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I took my Rav4P back to the midwest from CO recently and I'm happy to report that it is quite comfortable to sleep in. I slept in Nebraska on the way home and while it wasn't extremely roomy, it was fine for a cap nap at a rest stop. I was alone and was carrying a small amount of gear but I'm over 6' tall. With a little planning, it would be fine for 2. It's certainly not van-life capable but it does a lot of things well and I'm liking it a lot.
 
goldbrick said:
I took my Rav4P back to the midwest from CO recently and I'm happy to report that it is quite comfortable to sleep in. I slept in Nebraska on the way home and while it wasn't extremely roomy, it was fine for a cap nap at a rest stop. I was alone and was carrying a small amount of gear but I'm over 6' tall. With a little planning, it would be fine for 2. It's certainly not van-life capable but it does a lot of things well and I'm liking it a lot.

Not sure how long it is from the RAV4P's tailgate to the back of front seats, but my Forester is shorter overall (175.2" vs. (180.9"), and I (6'0") can sleep in it stretched out lengthwise. I slide the front seats all the way forward and tilt them forward, and my head goes between them and lies on the padded front center console/armrest. The stock console was too low to be level with the forward edge of the back of the folded rear seats, so I got the optional console which added an extra 'story' to the console (and some more storage space), and then it was level. Before i got the new console I just used a pillow on top of the console and under my pad.

Also, depending on how wide the gap is between the top of the folded rear seats and the console, it's usually a good idea to extend and usually reverse the rear seat headrests to provide support for your torso. The above steps plus my full-length Thermarest mattress allow me to fully stretch out lengthwise with adequate support. Mostly I sleep fetal, but it's nice to be able to move around. Note that this doesn't work for two in my car, unless the second person's a lot shorter and you're very friendly. I'm curious to know if this is what you did (or anticipate doing) with the Prime.
 
Probably so. My wife is quite a bit shorter than me and if it was someone else we'd probably just take turns driving or do something else. In normal circumstances I just sleep on the ground outside but if it's raining or you're on the interstate in Nebraska that's not a great option. It was comfortable and I wasn't sore when I woke up but I only slept for about 4 hours.

In the future, I think having something to fill the hole between the front seat and rear seats would help. I made do but it wasn't ideal. There are air mattresses tailored to different cars that have a pillow to fill this space as well as an air mattress that covers the entire bed but that seems like overkill to me. I had a Thermarest and that was fine although filling the gap in front of the rear seats would be useful.
 
goldbrick said:
Probably so. My wife is quite a bit shorter than me and if it was someone else we'd probably just take turns driving or do something else. In normal circumstances I just sleep on the ground outside but if it's raining or you're on the interstate in Nebraska that's not a great option. It was comfortable and I wasn't sore when I woke up but I only slept for about 4 hours.

In the future, I think having something to fill the hole between the front seat and rear seats would help. I made do but it wasn't ideal. There are air mattresses tailored to different cars that have a pillow to fill this space as well as an air mattress that covers the entire bed but that seems like overkill to me. I had a Thermarest and that was fine although filling the gap in front of the rear seats would be useful.


Does the Prime have a reasonably substantive tunnel in the rear? Several pillows draped over it would work, although I suppose you could build a box to suit if the floor's flat. In the latter case, I'd probably just flip over a milk crate or whatever's handy.

Like you I tend to only sleep in the car when the weather's inclement and I don't want to deal with packing up with everything wet/icy, or when the location's not conducive to sleeping outside, but it's nice to have the option of sleeping in when it only requires a short conversion. Ideal for me would have been the Honda Element, as it had an absolutely flat floor with a waterproof cover, and (only) 2 individual rears seats that could be independently laid our flat and then flipped up against each side wall. AFAIK no one else has ever used that arrangement (you only have four seats, not an issue for me). Not sure if it required the rear suicide doors with front doors overlapping them to make it work, but they were a bit of a pain, as you had to open the front door first to open the rear door. Also, until they moved the front seat belt upper anchors from the door frame to the outboard top of the front seat in the 2007 model year, to let someone out of the rear the person in the front had to unbuckle before they opened the front door.

