Plugless...or is that being heretical?

absolutely, whatever floats your boat. i wouldn't be interested, it's easy to plug in, but i'm sure some would be.

 

Hmmm... Wonder about the risk if a cat wanders near the coil while it's charging. Maybe with a metal tag on its collar.

 

solution to the wild animal problem? dual use chargers.

 

pro: convenient
con: additional hardware cost, less efficient (loss of energy in transmission, constantly plugged in for sensors).

 

something like the apple macbook magnetic charger would be cool. not sure how it would be in the elements though.

 

and the Toyota PiP???????????????

 

I would totally use that if they had one for the PiP.

 

$2,000 to $2,500 PLUS installation. Not for me.

 

I agree!

 

My friend just bought a Leaf. He wanted to install a 240V EVSE. His location was 3 feet from his breaker panel. First I told him to just upgrade his EVSE for about $300 and we could install it into a junction box, but he wanted a 30A EVSE, so I told him to buy a $500 EVSE and we'd wire it directly. He wound up paying $800 for an EVSE and he paid a guy like $400 to install it (no permit).

Some people just like to spend money.

 

I just finished reading a report on the plugless charging system for the Volt. Weird but it actually had better efficiency when it was slightly off center, ~100mm off from being directly over it. Highest efficiency was 88.8 %, lowest was slightly lower than 84%.

It'll probably be part of a package for the 2017 PiP Advanced.

iPad ? HD

 

Can someone with this plugless charging leave a laptop or box of bare hard disk drives in the trunk while charging, say, over a couple of months and report how those devices are affected or not? (Semi-)

 

I think Toyota tested/is testing wireless charging on the PiP as well, though I haven't heard much about it since they first cropped up in news stories.

Next Toyota Prius Plug-in Will Be Able To Charge Wirelessly | CleanTechnica

That said, I don't think I'd want to pay for this, as it's pretty expensive and also a lot less efficient. Though I don't own a plug-in (yet...), if I did I'd just plug the car in.

For what it is though, I think it would make it convenient for people who can't or are too lazy to plug in their vehicles. They'd just have to be a little more patient as it's not going to recharge faster than plugging directly.

 

I'm not sold on induction-charging. If this is the same technology used in phones, I think it's a lot more wasteful than "unplugging your phone to save power."

 

Heard a story years ago from some electrical engineer guys. Someone had built a "mattress" of wound copper wire and built it into panels of his walls. Apparently, it absorbed enough power from a nearby power line to run a few things in the house. I'm not sure how much that was, but it was enough to get him charged with "theft of power" even though it could be argued that the electromagnetic energy he was harvesting was going to waste anyway.

 

I'm at the cost point that if I lose the stock EVSE or it breaks, I may not purchase another one. At $3 a gallon gasoline, electricity plugging in costs roughly he same per mile. Even when we go back to $4.50 a gallon, my 25% EV ratio wouldn't be enough to make it worthwhile.

I'm guessing wireless charging will be my leather seats, 32/64 GB iPhone, or extra leg room in economy class. It'll be a luxury that I will turn down because I am cheap.

 

They do offer it for PIP.
Follow the link in the first post- then click the "How to Buy" tab and select "Toyota Prius PHV".

 

there is no how to buy tab? under the pricing tab, it says it's available for the volt, leaf and elr, with more coming in the future. in the faq's, it says they will offer for new models as they launch, nothing about existing models being added in the future.

 

Maybe you need to refresh your cashe (Ctrl-r)..?