Can you use a Leaf charger with a Prius Plug In?

Why would you think you'd make a couple hundred resale? That Clipper Creek model I linked is only $395 brand new.

The used Leaf one I ordered was $259, plus shipping to Canada and import charges which totalled US $58. Shipping just within the US was only something like $15 though.

I've been checking eBay regularly, and it seems the going rate for used Leaf chargers is in the $200-300 range, depending on the condition. The "new" ones complete with original packaging and carrying case are $295. The $200 ones only pop up very occasionally, and unfortunately for the couple of weeks I was looking, just weren't available shipped to Canada.

 

i3 evse is more than double the eBay price ... that simple
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I don't understand what drives the price difference for similar EVSE units. The ford units I initially watched on Ebay sold for $180. I picked up a first generation Leaf charger on CL for $200 delivered to my door, and paid $200 for the original EVSE for my car. The Toyota ones go for a lot more on Ebay.

As time goes on, I expect the price for EVSE units will go down and performance will increase.

 

I think in 2015 it would be foolish to spend $1000 (Nissan) or $1200 (Toyota) or whatever it is on an OEM portable Level 1 EVSE, given that well-respected manufacturers are selling theirs for US$395. At that pricing, even spending half the OEM price makes no sense these days.

This is all the more emphasized by the apparent rebranding by BMW of that same charger for BMW's PHEVs, and by Sun Country Highway for the Canadian EVSE market.

Level I evCHARGERS Archives - Sun Country HighwaySun Country Highway

 

I think early i3 portable evse's looked somewhat like that ... but they had issues, iirc. Maybe that's why the ebay offering was so cheep. BMW has issued new portable evse's to i3 owners, and odly, I believe I'd heard bmw isn't requiring the return of the old ones. This may only mean the old units cause fault codes on i3 ... and not other cars. But this is the look of i3 portable evse's now days.



still - like I said - I wish i'd have seen that ebay one before it sold ... could have made some easy cash. people pay a lot for 'the name'.

I'm hoping to find one of these bad boys used some day on craigs list / ebay / amazon ;



One of the Gen II RAV4-EV owners discovered the car came with an onboard charger that can accept (like the tesla) up to TEN kW's !! ... but neither his wall evse nor his portable could let that much power pass thru. He discovered he could remove the Model S portable charge head and install the J1772 and get a full 10kW's. So now, whether he's charging 3.5 - 6.6 - 7.2 or 10kW's ... all he needs is the appropriate sized adapter plug to match what ever wall power is available ... all the way up to 40 amps. Sweet !! WAY expensive - but sweet !! He actually sells these - priced at the other side of $1k.

No doubt battery packs will continue to get larger & larger ... plus they'll be charging quicker & quicker. 1.5 kWh's ... heck, even 3.5kWh will be too slow. If you never get a longer range ride than the Gen I pip - then you're good to go. but for us - this was the very reason we installed another 40 amp breaker in our home service panel. your (future) needs of course may vary
.

 

I think the listing looked the same, but now I'm not 100% sure since the listing is gone. But if the older one looked similar, I probably wouldn't know any better.

So in a way, I'm now glad I didn't get that one, even though it was cheaper. Perhaps it was one of the early units. Even if it works fine on a Prius, I'd hate to have one knowing that it is problematic on a BMW even though it's BMW branded. BTW, a friend of mine just ordered an i8 too, and it'd be lame to have to tell him that this charger wouldn't work properly with his car.

P.S. This eBay listing has me very confused:

2010 2014 Nissan Leaf Electric Battery CAR Charger Cordset Level 1 Evse NEW | eBay

It's US$770 for a Level 1 Nissan Leaf EV charger, with a standard 120 V 6-50 NEMA plug according to the pictures, but states that it requires a 220 V plug like a dryer plug. That's a great way to guarantee it won't sell.

 

Hooray! Today was Eug's PiP Xmas. I got both my imported (from the US) Prius Plug-in OEM cargo tray and my Leaf EV charger.