Anyway, please give us the occasional report on how it works for you, as I think you're the first RAV4 Prime owner here. If I were willing to buy an PHEV as an interim car while waiting for a ZEV, the Prime's probably the closest to meeting my other requirements at the moment.
 
With the rear seats down there is a slight incline on the back of the seats but that wasn't an issue for me. The gap between the rear and front seats is big and needs something to fill it. Otherwise, the back is quite flat. I've heard if you take the bottom cushion of the rear seats out the backs of the rear seats will lay flat but that's not worth the effort for me. The one thing I'd do before taking another trip like this would be to find something to fill the hole between the rear and front seats. I made do but it's a big space and having something tailor made for the space would help.
 
GRA said:
On one such trip a few years back I noted gas prices: Oakdale, $3.68/gal. Lee Vining, $4.90. Bridgeport, $5.10. I'm very glad my car's range allows me to avoid paying for most and usually all of my gas at mountain monopoly prices.
Since Lee Vining has been posted a bunch (a town I'd never heard of until MNL), a FB friend of mine pointed to https://www.advisorstream.com/read/think-gas-prices-are-too-high-in-this-california-county-a-gallon-costs-6/?c=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJub2RlX2lkIjo4OTY4LCJwcmV2aWV3IjpmYWxzZSwiY29tbV9pZCI6NDg5MzgxOCwiZGVzdF9pZCI6NjY1Njk4NCwicmVhZGVyX2lkIjpudWxsfQ.Q5H79Uuu-mIptBaxZTElQB9Szgj4CZzPpC_5-AvBeCQ, showing $6.09/gal for regular there in Nov 2021.
 
cwerdna said:
GRA said:
On one such trip a few years back I noted gas prices: Oakdale, $3.68/gal. Lee Vining, $4.90. Bridgeport, $5.10. I'm very glad my car's range allows me to avoid paying for most and usually all of my gas at mountain monopoly prices.
Since Lee Vining has been posted a bunch (a town I'd never heard of until MNL), a FB friend of mine pointed to https://www.advisorstream.com/read/think-gas-prices-are-too-high-in-this-california-county-a-gallon-costs-6/?c=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJub2RlX2lkIjo4OTY4LCJwcmV2aWV3IjpmYWxzZSwiY29tbV9pZCI6NDg5MzgxOCwiZGVzdF9pZCI6NjY1Njk4NCwicmVhZGVyX2lkIjpudWxsfQ.Q5H79Uuu-mIptBaxZTElQB9Szgj4CZzPpC_5-AvBeCQ, showing $6.09/gal for regular there in Nov 2021.

Unbelievable! and I'm complaining because gas prices are over $3/gallon in almost every place in my town other than Costco and Sams where they sell for basically cost and their prices are currently $2.65 and dropping. It's my belief gas stations other than Costco and Sams are taking advantage of lower costs to gouge people and as long as stations other than Sams and Costco stay, they are all making more money.
I shouldn't really care much a lot about gas prices and at times I'd like it to be $5/gallon so all the drivers in my state who drive large SUVs and pickups feel the pain and maybe might think of switching to more fuel-efficient vehicles but I don't like it when stations who say they basically break even on gas and instead make their money on conveniences, decide to all stick together and gouge. Of course they might also lose money on all the drive-offs that my local Circle-K said they get/day and while more and more stations are going to Pay-at-the-pump, the majority still allow you to pay inside and those get burned by dishonest people!
 
cwerdna said:
GRA said:
On one such trip a few years back I noted gas prices: Oakdale, $3.68/gal. Lee Vining, $4.90. Bridgeport, $5.10. I'm very glad my car's range allows me to avoid paying for most and usually all of my gas at mountain monopoly prices.
Since Lee Vining has been posted a bunch (a town I'd never heard of until MNL), a FB friend of mine pointed to https://www.advisorstream.com/read/think-gas-prices-are-too-high-in-this-california-county-a-gallon-costs-6/?c=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJub2RlX2lkIjo4OTY4LCJwcmV2aWV3IjpmYWxzZSwiY29tbV9pZCI6NDg5MzgxOCwiZGVzdF9pZCI6NjY1Njk4NCwicmVhZGVyX2lkIjpudWxsfQ.Q5H79Uuu-mIptBaxZTElQB9Szgj4CZzPpC_5-AvBeCQ, showing $6.09/gal for regular there in Nov 2021.
On my first trip out west in 1973, when gas was usually around 29 cents per gallon, it was 39 cents in Lee Vining. Nothing new here.
 
