1st Week Impressions

[duggie]

Well, thanks everybody for the tips. I'll have to give it a try. I'll be in stop and go traffic until I get through Riverside most likely. Is that better or worse on range? Thanks.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Well, thanks everybody for the tips. I'll have to give it a try. I'll be in stop and go traffic until I get through Riverside most likely. Is that better or worse on range? Thanks.

Careful stop and go on the freeway will generally get FAR better economy than freeway speeds. That means no rapid acceleration and panic breaking... just speed up and try and look far enough forward to slow down by coasting or with regen.

 

[duggie]

Sounds good to me. I was worried the constant acceleration might hurt my overall numbers.

 

[madcow]

Ok, so I've had the car for 1 full week now and I have a few more observations:

1. When I park my car, pull the handbrake on, and press the park button, it seems like the car shakes a little bit, like pressure is being put on or taken off the motor.

2. I have EnTune set to send me e-mails with regards to charge notifications. This is great, but I did notice something that is strange. After the car has fully charged, I get an e-mail saying that it is done. I know it periodically does some kind of balancing process while it is connected, but no matter when I eventually disconnect the EVSE cable, I ALWAYS get another e-mail that the charging has been interrupted, even when I don't hear any kind of cooling pumps running.

3. The phonebook of the car can only hold 1000 entries. My phone has about 3500 contacts stored. I don't need them all in the car, but it looks like this is going to be impossible to get this sorted out. I can manually manage the entries, but this only really works for deleting them. I can't manually select which entries from the phone that I want to add. So it looks like the only way to add it to let it automatically download again. It's strange because it's not just the first 100 entries from the phonebook (or at least not alphabetically). It has something in there for each letter.

 

[snoltor]

Went with my local dealer Hanlees Toyota in Davis

Just noticed your post. Are you in Davis? I'm in Davis, but got my Rav4 from SF Toyota. I've since stopped by Hanlees and talked with Mike Legrande the shop foreman. Seems pretty knowledgable about the Rav4 EVs. In fact that day he was working on a first gen Rav4 EV.

 

[miimura]

Ok, so I've had the car for 1 full week now and I have a few more observations:

1. When I park my car, pull the handbrake on, and press the park button, it seems like the car shakes a little bit, like pressure is being put on or taken off the motor.

2. I have EnTune set to send me e-mails with regards to charge notifications. This is great, but I did notice something that is strange. After the car has fully charged, I get an e-mail saying that it is done. I know it periodically does some kind of balancing process while it is connected, but no matter when I eventually disconnect the EVSE cable, I ALWAYS get another e-mail that the charging has been interrupted, even when I don't hear any kind of cooling pumps running.

1. The thing that bugs me about the parking brake is how much the car moves before the parking brake holds. It's like there is a lot of angular compliance in the bushings. My Passat is rock solid when you set the parking brake. I have taken to putting the RAV in neutral, setting the parking brake, letting go of the foot brake, letting the car settle, then putting it in park. Otherwise, it hits the parking pawl before the parking brake catches. It makes me really uncomfortable when I see people get out of their car and the car lurches as they let off the foot brake and the car catches on the transmission parking pawl.

2. Getting the Entune notification when you unplug an idle EVSE is not normal. I think it happened to me once in 3 months. If you're getting it every time, you should report it next time you take in the car.

 

[commasign]

Went with my local dealer Hanlees Toyota in Davis

Just noticed your post. Are you in Davis? I'm in Davis, but got my Rav4 from SF Toyota. I've since stopped by Hanlees and talked with Mike Legrande the shop foreman. Seems pretty knowledgable about the Rav4 EVs. In fact that day he was working on a first gen Rav4 EV.

Yep, in Davis. I think I saw your Rav4 in G Street garage once. You're on Eugen's Davis EV mailing list?

 

[snoltor]

You're on Eugen's Davis EV mailing list?

No, not on the list. If you can send me info that would be great. Thanks.

Steve

 

[mhkp]

Two weeks in and when the battery is charging (still 110v) the car gives off a faint smell of plastic burning. Its not coming from the EVSE handle and I cant localize the source. The only constant is that it happens when plugged in and charging. It builds up over time in my garage.

The odor is similar to when you get a new ICE car and it burns some of the protective spray on the undercarriage (not sure what the correct terminology is for that). I thought this was limited to exhaust heat and engine heat.

Is this normal for the Rav4ev?

 

[miimura]

Two weeks in and when the battery is charging (still 110v) the car gives off a faint smell of plastic burning. Its not coming from the EVSE handle and I cant localize the source. The only constant is that it happens when plugged in and charging. It builds up over time in my garage.

The odor is similar to when you get a new ICE car and it burns some of the protective spray on the undercarriage (not sure what the correct terminology is for that). I thought this was limited to exhaust heat and engine heat.

Is this normal for the Rav4ev?

I don't think this is normal. I would unplug the EVSE and pull the outlet out of the wall box and make sure the electrical wires in the wall look normal.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Take it to the dealer and get this documented.

 

[Dianne]

Had mine for a week now.
Have experienced range anxiety twice, both times my own fault! I just got my charger shipped today from Amazon, going to have it installed this weekend. That will put an end to any concern.

I added Limo tint to cool it off inside. It's helped immensely.

Two things I did notice.

I forgot to have my service dept disable (ie. reduce to one beep) the $&#%^ back up beep (LOL) but plan to soon. I wish I could make it part of my regular PDI process on this car, but it's gotta be requested. And, yes... the audio system drives me wacky. Utterly wacky. Whoever designed the way you change stations and pick media vs radio needs to be drawn and quartered!!! :roll:

But, no complaints otherwise. I gotta say - I love this car!!

Dianne

 

[Khaihon]

HI Dianne,

So glad you are now a RAV4EVer! Did you get your tint on all the windows or just the front ones since these already have some factory tinting on the back windows?

 

[duggie]

Will probably tint my front windows soon. Mnml tinted his and it looks good. He did his windshield also to keep out the UV rays.

I'm frustrated with the head unit too, but much better now that I realized you can mute the sound by holding down the "Mode" button. That was my biggest pet peeve. Still would like to send addresses to the Nav from my phone without having to save them in the Entune app first! Maybe that will come down the road. Seems like all the technology to implement this feature is already there. Even I'd we could send from Google Maps, that would be great!

 

[mhkp]

Ditto...on the audio! Amazingly poor. I'm maximizing preset SiriusXm channels and Bluetooth streaming....

I wish the Nav was more accurate about proximity to chargers. Both the Nav and App miss many chargers that are listed on plugShare, carStations, or even ChargePoint.

Love the car though and get at least two people asking me about it each day, mostly I hear "I didn't know Toyota had an all electric (suv)..." Sometimes they take pictures, which is a bit awkward when I'm in a hurry...today I got a dirty look from a Volt driver who was annoyed i was treated like a celebrity and he was completely ignored..