All about EV charging and whats coming

The charging rate for AC charging is the lesser rating of the cars onboard charger and the EVSE (either built into your charging cord or the wall unit).

Volt x Amps = Watts
You are charging at 120V x 12A (best guess) = 1440W or 1.44kW.

I am pretty sure the Prius plugin isn’t equipped to handle fast (DC) charging.

 

I believe that the version of the Prius Prime sold in Japan is able to accept CHAdeMO fast DC charging. However, because CHAdeMO stations are not common in the U.S., Toyota did not include this feature in the North American model of the Prius Prime.

There was some discussion on Prius Chat about retrofitting the North American model, but it was concluded that this would not be feasible and, even if so, there is no simple way to installed a CHAdeMO fast charging station in a typical residential setting.

Finally, it's worth noting that all types of "fast charging" require a large amount of energy to be delivered in a short time. This kind of extreme peak loading is well beyond a typical 200-amp residential electric service which also has to concurrently support normal household uses. Therefore, to provide "fast charging" at home requires some kind of energy storage where a "tank" of energy (such as a battery or capacitor) is charged at a moderate rate over a period of time and then quickly dumped to quick-charge the vehicle.

This same issue exists in developing the utility power grid so that there is sufficient capacity to support commercial fast-charging stations. The problem is not trivial.

 

Our Prius PHV has a CHAdeMO port, yes it's a Japanese import. I've written about this and our charging rates on AC and DC here:

I doubt that charging the PHEV often at this rate is good for the battery even though Toyota has designed the PHEV to limit the max. DC current to "only" about 74 Amp.

Typically these fast charging stations are supplied by the utility grid with 3 phase power. Charging parks with many of these stations would connect directly to the high voltage power grid using between 2,000V and 35,000V. These grids move a lot of power to some very large users, so supply of the power isn't new but does require thought and suitable investment.

 

Elektroingenieur has found some interesting entries in the Japanese handbook for the Japanese Prius PHV (and our imported Prius) outlining what Toyota considers an acceptable frequency for fast charging using CHAdeMO:

So Toyota feels CHAdeMO charging on a daily basis might not be too excessive. We have used our CHAdeMO port once - it charged from 0% to 80% in 17 minutes providing 4.8kWh of power i.e. a rate of 17kW at a current of 74Amp! This is "fast charging" for a PHV.

Elektroingenieur found a few more details detailing "fast" and "normal" charge rates:

Elektroingenieur does add the following comment of caution:

 

Agreed, we tend to have higher expectations.

Remember, OEM engineering expectations end along with the car warranty. While those of us in CARB regulation states enjoy a 10 year, 150K mile warranty on our battery packs - we don't get a CHAdeMO charging option either.

Just something to think about........

Does anyone know what the OEM battery pack warranty on a Japanese Prime is/covers?

 

In my 2017 Prime, DrPrius shows 9 amps max when charging L2 (220 volts) and 3 amps amps max when charging L1 (120 volts). Keep in mind that charging ramps down for several reasons during the charge session. So you'll only see the max rate of ( 9 amps at 220 volts or 3 amps at 120 volts ) when the system allows, and than only for a very short time as the charging rate ramps down the power slowly.