Charging Area wet

5.5 years of plugging in my Prius, through rain & snow. It is clearly no big deal.

The surrounding enclosure gets wet, but the plug itself is always fine.

 

Even if it's ok that the area is wet, it is very annoying. I keep a towel around on raining days. I hope Toyota can implement a design change of the lid and make the lid weather proof when not charging。

 

and while they're at it let's make the WHOLE CAR weatherproof because it can be REALLY ANNOYING with a wet car

 

Oops! I left my charging door open ALL NIGHT! and there was mildew ALL over the inside to the charging port, where's that weatherproofing towel when you need one?

 

What's annoying about it? It's DESIGNED to be wet! If it weren't, you'd have to run outside, stop charging, put your charging cord away, and close the lid every time it was raining while you were charging outside!

 

There’s a very good reason why Toyota designed it the way they did. If the door to the charging plug was waterproof, then moisture would get trapped inside the compartment after charging in the rain (or in humid conditions) and that would be a bad thing. The door is designed to allow air flow to circulate, which allows things to dry.

Toyota thought this through very carefully. The last thing they would ever want to do is release a plug-in that could not be charged outside. Airflow in that compartment is a good thing.

 

The J1772 plug and associated electrical protocol was specifically designed to be used when wet. Toyota has a very conservative legal department, and they wouldn't put in a high voltage system unless they felt it was rock solid against liability claims.

 

Bisco, Are you still trying to make Trouble ??? Funny.
I was wondering Again why Toyoto kept the Prime's double-wide charging port in the US, when we don't use the right-side that is used in Europe. How many Primes are sold in the US verses in countries that use the 2-port charging?
When it's Icey-Snow, the door is hard to close and lock or to pop it open.

 

hi ken!
sales are skyrocketing in japan. we get it to save money. when you add it all up, it makes prime a bargain over the competition.
how are you liking yours?

 

I thought the right port was for CHAdeMO, which is popular in Japan. Toyota sells a lot of Prius cars in Japan.

 

You mean I can drive out of the desert now? Thank the heavens! I thought I would have to live in the desert with my new Prime!