I've had a R4P since early January 2021 and have over 10K miles on it. Overall in pure BEV mode I get about 45-50 miles around town. and gas mileage I average between 155 MPG and 120 MPG. So far the car has no issues and no warranty issues.

Toyota-RAV4P-EV.JPG
 
I don't believe a R4P gets > 100 mpg in HV mode. I have one too and I got about 40 mpg while traveling 75+ mph across NE. I think the dash readout that shows MPG puts the EV miles into the numerator so the more you drive in EV mode, the higher the displayed MPG will be.

BTW, my indicated EV efficiency just dropped to 3.8 m/kWh. I was in the 4's for quite a while but with the cold weather it's dropping fast.
 
jjeff said:
Unbelievable! and I'm complaining because gas prices are over $3/gallon in almost every place in my town other than Costco and Sams where they sell for basically cost and their prices are currently $2.65 and dropping. It's my belief gas stations other than Costco and Sams are taking advantage of lower costs to gouge people and as long as stations other than Sams and Costco stay, they are all making more money.
I shouldn't really care much a lot about gas prices and at times I'd like it to be $5/gallon so all the drivers in my state who drive large SUVs and pickups feel the pain and maybe might think of switching to more fuel-efficient vehicles
FWIW, the former Fuel Gauge Report, now just at https://gasprices.aaa.com/ says the avg price of regular in CA is $4.686 per https://gasprices.aaa.com/?state=CA.

We still have a fair amount of battering ram of death class SUVs and trucks although probably fewer than many years ago. It used to be I'd see a lot more Ford Expeditions + GM BRoDs (e.g. Yukons, Tahoes, Ice Capades (a nickname for them), etc.)
 
goldbrick said:
I don't believe a R4P gets > 100 mpg in HV mode.

Your average MPG is based on what your driving environment is. If your driving is predominately local and the R4P is operated as primarily a BEV when in HV mode you will get MPG numbers like I do.

But if you drive in a rural, or highway mode where the pure battery mode is exhausted quickly then your MPG numbers will drop to what you experience. Last time we drove to LA our RT average was 78.76 MPG, which was pretty close to our last Yosemite trip and local use that yielded 77.69 MPG. It all depends on the use case environment if you get average hybrid vehicle mileage, or true Hypermile range.
 
OrientExpress said:
I've had a R4P since early January 2021 and have over 10K miles on it. Overall in pure BEV mode I get about 45-50 miles around town. and gas mileage I average between 155 MPG and 120 MPG. So far the car has no issues and no warranty issues.
I'm still waiting for mine :cry:
Were a little more than halfway to the 24 months I was quoted when I put $1000 down at my local Toyota dealership and truthfully now that I just purchased new "winter" tires (Crossclimates) on our '07 Prius I'm kind of hoping it doesn't come in until the spring to save a salty MN winter. We had a false alarm a couple of months saying "our" RAV4 Prime was being built in Japan, only to find out it was nothing like we ordered, wrong color, wrong trim and wrong upgrades :roll:
Looking forward to that "no warranty issues" my previous Toyotas have been known for, I always say I had more "warranty issues" with our Nissan(Leaf) than I ever had with our Toyotas, well up to 10 years anyway.
My wife will primarily driving the Rav4 Prime and her work commutes are generally 20-80 miles so hopefully she'll be able to take good advantage of the battery and get close to 100mpg on the ICE, well average anyway figuring the first EV range using no gas. I'll be happy to get 40mpg on our long trips for example to Canada which is around 400 miles one way with no real opportunity to charge other than at our destination.
 
