Charger Recommendation

The Prius Prime can take the following:
Car option setting of 8amps max at 120/240 volts.
Car option setting of 12amps max at 120/240 volts.

If you have a 1,000 amp 240volt charger , the fastest/most any Gen4 Prime will charge at is 240volts at 12amps.
The same is true if you use any public charger.
I sometimes use a Chargepoint charger at work.

Some chargers will also let the user set a max amp charge.
The lesser amperage setting between the charger and the vehicle, is the charge-rate at which the vehicle charges at.


For example, I have a 120/240 volt charger that I can set to 6amps max charge.
Since I always charge overnight, I set the charger-defined max charge-rate of 6amps.
And then, my Prime charges at 6amps (as dictated by the charger), and not the 8amps or 12amps setting that is defined by the car-defined max charge-rate settings.


Without getting into any "p*********ing contests", you will never see any paper in a major publication that says that charging at a lower rate is bad or detrimental.
I'm not driving some 500+mile range electric vehicle.
Charging at 6amps 120volts is more than fast enough for me.
I don't "ricer dyno race" my Mustang.
And, I don't have any desire to ricer "dyno race", that I can charge my Prime faster than "you" can!


My Prime sits at least 8 hours between uses.
BFD if someone custom hacked a charging setup to DC charge in 0.00001 seconds.


Good Luck!

 

For chargers, I have a few:

I recommend: (get from the Canada Amazon web site )

Code:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09HG8TV8K/

Anbull Level 2 EV Charger (240 Volt, 25ft Cable, 16 A) Portable Electric Vehicle Charger Plug-in EV Charging Station with NEMA 6-20P
Price: $149.99
(Note, with an esve 120/240 volts adapter cable, this charger will work fine at 120volts.)
This is the charger that I typically use, at 120v, and I have set at a charger-defined max 6amp charger rate.

I do have 30amp L14-30R 240volts outlets outside, and in my garage.
That way, if I wanted to, I could use a charger at 12amps and 240volts, for a quicker charge.
But, mostly, I use the 240V outlets for my MIG welder, and other stuff.



Also:

Code:

https://www.primecom.tech/

https://www.primecom.tech/

Great options for their 16amp charger (many plug options, and 30ft, 35ft, 40ft, and 50ft cable length options)!
Sorry, they don't offer any cables in metric. ;-)

Code:

https://www.primecom.tech/products/new-16-amp-level-2-portable-ev-charger

https://www.primecom.tech/products/new-16-amp-level-2-portable-ev-charger
(Note, no charger-defined charge rate options for this model)


Good Luck!

.

 

That is a 32-amp EVSE. (240v * 32a = 7.7kW)

Note that supporting any sustained draw requires 80% of the lines capacity. So to get 32 amps, you need a 40-amp line (8-gauge wire).

 

Yes, imho, the electrician is doing the correct thing, by adding an outlet that could support a 240v 30amp charger, in the future.
Who knows, they may decide they want a full-EV in the future, or next week.
If the electrician presently just added a "good enough for now" 240v 15-amp socket/circuit, it'd be double the cost to upgrade the circuit at a later time (two trips, when only one trip was needed),

That's the same reason I have Two 240V 30amp circuits for my outside and garage.
Yet, I still mainly use my charger at 120v and 6amps.
Wire it once.

Btw, to run my evse charger at 120V, I just use socket-adapters on those circuits.
I like to run my evse charger on a separate circuit. The circuits have all new 10GA wiring, and direct point-to-point runs between the electrical panel and the outlets (no junction boxes, detours, etc).

 

5 years later for us, that's the case. I had 40-amp lines installed, figuring 7.7 kW would end up becoming the norm. When you do the math, 8 hours of charging will deliver roughly 200 miles of range. Sure enough, the upgrade from Prius Prime to bZ4X will match that anticipated future usage.

Ideally, you would have the NEMA 14-50 outlet connected with 6-guage wire to a 50-amp breaker. That's the max supported for a 240-volt outlet. There's no point though if the vehicle cannot utilize greater load. And if you want to favor lowest cost electricity, you'll be recharging overnight anyway. So, no benefit from faster. If you truly need it, just use DC instead.

It is interesting now looking back, 5 years later.

 

I was fortunate that the builder of our house had put a blank outlet on the inside garage wall just opposite the breaker panel on the outside wall, so when I got a L2 EVSE, the electrician put in a 4 foot run to the outlet with a NEMA 6-50 receptacle for the Chargepoint Home charger. A rebate from my electric utility paid pretty much paid for the EVSE, and it was a couple of hundred dollars for the electrician to put in the receptacle and install the EVSE.

 

Welcome and congrats! As several mentioned, if you'll be there long term, and you have any inkling that you might get an EV later, then the highest amperage outlet permitted would be the way to go. But the cheapest would be a 20A circuit and get a 240V, 16A, level 2 EVSE. They can be had for under $200.

