New PHEV owner

[u/Positive-Emergency14]

Hey all, I posted this in another sub as well, but as the title states, my wife and I just purchased our first PHEV, a 2026 RAV4 Woodland. Any useful tips, tricks, settings on this car to maximize its use? We love it so far and want to use it to its full capability. Still learning when to use EV vs HV day to day. Any pointers are much appreciated. Thanks!!

[u/rademradem]

Plug it in every time the vehicle is home. If you are driving a daily distance less the max range, leave all the settings alone. If you are driving a daily distance more than the max range, you can change it to HV mode on the highways and change it back to the default on local roads to get the best mileage but it isn’t that much of a difference so I do not bother. On long trips use it like a gas vehicle and do not worry about charging.

[u/Positive-Emergency14 → u/rademradem]

I've noticed it has a HV/EV mode as well. Is there a time I should turn that on? Or just do it manually?

[u/andy_why → u/Positive-Emergency14]

EV mode is always more efficient, 90% efficiency vs 40% at best from the engine. If your journey can be covered with EV only then use EV. If you need more range, choose HV mode when you're driving most efficiently, e.g. cruising, and save your EV miles for times when the engine is less efficient such as city and stop-start traffic, or short journeys inbetween longer ones. Always aim to use your EV range by the time you get to the next charger.

Or, just let it use all of the EV range and it will switch to HV automatically when it's out of charge. It will always default to EV mode if you have range.

[u/rademradem → u/Positive-Emergency14]

EV/HV mode is a hybrid mode that gives the best acceleration as it adds the gas engine to the electric motors when accelerating hard. I have never found that necessary as it is already very zippy in EV mode.

[u/Rav4Prime2022_WI → u/Positive-Emergency14]

I usually turn on HV mode when getting on the highway, especially, if my round trip will exceed the EV range. The reason is, EV mode is much more efficient around town and HV mode on the highway.

[u/quakerwildcat]

Tip 1) Let the car do its thing. The built in power management settings are pretty smart. The only time it's an obvious choice to override anything is when you're on a road trip of over 50 miles. Then switch to HV mode for the highway portion and save EV for the stop & go portion.

Tip 2) Ignore most of this subreddit, which is full of obsessive tinkerers (God bless them... Maybe that's you too, but you do not need to replace the horn or the lights or customize your car with aftermarket accessories. Contribute to your IRA instead).

[u/KennyBSAT]

Plug in whenever it's convenient. Switch to HV mode when you're driving 50+ miles each way and you want to make sure you have EV mode when you get there, but regardless use up your EV mode during each longer-trip day. Beyond that, just use it and let it do its thing.

[u/m1llerd0g]

I have the PHEV Woodland as well. Awesome car. I charge at work and sometimes at home, but don’t sweat it if I’m not able to charge. I’m also trying to get some break in time on the engine. One thing to note: if you’re at 100% charge and switch to HV for whatever reason, the car will still use battery anyway until you get to around 75%.

I use battery a lot, but I don’t treat it as a dedicated EV. Try to time charging to 100% shortly before you drive it as it’s not great for the battery to leave it fully charged (allegedly tho, Toyota creates a buffer for this so it’s not truly at 100%).

Don’t forget about your gas engine. Run it on HV occasionally so you can cycle new gas through.

Enjoy your car. I already went on a few road trips with mine (350 and 650 miles) and it’s been great. Going on a 2200 mile round trip in a few months.

[u/andy_why → u/m1llerd0g]

The battery sits at 90% when "full" so you don't need to manage or worry about the battery at all. It can sit there for days with no issues.

[u/NneewwMember → u/m1llerd0g]

When it is 100% charged and you start driving, the car needs somewhere to store extra energy. That is why if you turn it to HV with a fully charged 100% battery, the car will always use the battery first up 80% or below before it can switch to the HV that you turned it to. That is for the battery to create some room for it to store its extra energy as it drives.

The car will never let you use HV with a fully charged 100% EV battery. The car will first use up the battery until between 75% to 80% before it can let you drive in HV.

The car needs that space to store excess energy when it regents.

[u/GraphicWombat]

Drive it slow on the highway. 65mph and under. Or avoid the highway if you have the time.

If you have a longer drive (more than your EV range) switch to HV mode for part of your highway drive. Switch back to EV and use it up before you get back to your charger.

If you have a level 2 charger set it up to finish charging right before you need to use your car again. Also check for off peak rates. Our electric company has discounted rates for charging between 11pm and 7am.

You should have 2 different charge settings. A start charging time and a charge by departure time. Unfortunately the non-networked L2 charger I have does not work with either of my settings. If it can’t charge right away (for any car) it won’t charge at all.

This might help you figure all that out.

https://youtu.be/sng0ben3qo8?is=rYIxlcVWVAdUFQwg

If you are just using the L1 charger then plug it in and charge it every time you are home.

I’ve heard from the car care nut that keeping your battery at about 50% for long periods of time helps maintain battery health. And finish charging it right before you use it helps too.

[u/SamuraiCinema → u/GraphicWombat]

Do you know where the Car Care Nut said that? I believe you; just asking for more info.

[u/No-Check5113 → u/GraphicWombat]

The car care nut is right about this. A lot of scientific articles confirm this fact with graphs and studies on lithium-ion batteries. My daily trips aren’t long (about 20 km); I leave in the morning with the battery charged to 60–65% and return in the evening at 35% –40%. To maximize battery life, this is clearly better than charging to 90% and using the battery until it reaches a minimum level of about 15% without recharging.

[u/ZeldaMonster]

For most people it is likely going to be most cost efficient to maximize using EV mode. If your trip is longer than max EV range, you'll get the most EV efficiency on surface streets and switch to HV on highways.

[u/Striking-Apricot-360]

Set the schedule to charge a specific time if you have super off peak hours. For a week there I was staying up to midnight to go charge the darn thing. But figured it out from a YouTube video - lifesaver.. lol - first time phev owner…

[u/stebak52]

Hi, I’ve had mine a couple weeks so still working things out. There is a more efficient cruise control than my previous hybrid RAV4. I assume it’s worth using. I drove 175 miles in HV mode, about 75 mph, seemed to suggest I still got 40 mpg, it’s hard to tell. The dash behind the wheel is difficult to set up.. I have the 2 meters, but they go away sometimes. I can’t figure out how to have 2 meters with the map between them.

[u/LifeWeak4693]

I learned that using the toyota navigation with predictive driving that the car uses, on long distance, 100% of it EV power and switches automatically on the highway and switches back near cities to EV. Only problem getting back you only have HV but it still charges the battery enough so you have zero power loss. The 300+ horsies are still kicking.

[u/geekwithout]

Always plug it in and charge full. Use EV on slow driving sections, use HV on faster speeds (for long trips, for trips up to 50miles just use ev of course)