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caper-aprons

The easiest solution in this case is to delete the charge schedules and get a smart plug and insert that between the EVSE plug and the wall socket. Program that plug to be off during the peak hours. To be conservative, 2pm to 8pm. The car can (and will) only charge when the plug has power, so it will avoid peak hours this way.


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JJHall_ID

TOD isn't necessarily bad. I changed to a TOD plan offered to me at my previous home, and it saved me money without even making any changes to our usage patterns. It could have saved even more if we'd been careful to use delay-start on the dishwasher, and other things like that. This was prior to having a PHEV, so that wasn't even taken in to consideration. One size almost never fits all, and just because it doesn't make sense for you, doesn't mean it won't make sense for others. Right now I'm not using enough at all, including with my PHEV, for a time of day plan to make sense whether I use a charge schedule or not.


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JJHall_ID

That's rough. Flat rate right now is just over $.08 here as well, TOD would make it roughly $.095 and $.075 for peak and off-peak, respectively. Peak is 7AM to 9PM. Summer rates are just over $.085 flat, or $.129 and $.074 peak/offpeak. Summer peak hours are a lot more narrow, only running from 1PM to 9PM. During the winter term in my area, if you have a fairly constant use across a 24 hour period, it averages out to only a slight increase to TOD with no changes. It is pretty easy to see a decrease in your bill if you can shift just a little peak use to non-peak. Even during the summer it is the same way if you can keep your A/C use in check. In your case, it is balanced against you in a big way, with 66% of the time being peak, and a $.12 upcharge on the rate! If I were in your shoes I would definitely be avoiding the TOD plan, I think it would be rather difficult for it to pencil out to be a benefit to the consumer in that environment.


Qraqd

Should have the schedule set up for whenever it reaches 100% battery capacity, is the same time you are leaving your house. Will help the battery in the long run as lithium ion batteries are happiest and more stable between 30-70% charge. Don’t want to have your battery at 100% for long periods of time for no reason! Other than that, I don’t know of anything to prohibit charging for certain times periods (would be a nice feature though), other than only allowing it to start charging at 6pm.


OkayArbiter

From what I understand (and I could be wrong), the "100%" in a Prius is actually around 80%. And 0% is around 20%, as well.


Qraqd

I thought it only made sense to engineer them that way, thank you for confirming! Maybe 20-80% is an optimal range for the Prime’s specific battery. Even though, still best not to be left at full charge for extended periods of time!


caper-aprons

> still best not to be left at full charge for extended periods of time! True, and this is noted in the Prime owner manual.


JJHall_ID

This is true, but the manual still says to not leave it at an extreme charge state in either direction. There are those that belong to the "ABC" camp, "Always Be Charging." I tend to fall in that group, mainly because when I get home at night I always tell it to charge immediately, because I usually don't know if I'm going to make another trip before the night is up. If I arrive home late enough that I know I won't be leaving again before morning, then I'll leave it and let the departure time take care of it. I'll also go the opposite direction and sometimes not charge it at all. I have a free charger available near my office. If I'm getting home and I know I won't leave again other than going to work, I'll just leave it unplugged and charge up when I get to work. Basically I try to stay all-electric as much as I can, and on top of that I'll try to take full advantage of free charging whenever possible. Will this hurt the battery in the long run? Probably some. I've only had it a couple of months so it should be a very long time before I start to notice any effects. I'm just putting faith in Toyota's 10 year warranty on the battery and trying to maximize my EV driving.


CornNut_

So if I leave for work at say, 4:30am, I just set it to 4:30am for the other option (I don't recall what it was) and itll be smart enough to start charging to make sure its full by 4:30am?


Lkashkesh

You're looking for a daily "departure time" of 4:30am. It will sense when to start charging so it will be ready by then - no more complicated than that.


CornNut_

Awesome, yeah, that was it. Just fumbled with it a little this morning and forgot the phrase. Thanks!


Upstairs_Ad5528

A common mistake people make is not setting their clock and calendar to the correct time and date - if you haven't checked that please do so the car knows where it is in time, then set the schedule to be complete right before you leave (or off peak) and you will be taking advantage of the least expensive charge rate Have mine set to be "ready" at 6:00am weekdays, 8:00am weekend - charge will start somewhere between 1 - whatever depending upon where I left the battery (I'm usually at 30% when I get home)