New owner question - battery capacity while parked

[Mctufts]

Hello all,

Just bought a used 2014 Rav4 EV with 21000 miles. The range is MUCH BETTER than my Nissan Leaf and I no longer have to charge at work unlike before which is really nice. So overall very much enjoying it. However, I noticed that when I return to my car after a few hours of parking it, the range shown will decrease (for example, from 82 miles to 78 miles).

I chalked this up to the Guess-o-meter changing it's estimation based on how I last drove and maybe to some expected loss when idle. The actual bars, which I consider to be more accurate and less finicky than the GOM, would remain the same.

However, one time, after getting home, I saw that I still had 5 bars left. When I returned to move tit 3-4 hours later, not only did the GOM show less miles but it had dropped to 4 bars. Granted I think I was on the cusp of dropping to 4 bars when I parked but still, this seems unusual to me.

Finally, I charge to 80 percent every night, plugging in before I go to bed. My charger finishes the charge maybe 5-6 hours before I leave in the morning. When I get in, it states it needs 10 minutes to charge to full, as though it lost capacity in the time between finishing the charge and when I get ready to drive it.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is this normal?

Thanks in advance!

 

[miimura]

What you have observed are all quirks of the RAV4 EV. Once your GOM settles in to your personal usage, you should not see it lose more than one mile while parked. The most I usually see is just rounding error where it drops one mile right when you open the door while it's thinking about waking up. The RAV's traction battery is completely disconnected while parked unless you have remote climate timers running. If you leave it parked for a long time, it will drain the 12V battery because it never wakes up to recharge it.

 

[Mctufts]

Thanks for the info. I get that the GOM might fluctuate more until it settles in to my personal style of driving, which would account for some changes in the miles estimation. My Nissan Leaf would do the same, maybe changing by one mile or so.

But should the battery ever drop a whole bar while parked?

 

[miimura]

But should the battery ever drop a whole bar while parked?

No, it should not. However, with such little precision on the gauge, you never know when you parked it that 0.1kWh estimated capacity may make that bar drop. If you use an app like RavCharge you can see the actual percent SOC reported by the car and know if the SOC is actually changing by meaningful amounts.

 

[user 340]

There may be a small battery drain when parked, but it appears to be under a kWh per day in my experience. I do see the GOM remaining mileage change as a function of temperature during a given day.

 

[TonyWilliams]

There may be a small battery drain when parked, but it appears to be under a kWh per day in my experience. I do see the GOM remaining mileage change as a function of temperature during a given day.

There is nearly zero battery drain when parked. The main battery contrators are open, so any tiny losses are from the BMS balancing cells (which requires 12 volts available) or from "normal" battery losses.

You could store this battery in a deep freeze (at -25C) for a year at 50% SOC%, and I doubt it would lose more than a few miles of range.

That statement above is completely different than what the GOM might say, which by the way, I used to collect all these "GOM complaint" posts and put them all in one thread.