I'm guessing that's a typo since the Prime will max out at 16A with a 16A EVSE cable.

I have several days a week where I make multiple trips, so I need to charge as quickly as possible. Also, charging at L2, 16A pulls less electricity from the wall since the fans and computers run for less than half the time of L1 charging.

 

Good catch Jerry!


The max charging rates are 240V@16A, or 120V@12A.
I agree that having the 240V 16A charging ability is good for people that may take multiple trips a day.

Below is from the 2022 Prius Prime User's manual:



.

 

It has been two years since this thread was last updated. Does anyone have any new recommendations?

I'm looking for portable J1772 L1/L2 EVSEs, something higher capacity than the 12 amps of the Toyota L1 unit included with the car, which has already been successfully used in 'off-label' L2 mode on a NEMA 10-50 welding outlet at the family farm. The 2023-24 RAV4 can take up to 6.6 kW / ~28 amps, much more than the factory 1.4 kW unit.

I want to travel with just one EVSE, and standard 120V outlets have been by far the most common wall outlets found so far at lodgings where J1772s were not nearby, so the L1 mode must be included. I'm not yet sure what variety of other outlets will be found in our future travels, but do remember TT-30 (120V) and NEMA 14-50 (240v) at camp sites where we needed other electrical support for cycling events.

The Grizzl-E Mini mentioned above reached the market and appears to have good ratings, though is not inexpensive and seems to require wi-fi to change settings. The ClipperCreek unit (now Enphase?) also mentioned above is capped at 16 amps, not enough faster than I have now. And none of the multi-adapter units I've checked, including the portable Tesla charger mentioned in another thread, include an adapter for the NEMA 10-50 outlet used back at the farm. Though generic outlet adapters are available.

What other or new units might people be recommending?

 

For a 2022 Prius Prime with its 8.8 kWh battery, an 8 kW Level 2 charger would be ideal. I'd recommend looking into the ChargePoint Home Flex or the JuiceBox Pro 40 chargers. Both are well-reviewed, UL-certified models that can charge at up to 9.6 kW while offering flexibility to adjust to lower amperage requirements like 8 kW for your building. Don't forget to factor in potential installation costs from an electrician as well when budgeting for the Level 2 setup.

 

I have the ChargePoint Home Flex. Depending on whether it is hardwired or plugged-in to an outlet (choose before purchasing, it has three versions, different pigtail included in box), it can be set in multiple steps from 3.8 to 12 kW (16, 24, 32, 40, 48, or 50 amps), depending on the circuit it is attached to.

Mine is the NEMA 14-50 outlet version, on a circuit with 40 amp breaker (32 amps / 7.62 kW max). There is a conflict between the installation instructions, recommending against a GFCI breaker for plug-in versions, and my local electrical inspector, who did require a GFCI breaker for the wall outlet. ChargePoint recommends a hardwired installation for this case, which is a separate option choice that must be selected before purchase. But so far, my main panel GFCI and ChargePoint's internal GFCI together have not caused any nuisance trips.

So far -- less than three months -- I am very happy with it. Driving a RAV4 Prime, which can charge at 6.6 kW.

 

I would also investigate a 7kW or 8kW charger, if installing a new one, just in case I bought a different EV/PHV with greater AC charging capacity. Of course the Prius PHVs/Primes are all limited to 3.3kW or 3.5kW, which is the case for the OP's 2022 Prime, so they can't utilize the full 7kW or 8kW.

We're still using a portable granny charger from a 10Amp socket. The charger is permanently mounted in the garage and seldom used as a portable charger. It charges at only 1.7kW every night and takes a few hours until full - but this is still well before I wake so no problem at all. Somewhere I read that the majority of drivers charge like this i.e. without a hardwired Level 2 charger. Apparently this is thought to be less safe and less flexible with regard to matching charging times and cheap power rates.

But does this bother owners of PHVs/Primes with small batteries? Due to the small battery in all Prius PHVs/Primes I can't see the need for more timing "smarts" than the Prius's inbuilt timer to program when charging starts. (If necessary it can be different each day of the week.) But perhaps I'm wrong and there are locations where more timing "smarts" might help?

 

Bump.

Note that I'm looking for a portable unit, not a wall unit. Must be both L1 and L2, preferably with user selectable current limits to or near my RAV4 Prime's max (~ 28 amps).

Separately, is there much experience here charging J1772 vehicles from Tesla / NACS destination stations (not supercharger CCS or CHAdeMO)? E.g. what portion of outlets (if any) will serve Toyotas or other non-Teslas without being locked out by registration or accounting blockages? And any preferred J1772-NACS adapters of correct flavor and sufficient quality, not going to overheat or burn up?

I recently supported a cycling event where, of several mid-day recharging opportunities, the sole J1772 station was fully occupied by a Rivian attending aother event, and a couple other stops were near only Tesla plugs. Evening charging was available (juggling timeslots between BEVs), but I was skunked on daytime refills.