Whoa! almost a year without a post to this thread whose vehicle has a current 3-4yr waiting list, weird.
Anyway, we finally got our SE about a month ago, basically what we ordered but lots more expensive, like $10k :(
First we lost(or it's no longer available) the $7.5k tax rebate(thanks politicians!) that we would have been able to claim all. Next, while the base price didn't go up that much, to get our "must" feature, a heated steering wheel, we were now forced to get a F*ing sunroof and a few other features we didn't really care about. See when we put down our $1k 2+ years ago we could order something called a "cold weather package" which included our heated steering wheel along with rear heated seats(nice but nothing we'd pay a lot for). Well last year? they dropped that package and rolled it into the F*ing sunroof package so it went from $600 to almost $1700 :evil:
Our base SE with the F*ing sunroof also included about $1k worth of "extras" we didn't really want and wouldn't have paid for but were forced to(if we wanted a Rav4 Prime). Now I'd have probably paid $120-150 for WeatherTech-type floor mats and the OEM Toyota ones are nice but pretty much everything else we'd have skipped. At least the dealer wasn't too pushy when it came to the inevitable "extended" warranty schpiel, which I said NO to once and it was never brought up again.

Well other than paying $10k more than I wanted, it seems to be a decent vehicle. The color is called Blueprint and it's pretty decent, better than black or white for sure! So far this is what I like and dislike and note as the driver of the vehicle seems to be driving a ton(like ~100 miles/day lately) we'd probably have been better with a 200-mile EV but those are even harder to come by(no matter what the media seems to suggest) I was told a real SUV and not a glorified hatchback car, something like the BRZ has an even longer waitlist than our Rav4. The media likes to suggest there are lots of EV to choose from but again this is a LIE, most are vaporware or even more expensive than our $50k Rav4 prime with it's 35?? mile EV range. The reason we when with a PHEV is I thought 90%+ of our driving could be EV and we'd have the ICE for our twice yearly >200 mile road trips. Well that isn't what I'm seeing and since getting the Rav4 prime I've had to fill it up almost as much as our '07 Prius that got 40-45mpg vs the Primes ~30 mpg I'd guess, she's for sure not getting it's ICE EPA which is close to 40 mpg. Again the EV range is less than 35 with heat and the driving she does.

Pluses-
Nice high seating position and very secure driving vehicle in all kinds of inclement weather, much better than the Prius even with snow tires. Note as soon as the Primes tires wear out I'm going to put a set of Crossclimate tires for even better snow/ice handling.
Ability to tow but need to purchase a receiver hitch.
Heatpump heater.
Cloth seats are nice, was forced to get cheaper SE to avoid the forced leather seating.
Steering wheel doesn't cycle(get hot then cool) like our Leafs, just one temp setting but like it doesn't cycle. Also unlike the Leaf the steering wheel hasn't turned off yet. We leave it on 100% of the time in the winter and the Leaf would turn it off every 10-20? restarts, very annoying.
LED headlights that have a very abrupt height range, like it stops and one side of the line is bright and the other almost dark, I'm sure other drivers appreciate this as to not get blinded by the quite bright headlights.
Looks-a pretty nice looking vehicle and real buttons, couldn't stand a vehicle like Tesla or the Mustang Mach-E and it's everything on the tablet design, give me buttons and switches!

