I've been wondering about the home plug-in receptacle installation for the hoped-for plug-in Prius. What would it look like? What kinds of exotic components would be required? Would the home "service station" look industrial strength or would it look and behave like a standard 110VAC receptacle? Anybody have any pics or drawings?
I would guess that toyota would make it as "friendly" as possible. They don't want to alienate potential consumers just because the interface looks confusing or something. So my guess is it'll be a fairly simple hookup, probably just an AC-DC converter with a retractable cord that plugs into a port on the front of the car. if Toyota was really smart about it, they would make sure it was very small (or perhaps integrate the converter in the car and have the car plug straight into a wall socket?) so it would be taken with you on road trips easily.
For it to be viable, it has to be ABSOLUTELY standard, installable by any electrician or even a competent home user. 220V, 30A just like a dryer outlet, using standard plugs. Many EV owners carry a fistful of adapters to various high-current plug types around, just because they never know what they'll run into while traveling. . The system should be chargeable from a 110V outlet too, but that is much slower and should NOT be the preferred option. A good charger should just deal with whatever comes in over a wide range [like most computer power supplies nowadays -- 80 to 250 V or something] and just hand appropriate power out the other side. There may need to be some option for the user to tell the supply "you can only draw X amount of current" at any given voltage since the supply doesn't know what its circuit is fused at. . _H*
Why not an R/V type plug? I have a 115vac/50 amp service on the side of my house, and there are many R/V service stations across the country.
I have seen numerous photos showing charge stations with plug-in-capable cars happily getting their batteries (I assume traction batts) "topped off." I also assume the vehicle owner pays a fee and that the pedestal accepts money and/or plastic. True or not true? How are these pedestals configured electrically? Are they wired for 220VAC? Is the plug user-provided, and is the plug configuration similar to, say a dryer or electric stove? A 30 amp RV plug seems plausible, and there are a heck of a lot of them around. I'm trying to visualize what I would have to do in terms of a household electrical installation when plug-in becomes more widespread.
