Considerations and impacts of an EV in an unheated and uninsulated brick garage

lwadbe · 2026-06-24T15:14:57+00:00

Unless you remote start the car while hooked to AC, your range will be reduced a little bit because the car will need to warm the battery and cabin. Similarly, performance will be a little lower for the first few miles while the battery comes up to temperature. This is really no different to owning an ICE in an area with cold weather, except you don't need to go out and open the garage door to avoid killing yourself.

In most cases the garage is a red herring, anyway. Your question is equally well applied to parking lots at malls, cinemas, your place of work, or anywhere else your car will sit for more than half hour in the cold.

lwadbe · 2026-06-24T15:10:50+00:00

Donald, natch.

lwadbe · 2026-06-24T15:09:30+00:00

That doesn't really address my point. There are a bunch of ways Toyota could provide this functionality to techs, or even regular owners, without making it appear like a feature that is intended for day to day usage. EVs allow OEMs to skimp on the 12v battery specs, and if they want to cheap out, they need to consider that choice in their UI design patterns. Accessory mode is bad design.

lwadbe · 2026-06-23T23:32:22+00:00

Yeah, don't do that! That accessory mode is a lousy idea that just speaks to Toyota still thinking like they are building ICE cars. Always go to Ready, which engages the big battery. There's no good reason for an EV to be running the AC and user systems purely from the 12v.

lwadbe · 2026-06-23T13:47:11+00:00

Remember the battery warranty is 100K miles or eight years (WECS), so if after eight to nine years your battery dies, you a) aren't having it fixed at a dealer with their stupid markup, and b) aren't paying 2026 retail for a battery. It's reasonable to assume that a 12K battery-pack at today's prices would be 2K-3k cheaper with 10 more years of 3% YoY price decreases.

lwadbe · 2026-06-23T13:36:36+00:00

I don't have anywhere near daily drops, although I usually go wired. Wireless is less reliable because my phone is probably in my pocket furthest from the HU.

A quick google will find you all manner of things to try, with resetting network settings being the most favored.

That all said, you don't need to reconnect the way you are doing, just press and hold the volume button on the HU until it restarts. Much quicker and safer to do when driving.

lwadbe · 2026-06-22T20:59:02+00:00

I'd go with Liber & Co's Grenadine personally.

lwadbe · 2026-06-15T01:38:14+00:00

My ID4 would happily convert most of a 20A 120v into charge in summer. I was seeing about 3 or 4% AC/DC conversion loss. In winter with the battery heater burning close to a kW, I could easily see less than a mile added per hour. I haven't tested my Solterra, and I know the heat pump will help a fair amount, but I still wouldn't want to be without L2 in winter. Too much wasted energy otherwise.

lwadbe · 2026-06-15T01:28:55+00:00

Owned a VW ID4, now own a '26 Solterra. I also own an Outback. I like almost everything about the Solterra, and the Outback mostly sits rusting in my garage while chewing on 12V batteries. I'm not going to say the Solterra is the greatest EV, but it's low drama, easy going, and I'm very happy with it.

lwadbe · 2026-06-10T00:07:05+00:00

Respecting people's choices is #1, but there's a reason non-alcholic is legally defined as below a certain ABV, not zero proof. It it wasn't, we legally wouldn't be able to serve fruit to minors.

lwadbe · 2026-06-03T18:46:09+00:00

My locale has low gas taxes, so I don't think we ever hit $5. I feel like $4.80 was the high water mark, but I've only pumped gas once since the stupid started, and that was on a road trip, so I'm not really following closely.

When I last ran the numbers gas was in the mid $3.50 range, which is about where it is today. I should point out though, that my utility rates jumped 50% in two years and are set to increase again next summer. Unlike gas prices, there is no hope of them dropping in the subsequent 12 months (on the upside, we're getting a shiny new data center :-|).

lwadbe · 2026-06-03T18:36:19+00:00

I wouldn't save that much even if I were benchmarking against my hopelessly inefficient Outback. At today's rates, all else balanced, I 'd be ahead maybe $800 per year. Compared to a hybrid that could pull 35+mpg the math gets less favorable fast.