Dislikes so far-EV range, was hoping for 40+ miles as EPA but again so far we've been lucky to get 35 before the ICE kicks in.
ICE MPG-I was hoping for a better than EPA 40mpg but with lots of heater use we can't even get EPA of 38, hopefully trips will be better??
INCREDIBLY loud forward and even worse reverse pedestrian warning sounds. If I wanted a vehicle louder than a ICE I'd have purchased an ICE, in contrast, the Leaf is SO much nicer. The Rav4's sound can easily be heard inside the vehicle, unless we floor it we never hear our 15-year-old Prius's ICE. The Rav4's noise is very annoying, not a hum like our Leafs or a high-tech sound like my daughter's PHEV Ionic, I'm going to have to do some research on muting it or even disconnecting it, it's ANNOYING.
Charge port locks during and after charging and no easy way I see to disable this. We charge in a locked garage and never lock the car in the garage but I'm forced to open the door and push the unlock button all the time just to remove the connector after it's finished charging, again annoying but similar to my daughter's PHEV Ionic.
Pathetically slow L2 charge speed. I mean I've had 30a L2 charging from my '13 Leaf but the charger on all but the top of the top of the line($60k+) Rav4 can only muster 16a(3.3k :evil: ) and as it has a 16k battery that we have to plug in all the time to help keep it in EV mode, that double speed L2 would come in real handy, shame on Toyota!
The steering wheel heater-only heats on a relatively narrow band at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock, I mean how much extra would it have cost to heat the whole F*ing steering wheel like the Leaf.......at least the Rav4 isn't one of those crappy non-round steering wheels, god I hate those!
Catalytic converter is about as easy to steal as it gets! Unlike my daughters never CRV which they mount directly to the exhaust manifold and make cutting it out without opening the hood almost impossible, this vehicle says "steal me"! with it being right behind the drivers? rocker panel, roughly by front door. No need to jack this baby up, with it's relatively high clearance and being near the outside of the car, all you have to do is reach under with a Sawzall and 1 minute later you have a $2k cat, nice for the thieves to not even have to jack it up! Ya I've been looking into some sort of cat-guard as our Prius was stolen a few years back, a $3k loss but as I bought a cheap Chinese cat and had a local shop install it and a fake O2 sensor that now gives a constant "check engine" light but it only cost $500 total. Truthfully I wanted them to just install a "test" pipe so it wouldn't be stolen again but they said they've never seen such a thing for a Prius, they had them for big gas-guzzling vehicles but not a sipper like a Prius. I'm hoping of they ever jack up the Prius and see the tiny Chinese cat they'll just drop the vehicle and not bother, here's hoping anyway. Long story short, it's going to cost me $200-500 to try and install an aftermarket cat guard thingy when Toyota, if they cared, could have easily designed the vehicle for our modern thief-ridded world.
Frameless Rearview mirror-quite hard to push the garage door opener button behind it without touching the mirror or moving its position, the Leafs mirror was superior IMO, it even glowed to show you where to push.
I haven't found an easy way to display % SOC, instead, we just rely on the GOM which is somewhat accurate.
0w 16w oil :roll: leave it to Toyota to require something different than almost anyone else, even something as basic as oil, watch, I'll find out it uses a one-of-a-kind filter :lol:

Well, that's it for now, while I might have a lot of dislikes it's still a pretty nice vehicle, not cheap but could be worse. In hind site, we'd probably have been better served with a BEV but those aren't that easy to find, well again not a real SUV with AWD and not priced much over $70k or more. In that case we'd have just had to swap cars with a relative for our occasional 500-mile trips, note public L3 charging is a non-starter in my area and where we go, unfortunately :(
 
Re AER, as you're in Minnesota and it's late fall and soon to be winter, I think you pretty much have to expect that. Once it warms up I expect you'll be getting a lot closer to its EPA 42 mile range. I agree that the lack of a 30A+ OBC as an option on the lower trims is a pain as it makes a difference for opportunity charging, along with bundling the steering wheel heater with the sunroof. IMO any PHEV of any trim should have or at least offer an OBC that allows it to fully charge from 0-100% in 2 or at most 2.5 hours.

As for the option bundling, I see much of the same crap on PEVs I might otherwise be interested in, things like power liftgates and power door handles, plus the ever popular glass roof which is the last thing I want or need. At least it sounds like controlling the HVAC isn't a total nightmare - like you I hate touch-sensitive buttons or even worse, putting everything on the touchscreen. Put it this way, whatever shortcomings your Prime has in other areas, as far as controls go you didn't get an ID.4!
 
Re the charging connector unlocking when the charge is finished, the 2022 RAV4 Prime manual online, page 109, says this:

Unlocking the charging
connector
The charging connector will be
unlocked when the doors are
unlocked using the smart key
system or wireless remote con-
trol.

Changing the charging con-
nector lock settings
The method for locking and
unlocking the charging connec-
tor can be changed as follows
on the [Settings gear wheel icon] screen on the multi-
information display.
Refer to P.177 for details on how to
change the settings.

