Just closed on a Prime; I'm headed back to the dealer right after I post to pick it up. I don't have an outlet where I'm going to park the car (next to my house), so I'll need to get an electrician. It should be a straightforward install: the breaker panel is right on the other side of the foundation wall from where I'll be parked. I imagine that an overnight charge will be fine almost all the time; I can't say that ~5 hours will never be useful rather than 11 hours but it would probably be unusual. Since I'm having it put in anyway, would the level 2 have any other advantages? Side note: having an outside 110v outlet in that spot would be useful for other things. Also, do charging installations for plug-in hybrids (level 1 or 2) count for tax credits? Federal or state (I'm in NY). thanks.
L2. Future-proofing. If you want a 120V outlet outside, add that too. I have a RAV4 Prime, a recent version that can charge at 7 kW (vs 3.3 and 6.6 for earlier versions). Being retired and not commuting daily, or even driving daily (most bicycle rides start at home, not by driving somewhere), I don't fully charge it every night, just when expecting to go somewhere distant. The rest of the time it sits with just a small charge on it for impromptu short errands. This thing is listed as fully charging at L2 in 2.5 hours when set to Max rate (vs lower settings of 8 or 16 amps). But the last 0.5 hour is tapering down, plus some margin for cushion. In practice, it is "full enough" at 2.0 hours from empty, or less from the typical leftover partial charge. With our retired lifestyle, we have a number of short-notice outings needing a greater charge. Having full L2 available means that I achieve a significantly higher fraction of miles on EV instead of gasoline than if only L1 was available, without needing to leave it parked for long periods with a high battery state of charge. OTOH, a daily work commuting pattern could be very well served with simple L1 charging.