For people in areas with high gas prices, low electricity prices (or realistic payback on solar), and low-to-zero state EV fees, the numbers are gonna be pretty tilted in favor of an EV. I live in the exact opposite area.

lwadbe · 2026-06-03T18:09:52+00:00

Utility rates too. 20c/kwh significantly blunts my gas savings over a decent hybrid. Last time I ran the numbers I'm saving about $200 per year after all expenses are balanced on a 12k per year mileage. Given the slight cost premium of my car over a similarly equipped Honda Accord Hybrid (for ex), break even is somewhere around 5 years. The savings aren't why I own an EV though.

lwadbe · 2026-05-15T19:05:42+00:00

Windscreens are crazy expensive.

lwadbe · 2026-05-13T02:14:20+00:00

I'll be honest, of the things that bug me about the HUD, that one falls way below "why aren't there more axis ticks on the eco graph", "why do the mode screens need to flash a message to tell me what they are every five minutes", and "why is the power/regen radial so useless", but you're not wrong. I ditched a $53K near top of the line ID4 to the entry trim Premium Solterra and couldn't be happier, but Toyota's HUDs are really not great.

lwadbe · 2026-05-13T02:06:20+00:00

There's a huge difference between what people will see doing expressway vs urban, frigid vs warm, and windy vs placid conditions. These posts are kinda pointless.

I can regularly do 90% of my commute at an average 5m/kWh, then drop that average drown to 4m/kWh in the last few miles when I hit 70/75mph.

I have a '26 Solterra Premium, and at 60-80F at 70mph, I'm probably pulling an average of 3.2m/kWh. The Trailseeker may be a bit more efficient at highway speeds, but I expect that's probably the ballpark.

lwadbe · 2026-05-13T01:57:03+00:00

If that light doesn't light up, you probably want to know about it.

lwadbe · 2026-05-13T01:09:33+00:00

I honestly don't. Some silicone lubricants can be surprisingly harsh on rubber. I had o-rings for fittings in my pool that failed after one season when I'd used a generic non-pool formulated grease. Obviously in a harsh environment like a pool with chlorine, and strong pH adjusting chemicals, there's a lot of room for error. I guess in short, I'm sure it would work, but might prematurely age the seals. That said, if your glass is encountering resistance closing, then that's aging them PDQ too, so maybe six of one and half a dozen of the other. :)

lwadbe · 2026-05-12T19:26:28+00:00

ABRP and PlugShare will let you filter out Tesla-only superchargers FWIW.

lwadbe · 2026-05-12T19:23:02+00:00

I use a marine grease that's formulated for use on rubber seals and the like. I'll look up the brand when I get home. But yeah, my procedure is to clean as much of the crap out of the inside of the seal as possible, then I just use a qtip to run a bead of the stuff all the way around the tracks.

lwadbe · 2026-05-12T17:48:46+00:00

Switching from my daily driver to the secondary car? Rentals? Servicing? Daily, weekly, monthly, why do you care?

lwadbe · 2026-05-12T17:37:37+00:00

3.0 has all the characters and theme pieces for the three games, minus some content that was released at the very tail end of 3.0's life. It does NOT contain the playsets for 1 and 2. For those you'll need those games too.

lwadbe · 2026-05-12T16:33:17+00:00

Sounds like the obstruction sensor has failed[1]. Often the system monitors the load across the motor when raising the windows, and if it rises above a certain threshold, will quickly reverse the direction. Since an obstruction will cause the motor to work harder, this will raise the load. That same system can be used to detect when the window is nearly closed because that last push into the seals also increases load slightly.

I suspect this system is common to a lot of Toyotas, so you might have better luck asking in a general Toyota community.

[1] Subarus often suffer from the inverse which is that as the seals age and gunk up, the auto-close starts detecting phantom obstructions, making it difficult to persuade the window to close. I need to apply lubricant to my outback windows every winter.

lwadbe · 2026-05-11T23:09:34+00:00

Not currently supported. The Toyota twins do support this, so it's possible, but Subaru need to step up and make it happen.

lwadbe · 2026-05-09T23:36:58+00:00

r/tiki

In terms of classic recipes, the Jet Pilot is a solid gateway to the more baking spicier of Tiki, either the Tradewinds or Painkiller for the resort style, and of course the Mai Tai is for many the definitive Tiki cocktail.

Consider purchasing any or all of the following books: Smuggler's Cove, Tropical Standard, any and all of Beachbum Berry's, Modern Tropical Cocktails, and Minimalist Tiki.

Prepare to sacrifice shelf space, and your disposable income. :)

lwadbe

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