With all the talk about people getting there charging cable stolen, I was wondering if there was anyway or a simple modification to be able to charge the car with the charging cable secured in the vehicle? Using the required gauge extension cord to connect to the power source. I've already checked out the thread about securing the charging cable which is the next best thing. But for those thieves who just want the cable for the copper, they'll just cut it and take it. I'm not sure if Toyota or any other electric vehicle manufacturer considered the fact that stolen cables would be such a hot commodity. I have a feeling that this problem will just get worse as more electric vehicles come into the market. Maybe they'll consider having internal and external charging ports for the next gen.
The problem is, how do you keep the charger inside while connecting it to an outlet that's outside? You'd need to open a window or drill a hole in the car body. Neither of those options are particularly appealing. I do not know, how much of a problem is this really? The leaf and volt have been selling over a year now. How many people have had their cable stolen? Also, most public charging happens at public charge stations which have their own charging cords anyway.
Consider that the use of an extension cord pretty much bypasses all the safety features designed into the EVSE. If we didn't need those safety features, we could have skipped the EVSE and just had a regular cord we could pull out from the rear hatch and plug into a wall outlet.
i street parked just this week, and saw my charging port open when i came back to the car. didn't see anything wrong with the port, but i do question why toyota didn't put a lock feature for electric port and evse.
Check your J1772 handle, many of them have a hole that you can put a small lock through and it locks the handle into the socket.
he's talking about the charge port door itself. not the charger. Toyota Japan does have an accessory to lock the charge port door. Of course, not available anywhere else in the world…lol.
Before I found a lock at Home Depot that worked (see other threads), I thought about keeping the EVSE box in the car and running the cable and extension cord out the window. I'd use water resistant insulation, that many of us are using for grill blocking, to cover the cords and window edge as I roll the window up. The lock through the hole in the J-plug is a better idea.
