Production 2012 Prius Plug-In Set for Frankfurt Debut - 77% increase in MPG

I just saw this, looks interesting and exciting. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Production Toyota Prius Plug-in to boast more than 13 miles of electric-only range — Autoblog Green

 

Regarding the position of the socket - that does matter? I mean, you are not driving to a fuel station to charge it and your garages will have plugs on this or that side of it.... so, where the socket is, does it really matter?
Sure it is interesting that they *might* have moved it, and it would be interesting to know why.

 

Yes - it is a matter of convinience - don't want tripping over it when walking around in the garage.

I didn't like the Leaf front ports before getting the car - I like it now. It is conviniently out of the way.

 

It is a possibility that people with the test versions of the plugin provided feedback to Toyota that having the cord in the front was an inconvenience and they would rather the cord be in the back.

I see pros and cons to this rearrangement though .. most people drive forward into their garages then back out. With this configuration, you could still go in and out o the driver's door without having to step/trip over the cord. However, when you backout without unplugging the cord .. well, if it was in the front, that would probably never happen since you'd have to pass the cord on your way to get in the car. Oh wait, they could just wire the circuit so the car wont shift out of park until it's unplugged. I tend to agree more with Paradox though - less wiring and closer to the battery.

Maybe we should ask Toyota their reason.

EVnow, can you elaborate on your experiences with the Leaf?

 

But not all people have plugs in their garage in the same position as you. There will always be those who will trip or not on the charging cable no matter where you position the socket on the car. You are lucky with your garage plugs configuration and the Leaf's socket frontal position. There might be others that may find that not as convenient.
Or not?

 

But maybe the idea is to use the existing circuitry in the engine bay (inverter and dc/dc converter) to help in the conversion from 120V/240V AC to DC battery voltage, hence having the socket at the front?

 

Maybe they should just put it in the center of the roof. Lol.

Seriously, how much does it really matter? To me, if the cord is long enough, the slack will cause it to drop onto the garage floor and you can just step over it. Please explain how much of an inconvenience this is, so we can understand better. Thanks.

I understand how the Leaf plug in the front center can be annoying if you back in (depending on how far the garage door is from the front of your car), but if you have a long extension cord, is it really that much of an inconvenience?

Getting back to what Paradox and Pakitt suggested, the location of the battery and AC/DC converter is likely an influencing decision as well. BUT ... it seems that the original prototype design would have already taken internal functionality into consideration.

(I feel like we're typing way too much over the location of a power cord. Lol )

 

I remember reading about the fact that you shouldn't use an extension cord, was there ever a reason given for that? It really doesn't make sense to me...

 

There would be a voltage drop across the extension cord.

Mike

 

So I should add 50' of internal wiring instead?

 

IMHO, the new lights above blinkers will be DRL, as they are a must for EU version produced 2011+.

 

They look like baloons on the car, I was thinking the same thing.

 

There is the voltage drop, but it mostly about safety.
The longer the cord, the greater the resistance, the more heat generated, and the greater chance of a fire.
If you ever read the manual of a plugged in lawn tool, it will tell you to use higher rated amp cords for longer lengths. This might work with an EV charger, but it is plugged in a lot longer than a trimmer or wood chipper.

 

I think the big problem is the 16ga cords you can buy, if you have a 12ga or 10 even then there would be no real issue.

 

While extension cords increase the chance of a bad connection getting hot, there's another safety reason:

J1772 charge cords are not supposed to be plugged into GFI outlets as they have built in GFI. If plugged into a GFI outlet, there's a good chance the charge cord will trip the GFI. So with an extension cord plugged into a non-GFI outlet you've got shock risks where the charge cord plugs into the extension cord.

None of that has kept me from plugging in using an extension cord when needed - in the dry of course - if plugging in when it might be wet, one should be sure to only handle the J1772 plug when live or make sure you unplug the extension cord at the outlet before plugging in or unplugging the charge cord.

 

Hi there,

There are some strange issues about the photo from toyotagb-press:

1) The vehicle shown is not for the UK market - look closely at the position of the steering wheel and the wipers.

2) The markings on the tires: Compared to "normal" tires, the tire size markings are upside down, most of the markings are missing (including brand name), P240/50-16 is not an existing size for cars (you have motorbike tires in that size, though), and in Europe (including the UK) Prius are not marketed with M&S tires.

OK - if the aim of leaking this "spy" photo was to get the talking going in the Internet fora - they succeded :rockon: brilliantly.

 

I hope the Frankfurt unveiling in a few weeks comes with a huge PDF file, loaded with tech specs and notes.