mpg using ev mode on sidestreet and chargemode on highways
Do you have the 3.3 or 6.6?
Your mpg math is super weird. You left out all the miles you drove over those 3 hours to charge the battery. They should be added to the 38 miles of charge you gained to get your mpg, right?
Very interesting 🧐
The Charge Hold will only charge the battery to 80% full.
Thank you for watching. Yeah I was probably the first person to test this 2 years ago.
$.13 / KWh!?! I’m so jealous. Hawaii were at $0.30
With solar panels though you will make more power than I ever could in upstate NY.
Minneapolis EV off peak is .045 cents.
You charge the vehicle in motion not while static.In my prius I gain 1 mile of electric for every 1& 1/2 mile travelled. Its designed to charge only to 80%. I regularly travel 90 miles at a time and there is very little to be gained by charge mode as fuel economy drops by approx 15 to 20%.
Do you know if you can swap up 3.3 for 6.6 onboard charger?
Not sure if it's possible, but the new Rav4 Prime base model (SE) now comes with the 6.6 on board charger. The earlier models of the Rav4 Prime had the 6.6 charger only on the XSE model only, but now both versions come equipped with 6.6 on board charger. :-)
You tested the charge hold feature at idle? No wonder it took so long. Try it at highway speeds and see how it does. I'm surprised you do all these tests of yours based on your best guesses (such as the heat pump test in below freezing temperatures and wondering why it doesn't work well) instead of reading the manual first. In your "Ten things I hate about the Rav4 Prime" you're expecting the car to do things it wasn't designed to do. A little time reading the manual would have explained those things before you expected them to work. Of course I understand about "click bait" but why denigrate the car for not doing things you shouldn't expect it to do.
Burned 65kWh of gas to put 12kWh into battery. 18.5.% efficiency! Not good. Keep using solar unless you are descending down a long hill from high altitude then put it in charge mode!
It might have a couple of things that seem silly but for the money this is the best car on the market bar none considering rebates I’m shocked there’s not more people............ wait A minute you can’t get these I forgot for a second. They were so everyone they had on the lot but they’re very hard to get. We need to talk because I know you have that loaded model, and I would be willing to take what you have off your hands pretty much without it costing you a penny
I dont have a loaded one yet but if I am able to find an XSE Premium I would be willing to let this go.
James Klafehn I know the whole story James remember we all know you pretty intimately but you don’t know us. That’s got to be kind of scary. I know you have the premium one on order but they came through with that black leather loaded model. Is yours a 2020 or 2021
James Klafehn omg spellcheck Changed everything I said.It’s supposed to say I knew you had a premium on order but they called you with that one and you said hell yes. I guess spellcheck thought I wanted to say leather
@@John-209 lol yeah I do have a bad memory. I see the same names over and over, like yours, but without a face its hard to remember.
All of these right now are 2021 Primes. Im next in line for the next prime at my local dealer but its not an order, they arent taking orders. Im just hoping one shows up. Toyota is sending dealers whatever cars they want to send.
@@John-209 Oh yeah. Yes a dealer in syracuse called me and said they had one but it wasnt a premium package. Thanks for reminding me, I need to call and get my $200 back
toyota may actually offer vehicle to grid with the rav4 prime in japan because of the natural disasters hapening there all the time, the prius prime must already have that as well
The car will only charge battery to 80% because it is not capable of trickle charge. It would damage the battery to charge past 80%
What?!? lol The car does trickle charge when the SOC gets towards the top. And you can definitely fully charge this car with no issues. Toyota keeps an electronically limited buffer on the top and bottom to increase the longevity of the battery. So far it looks like they keep around 10% on the top and 12% on the bottom that is inaccessible to the driver. So "fully charging it" is really only taking the battery to 90% SOC.
If you read the owners Manuel you’ll learn that it only charges to 80%
I hadnt read it at the time but I know since making this video. The car was still quite new at the time. Thanks for watching!
You're not supposed to charge it that way on hybrid that's your charging while using is not meant to run the engine and charge the battery idling still so you used it in the most inefficient way possible on purpose completely contradictory to design
This is like that classic commercial...How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop???
This was a great video. I’ve been curious about that charge hold button!
Have you received better charging times (at home) from zero since your last video. From when it took 6 hrs to fully charge your car with your fast charger. Also, how long did that charge take from your road trip when you camped out? (From the PlugShare location in MA)
No one ever does these kind of test.
as a person who works at a gas station.. having a camera running while pumping gas is a big no no.. same with using your phone while pumping gas
You charge at home when not using it. It's but useless
RTFM... This is not your car, if you don't understand the basics of using a Hybrid.
This is not my car and I dont understand the basics of using a hybrid? LOL Ok their captain crazy. Thanks for the comment anyway.
@Nick Meurs Yeah the AGM might not like it. But if the onboard DC to DC can keep up that is what will be supplying the power, not the battery. The battery would be a buffer. IDK what the output of the DC to DC is though. I plan to find out.
Nick Meurs I’ll have a fuse. 😆
Read your Owners Handbook.
avere la batteria carica è utile anche a macchina ferma , camping per esempio. inoltre per me caricare la batteria è inteso mentre guido con motore acceso , una parte di potenza è usata per muovere il veicolo e la restante parte per caricare. come lo stai facendo tu a me sembra molto da generatore di energia da cantiere edile....
un altra piccola nota per te , io sto aspettando la consegna della rav 4 prime (in italia si chiama plug in) e ho già scaricato e letto tutto 2 volte il manuale. Tu nel video invece fai capire che non ti sei neanche sforzato a leggerlo.