It gives you a choice of

"Auto Lock" (default setting) and what you apparently have it set to now:

The charging connec-
tor is automatically
locked when the
charging connector is
connected.

or

“Auto Lock
& Unlock”:

The charging connec-
tor is automatically
locked when the
charging connector is
connected and auto-
matically unlocked
when charging is com-
pleted.*1, 2

or

“OFF”:

Not using the charging
connector locking sys-
tem

https://carmanuals2.com/toyota/rav4-prime-2022-owner-s-manual-119592/page-109/

Here's the link to page 177, which gives you the basics of changing things on the settings menu: https://carmanuals2.com/toyota/rav4-prime-2022-owner-s-manual-119592/page-177/

but the actual instructions for changing the lock setting start at the bottom right of page 178: https://carmanuals2.com/toyota/rav4-prime-2022-owner-s-manual-119592/page-178/

and continue on 179: https://carmanuals2.com/toyota/rav4-prime-2022-owner-s-manual-119592/page-179/


Car manuals have gotten totally out of hand, or rather the options you have to set up have. This one's 624 pages, although admittedly a few hundred of those are the index, specifications, service info, and the pages I call "Warnings the government and/or our lawyers forced us to include for brain dead customers". The longest manual I've had to deal with so far was the Ioniq 5's 663 pages.
 
GRA said:
Re the charging connector unlocking when the charge is finished, the 2022 RAV4 Prime manual online, page 109, says this:

Unlocking the charging
connector
The charging connector will be
unlocked when the doors are
unlocked using the smart key
system or wireless remote con-
trol.

Changing the charging con-
nector lock settings
The method for locking and
unlocking the charging connec-
tor can be changed as follows
on the [Settings gear wheel icon] screen on the multi-
information display.
Refer to P.177 for details on how to
change the settings.

It gives you a choice of

"Auto Lock" (default setting) and what you apparently have it set to now:

The charging connec-
tor is automatically
locked when the
charging connector is
connected.

or

“Auto Lock
& Unlock”:

The charging connec-
tor is automatically
locked when the
charging connector is
connected and auto-
matically unlocked
when charging is com-
pleted.*1, 2

or

“OFF”:

Not using the charging
connector locking sys-
tem

https://carmanuals2.com/toyota/rav4-prime-2022-owner-s-manual-119592/page-109/

Here's the link to page 177, which gives you the basics of changing things on the settings menu: https://carmanuals2.com/toyota/rav4-prime-2022-owner-s-manual-119592/page-177/

but the actual instructions for changing the lock setting start at the bottom right of page 178: https://carmanuals2.com/toyota/rav4-prime-2022-owner-s-manual-119592/page-178/

and continue on 179: https://carmanuals2.com/toyota/rav4-prime-2022-owner-s-manual-119592/page-179/


Car manuals have gotten totally out of hand, or rather the options you have to set up have. This one's 624 pages, although admittedly a few hundred of those are the index, specifications, service info, and the pages I call "Warnings the government and/or our lawyers forced us to include for brain dead customers". The longest manual I've had to deal with so far was the Ioniq 5's 663 pages.
Thanks I'll check it out this weekend but I don't believe they are talking about what I'm running into, unless they give an option to "never" lock the charge port.
The scenario we run into almost every day, requiring us to dig the fob out of whatever purse or pocket it's in or walk around the vehicle, open the door, push the unlock button on the door and walk back to the charge port area to unplug and hang the J1772 connector up is because we don't lock the car in our secure single-family garage. Because we don't lock it, we don't need to unlock it but every time we plug the j1772 connector in, it immediately locks never to unlock unless we unlock an unlocked car :roll: Now I kind of understand the connector locking if you lock the doors but locking the j1772 connector when we never lock the car is idiotic IMO.
Note I'm personally not a fan of locking j1772 connectors, well unless you live in a bad area and use a pluggable EVSE that could be stolen. If I'm at a public EVSE and my car gets full but I don't get back right away(really never happens but for argument's sake) I would have no problem with someone unplugging me to get an emergency charge for their car. Heck if it's an emergency and more than likely I'm just topping off, I wouldn't be against someone unplugging me so they could get somewhere, IMO it would be the right thing to do. Because of this I like how the Leaf(at least my older ones) give me control over the locking and I can tell you for a fact that I've never turned on the locking feature, of course others might want it and thats ok too.
I'll do some more checking but unless Toyota has an option to never lock the j1772 connector we'll probably be forced to open up the door every time we want to unplug the connector, whether it's done charging or not :(
 