 

I got a Ford level 1, 2 evse on ebay new in the unopened box for a low price. I think these come with some Mustang ev’s. Future project to install a 50 amp outlet, but it also has a standard 120 volt plug, interchangeable.

 

I'm seeing all sorts of numbers out there. Another thread stated, "US owner's manual says 3.5 kW (14.6 A @ 240 V), and the Japan owner's manual says 3 kW (15 A @ 200 V)."
But my owners manual for the 2024 PP states max is 8A (or maybe it can be customized DOWN to 8A).
I've found nothing in my manual that says it can run at 16A (which at 220V gives us 3.5kw, or at 110V gives us gives us 110/1.7kw).

So...what is the max flow the onboard charger will allow? Really? In amps?

 

I believe the later is correct, the car's internal charger can be customized to throttle down to 8 amps. My RAV4 Prime (R4P) has 3 internal choices: MAX (default, ~29 amps), 16, or 8 amps. Last week, on an old 120V outlet (12 amp limit) that seemed to make the plug noticeably warmer than previous outlets, setting the current down to 8 amps very noticeably cooled the plug. That also means I should inspect and possibly replace that old outlet (at the family farm).

From my understanding, the internal charger pulls a declared amperage, independent of supply voltage. Toyota gives its power rating at 240V, not 220V, so your 3500W rating means [3500 W / 240 V] = 14.6 amps. But the signaling protocol between external EVSE and internal car charger sets the maximum allowed current in 0.6 amp** increments, so the car can really draw up to either 14.4 or 15.0 amps (+/- unknown tolerances). I'm guessing that 14.4 amps is the actual nominal figure.

My new R4P is rated 7 kW (vs 6.6 or 3.3 kW for earlier editions), or about 29.4 amps from 240V. But at a campground 50 amp RV outlet post, a portable EVSE reported a supply voltage of 248 V (which is within utility supply tolerances), and delivered power of 7.3 kW. The current was not reduced by the higher supply voltage.

Plenty of J1772 outlets I have visited have declared maximums less than 7 kW, most commonly 6.x kW, with a very wide variety of "x". Using the signaling protocol, the EVSE tells the car how much current (not power) it is allowed, and the car obeys, stepping down its current draw to comply. The current drops further as the battery approaches full and charging current is tapered down under internal control, and I have seen figures lower than the 6 amp minimum of the EVSE signaling protocol.

This same portable EVSE can set the allowed current to anywhere from 7 amps to more than my R4P can accept. Last week, playing with the set point on the external EVSE controls to various limits (less than the R4P's max current), the car's internal charger really did obey what I set on the EVSE.

(**) At some much higher power range, the signal protocol jumps to higher current increments, but I don't know of any PHEVs that charge at those rates, only full-BEVs.

 

We have 2 AC chargers for our 2018 Prius PHV, which is a Japanese import:

1. for home use i.e. 10A circuits (where we live)
2. for campground use i.e. 16A circuits (where we live)

However, the actual maximum currents seen are lower than the circuit ratings i.e. 7.5A and approx 15.5A respectively.

EVSE's are often designed to have currents somewhere around approx. 85% of nominal rated circuit loads for safety reasons. The reason is that when the nominal ratings were set decades ago the typical maximum currents typically seldom expected - perhaps most often for winter heating. With the advent of widespread, frequent EV charging over many hours and in addition to the existing loads e.g. winter heating, then electrical circuits overheat and the risk of fire greatly increases - especially in domestic housing.

Since different countries have different maximum current ratings for electrical circuits, then the EVSE's are likely to be different too, along with different maximum currents.

The original OP's question about the max. current to the on-board charger. From my experience this fluctuates up to as much as 15.5A. (Yes, this is above the 85% rule-of-thumb of 13.5A for a 16A circuit but these are not domestic circuits.) This limit may actually be determined by the EVSE i.e. not the on-board charger. My handbook states that the maximum charging current at 200V is 16A - which I have never observed.

15.5A provides up to 3.5kW for sustained periods at 230V. In frequent cases the voltage in rural areas fluctuates between about 220V and 240V and temperatures vary so the sustained charging power often drops e.g. to around 3.3kW. Internationally, the nominal national voltage is typically 100V to 120V or 200V to 240V - so owners can expect varying charging power in spite of the same maximum current to the on-board charger.

 

The U.S. National Electric Code (NEC) allows short term loads to use 100% of a circuit's current rating and circuit protection, but long term loads are allowed to use only 80%. These were set long before the modern EV era, and plenty of devices were affected even in the old days. When EVs came along, their charging fell into the long term load category.

Not many American homes would have 10 amp circuits these days. Common modern 120V circuits are built and breakered for 15 amps (allowing 12 amps EV charging) or 20 amps (allowing 16 amps EV charging). With plenty of consumers not understanding the difference, it seems that the car makers have universally kept their factory-included L1 EVSEs limited to 12 amps.