As expected the Leaf EV charger works fine with my 2012 PiP. I believe it is model 29690 3NF0A but I'd have to check again to make sure.

The plug did spark though when I plugged it into the wall. It wasn't plugged into the car at the time. I don't think I've seen that happen with the Toyota charger. However, the lights immediately shone green, indicating it was ready to charge. The Leaf charger does mention on the back it is approved for use in Canada. Of course, nothing sparked when I plugged it into the car. There are no TEST or RESET buttons on the charger. It just has lights for READY, CHARGE, and FAULT.



The car gets the same 0.8 kW charge out of it as it does the Toyota charger. However, the Toyota charger was drew 11.55 - 11.6 A according to my Kill-A-Watt, but the Leaf charger drew 11.45 - 11.5 A, very slightly less. I don't know if this is within a margin of error but I did try it a couple of times with the same result. Both are rated for 12 A.

The "gun" part of the charger is less beefy feeling than the Toyota one and has a different hole for the lock. If you use a luggage lock like the one that fits the Toyota charger, it doesn't work.



The hole on the Nissan one is shorter but much wider, so that lock's metal loop is too thin. It just rattles around in that hole and you can still remove the charger with the lock in place. You need to get a lock with a thicker metal loop. Because the hole is shorter though, the benefit of the Leaf charger's lock hole is that you don't need a long loop like in that pic. It would accept a lock with a much shorter loop. The drawback is that the piece of plastic keeping the lock in place seems like it would be much easier to break.

The Leaf charger also came with a nice carrying case.

 

Comparisons between the Toyota charger and the Nissan charger. Click to enlarge.



The Nissan charger plug and gun are white, and the Toyota ones are blue.

 

which handle are you saying won't take the luggage lock? We got the Panasonic/Nissan portable L1 also, & our lock fits perfectly. Maybe a later version is different from ours?


Either way - merry Christmas !
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That luggage luck fits perfectly on the Toyota one. It also will fit on my Leaf Charger (the long skinny one - 29690 3NF0A) but the the hole is a lot wider, and shorter. That means the thin lock metal loop flops around in it, and there is enough play in the trigger that you can still release the charger with the lock in place.

To make a lock work with my Leaf charger means getting a thicker lock. However, I won't worry too much about that as I will likely use that charger as my home charger, screwed into the wall, so I'm not so worried about locking it.

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, just thought it would be better than making a brand new one.

Does using the Leaf EVSE (2015) shorten the charge time of the PiP compared to the OEM Toyota gives us? It seems like it, but I haven't had a situation yet where I'm able to get any data on it.

 

i thought charge time was regulated by the charger.

 

all depends on what the kilowatt is

 

Aren't you uniquely equipped to answer that question? You tell us.

Here's my finding on a PiP EVSE on a Ford C-Max. The charge time is infinite. The PiP's supposedly standard J1772 does not fit on the C-Max. It works the other way around, though with the Ford EVSE on the PiP. I only charged it the one time so no data on if charge time is affected.

 

That's strange. And ya, long term I will definitely get some data. Just thought someone on here might have prior experience with it.

 

These 120v EVSE cords are all likely 12A and, in theory, should work with any plugin car. In reality, there can be incompatibilities due to different interpretations of the J1772 specs but this is probably more likely with older cars and EVSE cords. I certainly hope compatibility is a lot better now.

 

It's not a charger, it's an extension cord with a built in ground fault, if you need more length buy a 2013 + voltec EVSE (made by clipper creek) and put a longer 10 gage cord on the box to 110vac end, you can also mod that box to be dual voltage with $25 in cord and plugs.

 

Charge times should be comparable. If you have a 240v outlet, consider modifying the Leaf EVSE to level 2. It's fairly easy, and might cost $20-$35. My modified EVSE gives a full charge in 90 minutes, and does so more efficiently (less charging loss).