What is “short charging” and what are the benefits and drawbacks?
Short-charging is a term invented by Toyota, and describes what some of us do to purposefully prevent a full charge. We either physically pull the paddle out early, or set the HVAC system to stop the process at a given time. For some reason, Toyota blames the use of Rav4INFO (which they usually describe as a “Palm Pilot”). There is an application for the palm that helps you calculate the times to set for automatic charge termination, but the device and software don’t perform any of the tasks involved. Blaming Rav4INFO is as relevant as blaming my wrist watch. Anyway, there has been no evidence that avoiding a full charge harms the batteries in the Rav4EV. There is also no evidence that *any* NiMH batteries are harmed by not being charged to full. In fact, all evidence is to the contrary: Charging to full (and leveling) creates significant heat, and that heat is detrimental to battery life. Obviously this is especially important during the hot summer months – and is the time when I cann