jjeff said:
Thanks I'll check it out this weekend but I don't believe they are talking about what I'm running into, unless they give an option to "never" lock the charge port.
The scenario we run into almost every day, requiring us to dig the fob out of whatever purse or pocket it's in or walk around the vehicle, open the door, push the unlock button on the door and walk back to the charge port area to unplug and hang the J1772 connector up is because we don't lock the car in our secure single-family garage. Because we don't lock it, we don't need to unlock it but every time we plug the j1772 connector in, it immediately locks never to unlock unless we unlock an unlocked car :roll: Now I kind of understand the connector locking if you lock the doors but locking the j1772 connector when we never lock the car is idiotic IMO.
Note I'm personally not a fan of locking j1772 connectors, well unless you live in a bad area and use a pluggable EVSE that could be stolen. If I'm at a public EVSE and my car gets full but I don't get back right away(really never happens but for argument's sake) I would have no problem with someone unplugging me to get an emergency charge for their car. Heck if it's an emergency and more than likely I'm just topping off, I wouldn't be against someone unplugging me so they could get somewhere, IMO it would be the right thing to do. Because of this I like how the Leaf(at least my older ones) give me control over the locking and I can tell you for a fact that I've never turned on the locking feature, of course others might want it and thats ok too.
I'll do some more checking but unless Toyota has an option to never lock the j1772 connector we'll probably be forced to open up the door every time we want to unplug the connector, whether it's done charging or not :(


As I,read it, selecting "Off" would appear to be what you want:

“OFF”:

Not using the charging
connector locking sys-
tem
 
GRA said:
jjeff said:
Thanks I'll check it out this weekend but I don't believe they are talking about what I'm running into, unless they give an option to "never" lock the charge port.
The scenario we run into almost every day, requiring us to dig the fob out of whatever purse or pocket it's in or walk around the vehicle, open the door, push the unlock button on the door and walk back to the charge port area to unplug and hang the J1772 connector up is because we don't lock the car in our secure single-family garage. Because we don't lock it, we don't need to unlock it but every time we plug the j1772 connector in, it immediately locks never to unlock unless we unlock an unlocked car :roll: Now I kind of understand the connector locking if you lock the doors but locking the j1772 connector when we never lock the car is idiotic IMO.
Note I'm personally not a fan of locking j1772 connectors, well unless you live in a bad area and use a pluggable EVSE that could be stolen. If I'm at a public EVSE and my car gets full but I don't get back right away(really never happens but for argument's sake) I would have no problem with someone unplugging me to get an emergency charge for their car. Heck if it's an emergency and more than likely I'm just topping off, I wouldn't be against someone unplugging me so they could get somewhere, IMO it would be the right thing to do. Because of this I like how the Leaf(at least my older ones) give me control over the locking and I can tell you for a fact that I've never turned on the locking feature, of course others might want it and thats ok too.
I'll do some more checking but unless Toyota has an option to never lock the j1772 connector we'll probably be forced to open up the door every time we want to unplug the connector, whether it's done charging or not :(


As I,read it, selecting "Off" would appear to be what you want:

“OFF”:

Not using the charging
connector locking sys-
tem
Thanks, I agree. From looking at your links, page 109 specifically, it sure looks like I can turn it off. I could probably even live with it unlocking when fully charged but I'd like the flexibility to unplug it anytime, even if I don't have the fob with me.
624 page manual :shock: I admit I haven't read through it all, it's just so formidable but half the pages seem to reference one to other pages :roll: just need to find the time to read the whole thing and mark pages on things I'd ever want to change.
Another thing I'm not too excited about is the automatic emergency brake, meaning every time the car is shifted into park it automatically puts the emergency brake on, causing lots of wear and tear I'm sure. Truthfully I really never turn on the emergency brake on an automatic as we don't live in SanFranCisco and IMO thats what park is for but I have read it's not the best on things if you do pull it out of park on a steep hill, I don't know, I might just leave that one on, even if there is a choice. What I'd really like is a way to tone down the damn pedestrian warning sound. It's way louder than any ICE vehicle I'd had and a really annoying scraping?? sound, but I'm 99.95% sure changing it won't be an option :(
 
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