What kind of charging cable in 240v countries?

Has anybody got any idea why the UK 13A three pin socket is being phased right out instead of being included in the new installations? Why not have both, so the installation is backwardly compatible?

I have just received an Ecotricity card and have found out that I cannot use their 'Electric Highway' to charge up my Pip without coughing up over £200 for a Mennekes/J1772 cable, which I am unlikely to do. So, home charging only!

 

@lanlanlanlan
As you probably know, the cable you have is a (portable) EVSE cable, it contain all the required ingredients to enable charging (communication, safety devices etc.) It is good for charging your car from any household wall socket. The 'charging station' you are describing is in it self a EVSE, you cannot use your portable EVSE with it anyways, you need a simple (or call it stupid) connection cable which is just a conduit for power and communication , in your case Mennekes/J1772 cable.

 

Yes I know all that. The charging stations used to have a 13A socket as well or just alone. The stations now just have the controlled Mennekes socket and the 13A has been removed. Is this a new standard across the UK which excludes those of us without the correct cable (without a EVSE)? Should Toyota and others be free issuing the cable to new owners since the date the standard, if any, was introduced. Will it change again in the future, excluding everybody here who does not wish to pay even more money? Where was the publicity announcing a large percentage (majority?) of car owners would be excluded?

 

I believe Toyota are still offering the 13amp household plug on the PIP but the new EVs are all going to have dedicated units such as the new Renault Zoe. Apparently it's for safety and also the Zoe charger doesn't go as low as 10 amps, only 16amps to about 70amps.

 

As I understand it, it was a European standard agreed for public charging. To be fair, as Ecotricity are deliberately aiming at a "superhighway" for pure EVs, based around motorway service stations, for which the essential feature is faster charging, it makes sense to concentrate on higher-powered charging, which needs a Mennekes connector. The cost of that does seem high, I'm not sure whether Mennekes waived patent royalties on the plug part, they did apparently on the coupler at the charging station.

Since the vast majority of charging is going to be at home, Toyota obviously need to provide a 3 pin compatible supply. I'd guess that in due course they will start throwing in a Mennekes lead, but at present the majority (just) of the plug-in points around towns are still 3 pin. For courtesy, if there are 3 pin bays we should really be using them in preference to higher rated ones, since everyone else needs the faster charging more than we do. And since, at the moment, Ecotricity are giving a free swipe card and free charging, it seems a bit churlish to complain...

 

I have just received the Ecotricity card. Unfortunately there don't seem to be any 13A, three pin sockets available at Ecotricity sites according to their maps so it is useless to me.

Our Electric Highway - For The Road - Ecotricity

 

Because it's been designed for BEV's needing a fast charge whilst driving long(er) distances.

The benefit of the PIP is you just carry on with petrol