Ask your employers to install charge station?

ONLY, until I rec. a good confirmation that this has been done, and how to proceed. I remember that you had yours converted so you could use both voltages, do you have any detailed knowledge on exactly what was done, parts list ? Or did they even bother to inform you. I think there may be a lot of snow on what might be a simple procedure. Using people's innate fear of voltage.

 

. The market will determine if people want to pay $2.00 an hour, I don't think so for the Prius, for BEVs , YES, they have to pay. I see in the near future those rates could go to 2-5/ Hr. That's. America. We tend to forget the original idea.

 

You can't plug the Toyota-supplied charger into 240V, but there is a company who will modify it for $200 to $250. With this modification, you can use the unit at either 120 or 240, and when used at 240V, it will charge your car twice as quickly -- in 90 minutes.

 

Thank You, I am aware of this. I am trying to determine what this company does and if the average person can adapt the plug.

 

The guts of the EVSE has to be replaced- then upgraded for automatic 120 and or 240 volt operation. Unless you have the new parts and calibration equipment required- it's not practical to do it yourself. When done- they also replace the short section of cord that runs from the wall plug to the EVSE box.


FWIW- I've been using the EVSE Upgrade since Nov of last year. It's been 100% reliable and probably the least expensive way to get 240v charging at home.
The materials to run the 240v circuit at home all came from Home Depot and came in at under $75. I used 35' of 12/2 gray (direct bury) romex, one 15/15 amp dual breaker, a 240v female receptacle and weather proof box & cover and some 1/2" grey PVC EMT conduit .

 

I'm sure you could figure it put if you took enough time, but I think part of it is reprogramming or replacing the microcontroller to report the 240V availability. It's not an insignificant change, if that's what you're thinking, he puts some work into it.

 

The EVSE that comes with the PiP is rated for 120V, and is known to have components that will blow out if fed 240V. It can be upgraded by one of the contributors to this forum to accept 240V , but as provided by Toyota, it absolutely, definitely, cannot accept 240V.

In Europe, the EVSE provided by Toyota accepts the national standard 240V, but unfortunately, you have buy an adapter cable costing the equivalent of several hundred dollars to use public charging stations, which use a different standard (not J1772).

 

actually, the mod not only enables 240v charging (in addition to 120v) it also allows for 208v

Phil, the EE who designed & sells the EVSE mod, has mod'ed 100's of these, and I was one of his 1st few dozen happy customers. It works great, and has provided me with over 100 hours (each month) of trouble free charging. He not only mods the EVSE's program, he replaces the EVSE's power supply (obviously) with a switching supply, so that it can take advantage of the power you plug into. I highly recommend it.
Check it out here -
EVSE Upgrade - Your EV Charging Solution
Happy L2 charging !
.

 

TY

 

If public charging station owners really think that they can charge $2/hr or even more then I predict that they'll be disappointed. They'll get no business from PHEV owners...why pay $2 for $0.25 worth of electricity when you can substitute $0.75 - $1.00 of gas you already have on board? They'll rarely get any business from Tesla owners, since they will usually have enough range to not use these, except when they are going long distances and can use the free Tesla superchargers. Other EVs owners, like the Leaf will only use these when they really need them...driving more than 50% of their range away from home. Most likely this won't be a daily occurance, since an EV owner would have purchased based on knowing they were going to rely on this...most would only buy in this situation if they knew they be able to charge at the workplace for free.

So, yes, this is America and they'll get a capitalistic lesson in what happens when your TAM (total available market) is only 10% as large as they were thinking.

It makes a lot more sense for businesses (retailers, restaurants, etc) to offer free charging, no questions, or free charging by entering a code provided by a clerk. This is still less of a discount than offering a discount coupon or 2 for 1 meals, etc.

Mike

 

I still have the unconverted unit that came with the car. For home I have a Leviton level 2 EVSE.

 

No ground? Or a separate ground wire was already ran?

 

You what I've never done? I've never used a public charger that charges me for the cost of the electricity! Either they're free, or they're jacked way, way up and based on time instead of electricity consumed.
I think these business models are terrible. Consumers aren't that stupid. We buy gas by the gallon, not by how long it takes to pump it. We can all learn that the unit is kWh. We know how much per kWh we pay at home, and that is how much we expect to pay in public, + 10 or 15%. End of story, IMO. Doesn't need to be free, can't be $1/hour.

 

If I had an EV with at least a 6.6 kW charger, I'd have no problem paying $2/hr. That's about $0.30/kWh or same as I'm paying at home, unfortunately.

I actually think there should be more of these. I'm envisioning a future where everywhere we park costs money, you know like any city downtown. There is no range anxiety because every destination is a charging station.

 

I wouldn't give "them" any ideas.

Mike

 

Believe it or not, the cost to print discount coupons ... and the cost to comp a meal is not the same. The 20% off all t-shirts ... or 2 for 1 meal is TEMPORARY. While YOUR EVSE pricing 'discount' suggestion is in fact a form of price control. Maybe you've never owned your own business, but I can assure you - NO business owner is going to pay THOUSANDS - to pull permits - trench - run 240v/conduit/wire - buy a UL approved outdoor PC linked evse, if some agency tries to force a paltry return. And don't EVEN get me started on EVSE owner's 'other' costs. The bond/insurance for public evse's isn't free. And have YOU ever had to PAY for a new J1772 head, when vandals chop your's off ... or maybe the whole copper cable? ... not just parts costs, because the repairmen don't take sunshine as payment in full. Then there's power costs.
Every area's costs are different .... but around here - commercial power rates START at MORE than double what residential rates cost. I'll bet the commercial EVSE owners look in disgust at plugin owners who get indignant because THEY think THEY know more about pricing out their business model ... wanting them to get less return on their business risk? ... force them to only make what ... 29¢ per transaction? or less? or give you power for free? So instead of thanking these business risk takers - we look on them in disgust? Yes .... we are an entitled society.
Not only do we demand our $8 gas be subsidized down to $4, we do it to electricity too. Maybe if we all started demanding that our non-renewable fuels cost enough to pay for all the trillions in hidden subsidies the EVSE charge wouldn't seem so egregious to all of us. It's just a thought.

why do you keep trying to drag us back on topic?

 

oops - edit gone wrong. here's to wishing the fancy new forum software had a delete button

 

My point isn't that anyone should be forced to do anything. But, in the case of a retail business that is big enough to have a big parking lot and go to all the expense and trouble of installing a charging station (or multiple stations ) they might as well "chose " to make them free. Why spend, perhaps, $10-20k for installation, then for the next 3-5 years collect $5 per week (totally my guess ) while there are very few EV owners and even fewer willing to pay more for a kwh than the gas it replaces (in phevs) RATHER than spend the small extra as a marketing tool?
IMO, these business owners are in the restaurant business or clothing business or electronics business, etc not the EV charging business.

Mike

 

I have submitted a proposal at work which advocated adding 110 volt outlets to light posts where there is already power. I have not gotten any feedback yet.

 

That is such a simple and logical solution isn't it? And costs hardly anything.