Two 118 mile days

Had two back to back 118 mile Southern California days. I had charged to 100% using extended mode both days. By coincidence, the miles each day ended up being the same(within a half of a mile) even though the destinations weren't. First day, Long Beach to Valencia to Universal City (plug in via 110 for 8.5 hours) then back to Long Beach. Second day, Long Beach to Yorba LInda to Universal City (plug in via 110 for 8.5 hours) then back to Long Beach. Because I was traveling in the middle of the day and late at night, 99% of the driving was all in a sporty mode, no laid back driving whatsoever with no concern with trying to maximize range. Carpool lanes and 110 Toll Road (free for green and white sticker vehicles with special three position Fast Track Transponder) were wide open. At the end of each day, on our Level 2 ChargePoint, I charged back up to 100% using extended mode and each day I used 40 kwh. I'm not able to track how many kwh I use at work via the 110 outlet but it appears that 3 miles of range is regained for every hour that I'm plugged in. First day I arrived home with 18 miles on the range indicator and second day with 20. I had the ac on the Eco High Setting which uses the least amount of range, for about half the miles each day.

I'm now past 5000 miles and set up an appointment with Sean Evans at Carson Toyota for my first service visit next Tuesday morning. He said to plan on about 3 hours (hopefully less) mainly due to software upgrades that most likely need to be performed.

While I'm definitely loving the range, I just can't get enough of the fun factor too. Each time I take off from a light or zip around somebody, it brings a smile to my face. Oh and now that gas in our area is past $4.00 a gallon again, based on 2000 miles a month, I'm saving $350.00+ a month in gas as compared to a similar vehicle that gets 20 mpg.

I don't want to jinx things, so I better stop with all the positives for now. 

Securing the portable charging cable on the Toyota Rav4 EV while charging.

After discovering the high cost to replace the portable charging cable that Toyota provides with each Rav4 EV, I decided to figure out a way to secure it. Toyota makes it super easy. All you need is a secure lock about the size of the one in the picture. The hole pictured is part of the welded frame underneath the back, driver's side of the vehicle. You route your cable though as pictured, lock and that's it. While someone could still unplug you, they couldn't take the cable itself without cutting it. My first thought was to simply put a lock through the tiny hole in the handle itself which would prevent someone from unplugging you but after having trouble finding a lock that would fit (and be somewhat strong), came up with this idea instead.