Toyota, Why No Charge Cable Bag?

In my mind, Toyota missed a golden opportunity for a great finishing touch to the plug-in Prius experience by not including a nice bag for us to store the charging cable for our new cars.

I have been rather pleased about most everything I've experience with my plug-in Prius (it is simply a gorgeous car) but having nothing to neatly store the 120V charge cable just makes it feel like something is missing. Even just a nice cloth bag with the "Toyota Prius Plug-In" label would have made the experience simply more satisfying. That is, after all, what makes this car so special.

I can't imagine it costing Toyota more than $20 (maybe $50 if it was a case with foam) and it would have provided Toyota with great advertising. Plug-in car's are very new to the average consumer and someone carrying a stylish charger bag with the Toyota logo to their car would surely get noticed.

I would even gladly order one now as an accessory if they were available (but they aren't)!

At least, not yet.

If you send an email to Danny or JuicedHybrid.com maybe they will make up some bags to sell. In the meantime you can use any grocery store cloth shopping bag. I think I will use one of the Home Depot bags I have in my garage.

I agree, not too classy!

I was wondering the same thing:

http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-prius-plug-in/105026-ideas-storing-charging-cable.html

I actually have a red Toyota grocery re-usable bag that I put the cable in - because it says Toyota- I got it at a drive event near South Coast Plaza .

Could this be the promised Prius Swag for the pre-order members?

When I test drove a Leaf, the salesperson showed me the charging cable which was inside what looked like a small backpack. . .

Just wondering how a case or bag that would be stored inside of the car most of the time would make for great advertising?

I am still awaiting my PiP so please excuse my ignorance if I missed something. I do not have hands on experience. I thought that the trunk area had a special place to store the cable when unused. What would be the need for an extra bag? Are you taking the cable with you when you leave your car?

Yes, there is a storage area for the cable. I cant speak for the others. But my intention of using a bag or duffel was for when the charging cord gets dirty, muddy, or wet. Then it would be nice to throw it in a bag, rather than get the storage compartment all dirty.

There is a place for the cable under the mat and deck in the back that you have to lift to get to the cable. If you are carrying around stuff in the back, you may have to partially unload the back of your car to get to the cable. The Pre-production Plug-In had a cloth or canvas bag for the cable that was on top of the carpet/mat in the back. That would be a lot more convenient for anyone carrying stuff around in the back of the car. Some people have talked about buying a spare wheel to carry around since the car doesn't come with a spare. That would make it harder to get to the cable under the deck.

My cable and EVSE came in a bubble bag, so I guess I could use that if the cord is muddy and I want to put it in the car. Maybe the dealer was supposed to remove the cord from the bag as part of the dealer prep, like installing the floor mats.

If that is the worry I'd just wrap it in an old towel. When the cord gets dirty or wet I'd wipe it down and wrap it in the towel and then just throw the towel in the wash when I got home.

Exactly! And, it is so cumbersome to have to carry the charger cable to the back end of the car. It would nice to have a bag to put it in especially if it raining (or snowing) that could be taken home and cleaned (yet keeping the compartment in the car clean).

It's all too common now for a product to come in some sort of bubble pack that has to be destroyed to extract the product. Basically it's a billboard hanging on a store pegboard. Once purchased and removed from the package it's up to the consumer to cobble together something to contain the product, loose parts, and maybe a manual.

One thing I recently purchased that bucked this trend was a CTEK charger: it came with a roomy cloth bag with velcro flap, complet with a clear envelope on one side of the bag, for the manual. Kudos!

Just to clarify: what the cord came in was a plastic bag with bubbles that is often used for packing. Entirely re-usable for storing the cord. Not the hard plastic shells that take a tool kit to cut into and extract the product.

Donate to NPR and get a tote bag as a thank you gift.

The manuals we (or at least I) received from Toyota came in a very nice little packet. I was impressed with that. I think they should have made a bag for the charge cable that looked as nice.

Actually my manuals came in a nice leatherette looking pouch that Dianne bought for all of us PIP'ers.... not by Toyota, usually your dealership