Toyota Has A Fix For Lazy Drivers Who Never Plug In Their Hybrids

Even if you don't charge a plug-in hybrid, it will still run on gasoline alone. That's part of the appeal of vehicles like Toyota's astonishingly efficient Prius Plug-In or the more spacious RAV4 Plug-In. Even after it's run out of electricity, the Prius Plug-In is capable of returning up to 52 mpg combined, while the RAV4 Plug-In hybrid is rated for 38 mpg combined running on gasoline alone. On a long road trip? Far away from your home charging solution? No problem. Put some gas in the tank and you'll still get impressive fuel economy as you motor along. That said, the real advantage of plug-in hybrid vehicles is, of course, in using both electricity and gas, but you can't benefit from that if you forget to plug in regularly.

Toyota has tried to rectify that via a new app called ChargeMinder, designed to change owners' charging behavior. The app was part of a research project that studied how behavioral interventions could get owners to charge their EVs more often and at optimal times of day, like when renewable energy is at its peak. The app sent push notifications to users to encourage charging at certain times based on their locations and the time. Owners also received positive encouragement via celebratory messages once they did, with graphs that tracked their charging streaks. Know anyone who's been maintaining a long Duolingo streak while learning a language? This app would probably appeal to them.

To see if charging reminders and positive reinforcement would work on EV owners, the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) conducted a couple of studies. They paid research participants to download and use the ChargeMinder app in conjunction with their electric vehicles (from 12 different brands, not just Toyota), resulting in some serious changes in charging behavior. In the United States, PHEV-driving app users increased their charging by 10%, which also brought an uptick in satisfaction. Basically, the more the users charged their cars, the better they felt driving them. TRI didn't explicitly reveal why owners' satisfaction increased, but it's not hard to imagine that plug-in hybrid owners enjoyed the extra fuel economy and the additional power provided by a fully-charged battery.

TRI also tested a version of the app in Japan. There, the PHEV and BEV-owning participants were encouraged to charge during peak solar hours — a greener strategy that could also save you money when charging your EV. The result was that drivers shifted their charging times toward these hours by 59%. Toyota says that its goal with plug-in hybrids is to reduce emissions; charging during the day, when the sun is doing most of the work in countries that use solar power, is certainly a step in that direction. The ChargeMinder app is not currently available publicly, but it may become part of Toyota's EV plans.