Can a British EVSE Cable be Used on an American Car?

Perhaps it is because the Prius on-board charger can only handle 2.3kW?

 

And the reason it's 2.3 kw and not 3 or 2.7 is what? Because the 230v system can handle 10 amps maybe?

 

I don't see why the OP's new EVSE won't work at 240v 60hz in the US.
Read the label in the photo...

At 240v the EVSE only draws 9.6amps.

 

Who knows? I would suspect it was originally designed for the US and Japanese mass markets. A balance of time against power. Ours just follows that design.

UK plugs and sockets can each support 13A indefinitely which is why the maximum appliance fuse is 13A and energy hungry equipment like kettles and heaters are designed to pull up to a limit of 3kW. If the limit were 10A a 10A fuse would be the maximum to protect the integrity of the socket (the ring can support much higher currents).

 

this thing must be awfully cheap for you to go to all this trouble.

 

tough being a pioneer.

 

Straight answers:

Such a plug will not meet electrical code anywhere in the US.
As such, your home owners policy should not cover failures.
Toyota has informed you that modifying the ESVE would leave you at risk that your warranty might be invalid.
Both here on PriusChat and in a NHTSA recall of Bosch ESVE there is a real risk of fire if strict compliance with the best practices is not taken. (Does this mean you WILL burn down your home and car? No, but it may mean that if you do, no insurance or warranty covers it. You are on your own.)
NHTSA Investigates Bosch Charger | PriusChat
Need advice - Outlet caught fire | PriusChat

Electrically it will work. I have listed the parts you need to do the work yourself. No sane licensed electrician is going to be any help with such an unwise project.

That is as straight as I know.

 

This should do it: Quick 220 Systems: International Plug Adapter <br />6-15 Plug to Universal Receptacle
You'll need a US style 220 outlet that meets the NEMA 6-15 specification.

Or just assemble an adapter cable with a plug that fits your US 240 Volt outlet and a receptacle that fits the cord.

 

No no no. Don't do it. Sure it would work - for a little while. Those adapters are designed for small items you'd take on holiday such as phone chargers, hair dryers (limited use time), fans and similar. Not to charge an electric car for hours on end. It would be a good way to set fire to your house!

Every household in the UK will have a couple of those adapter plugs (as travel around Europe requires them), and the ones I have are definitely made to a budget

 

Take a look at the entire Quick 220 Systems site. I think their plug adapter is probably up to the job given the rest of the items they sell. Their quick220 adapters produce 220 volts from two standard 120 volt outlets. Several of the applications they describe are doing 220 charging of Tesla and PIP, using two standard 120 volt outlets.

I've got a 220 volt tea kettle that I use in a similar manner. The American wiring system is dual 120 volt, with 240 volts available by taking one wire from each of the 120 halves. It turns out that the kitchen in my house runs 3 wires to each outlet, not including ground. The original wiring connected one hot wire plus common to half the outlets, and the other hot wire and common in the other outlets. So I wired a pair of sockets to use opposite hot wires. Then I made an adapter box with a British 3 connector outlet, and two 120 volt cords. The end result is a 240 volt British outlet that connects to the tea kettle. The 3000 watt tea kettle heats water in about half the time of an American standard 1800 watt tea kettle.

 

That shouldn't matter, even if the car's on-board charger can draw way more than 10 amps @ 240 volts.

It's up to the EVSE to indicate via the pilot signal's duty cycle (J1772Basics - open-evse - The Basics of the J1772 pilot protocol - Open Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) - Google Project Hosting ) how many amps at max it can put out. The car's on-board charger is supposed to comply. I'd imagine an EVSE would shut down pretty quickly if the car didn't comply overdrew what it was allowed per the pilot.

Plenty of folks w/Leafs and other cars w/6+ kW OBCs or even 10 kW OBCs (e.g. Rav4 EV and Tesla Model S) are sometimes forced to charge at lower amperages at 208/240 volts than the max the vehicle can handle. Take look at Toyota Rav4 EV Forum &bull; View topic - Range Chart Miles Gained per Hour Charging. 40 amp 208/240 volts EVSEs are actually pretty rare at home and in public. Most public L2 AC charging in the US is 208 volts, 30 amps max.

 

And that is my concern. The charger is rated at 10 amps. That means the wiring has been designed for and tested to 10 amps, not 15 amps and not 20 amps. Try drawing more than 10 amps through the cable and it could melt or catch fire.

Or am I not getting this?

 

Yes, I get your 1st part. What I'm saying is that the EVSE itself should be emitting a pilot signal w/appropriate duty cycle so that car's on-board charger will draw no more than 10 amps.

At my work, we've personally had some issues with ChargePoint Introduces CT4000-Series Charger with Unique Power Sharing Option | Inside EVs getting into a state where I'd emit the wrong pilot signal despite each handle having its own 40 amps feed (30 amp max draw). There was some software bug on the EVSE side that basically only let each car draw ~15 amps, as if power sharing was on for the case where there's only 1 40 amp feed coming in, instead of a 40 amp feed for each of its handles. So, any cars w/6+ kW OBCs were suddenly charging much slower than they could be.

Fortunately, Chargepoint HQ is nearby us and 1 employee they sent out to work on this I actually know from the EV community.

 

....and to make this statement more clear, the PiP onboard charger "will never" draw more than the rated capacity of the EVSE.

 

I don't actually think it is reasonable to think that every car company should employee a group of people skilled enough to evaluate each possible engineering change that someone might email in and provide an official, safe OK for you to make or not make changes.

I'm not sure why anyone would think that this would be economical. Especially today with the Internet and how many people would send in all sorts of questions...and when one suggestion gets the OK how many non-skilled people might get copied on the reply and incorrectly attempt to implement it because Toyota Corporate said it was OK.

It is one thing if you are futzing around trying to hack something small or cheap or not too dangerous. But you could damage something expensive, get killed from the high voltage (really from the current), or send a faulty car out on to the road. Do you really think the people who read email should be doing this?

Mike

 

Hi everyone,

i have question about Plug in cable.

i gave 2012 plug in from USA with own cable. on this cable written:

input voltage: 110-120V 12A
output voltage: 110-120V 12A

can i connect it in 220-230V soccet?
if no, what is solution?

thanks

 

Google "EVSE Upgrade". Your EVSE will not work on British voltage. The EVSE front EVSE Upgrade, will.

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