Why is the charging port in back?

The obvious answer is to have a port on each end...

 

Hoo boy. So many ... replies! IRUN, hold me back LOL!

 

I seem to remember from my Navy days of aircraft line duty that electric input ports are generally situated on the other side of the fuselage from the refueling ports by design.

Perhaps to minimize threat of inadvertant sparking.

I can see pulling up to a full-service pump, in the 2 states that mandate full service, and having someone try and put gas in the charrging port.

 

This quote from a Volt owner yesterday may provide a little bit of enlightenment on the topic: "Today I got a ticket for parallel parking in front of my house with the car pointed against the flow of traffic. $45 down the drain, all because the charge-port is on the wrong side of the car. Grumble grumble grumble."

GE has been promoting their sidewalk charging-station. When you parallel park in our market, it's almost always with the passenger-side to the sidewalk... which just happens to be where the charge-port is on Prius, but not on Volt.

We'll find out as time goes on. At first, I will very likely have the charging-stations at work all to myself. So, no one will care how I park. Convenience of front or back may become apparent later. Put it this way, if I had to lay the cord over the vehicle to cross it, back would be perferred.
.

 

Many people are doing fine w 75 mile round trip commutes with a Leaf.
You might have to slow down to 60MPH, or if you had some charging at work, no problem.

I'm considering selling my 2010 Prius and going Leaf only. I have an old 1994 Suburban I plow the driveway with, that can be my backup to the Leaf. Only gets 12MPG, but I don't see using it more than a few times a year, besides plowing snow.

 

Problem with that is that it would increase the weight and cost beyond putting it in the front...

I'm going to partly disagree w/mitch672. From what I've seen on MNL, 75 miles roundtrip on a Leaf if there's no way to charge at work is cutting it too close for comfort. You will almost certainly need to slow down on the highway.

Also, to me, one would need to allow for some buffer/slack in the event of a traffic jam, high heater or AC use, battery degradation (esp. since nobody's had one for >1 year), taking a detour/alternate route.

I live very far from everything and there's a possibility that I could take a job that's 70+ miles roundtrip...

I used to work 24 miles one away from home (I'd do 68-74 on the highway and I wasn't the speed demon either) and would stop to get things on the way home everyday. I'd feel comfortable w/that in the Leaf but not too far beyond it.

 

Same here (I am going to break out the tape measure to confirm)
I was expecting a chord of 10-12 feet.24 feet would reach from the front left wall around the car.
I would rather back into a charging station parking spot than my garage. Even with my back up camera it is hard to avoid unexpected junk that always ends up on the garage floor and if I hit my garage door side wall it can't be taken to the body shop. It would embarrassing to tell my friends and family I hit my house with my car sober.

 

Because it was designed in the Penn State athletic department..

 

:doh:

 

I keep getting in trouble with my wife tonight while reading PriusChat in bed while she is (trying to) sleep next to me. I keep bursting out laughing...

 

Would like to comment on the earlier discussion on backing up into the parking spot to gain access to the charging station.

Take a look at this picture posted by DaveinOlyWA in the thread http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-prius-plug-in/100363-240v-home-charger-11.html#post1430771

I have seen how short these charging cables are, and the only way to gain access to the charging station is to back up the car. But then you will be facing the wrong way of traffic.

Any suggestions from Toyota? (I guess you can always slide the cable under the car ...)

 

Is this a ONE-WAY street??

 

Conversely, the rear passenger side is the worst...

 

ya i posted SEVERAL pics on the 240 volt thread as well. the blink pic above is unusual that the charger is placed on the side of the space. nearly all other chargers has the unit centered in front of the space so you can plug on either side of the car. as far as length most have 20-25 foot cables which is long enough to reach the parking spaces on each side as well

Dept of Ecology



LOTT Treatment Plant



with the units centered the plug can reach either side

no its not one way but the the direction from the left is the most accessible. you can drive around the block and come the other way...

but i had some concerns that right in front was an easy place to damage in accident as well and to be honest with ya, the plug in my garage is in the back but on drivers side. (the other side would have been a disaster...but with back up camera i would be ok, but SO would NEVER park in garage if she had to back in

 

As we used to say: What's the plural of idiot? Focus group.

 

Good thing for backup cameras on all PiPs

 

Agreed! I am really forward to having that as an upgrade.

 

note that the aversion to backing into spots is a US anomaly, and pulling forward into spots is actually considered bad almost everywhere else in the world. the PIP is being made a worldwide model with minimal modifications between regions, so it made sense to put the plug where it is.