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220-240v Portable Chargers, please recommend.

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by HighLouie, Mar 31, 2017.

  1. HighLouie

    HighLouie New Member

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    Hello friends,

    I own 2013 PiP and I'm totally in love with it, except I cannot use "Pi" function of the car when I'm on the road or in different city. I've been searching for days until I realized Toyota only made 110v chargers for the car.

    I live in Tbilisi, Georgia (not US, It's Europe) where the outlet provides 220v power, pretty much everywhere in the country. I found some chargers from other companies but I have 0 experience with EVs.

    Please recommend a good charger that doesn't cost too much. I don't really care about charger levels or charging speed as long as it doesn't need more then overnight to fully charge a car.

    Thank you in advance.

    P.s. Also, I stumbled upon EVSEUPGRADE who claim they can upgrade/modify the existing charger to make it compatible with 240v power. Do you recommend doing this?
     
  2. ILuvMyPriusToo

    ILuvMyPriusToo Senior Member

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    Welcome! There are differences between US 240 and Eur 220 that I'll leave to someone more electrically inclined to explain, but wish you luck with this. It seems like something other Europeans would have worked out one way or another.
     
  3. QuantumFireball

    QuantumFireball Active Member

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    I'm not sure where you got that information from. Mine came with an OEM portable EVSE designed for 230V AC, which was standard equipment with PiPs sold in the UK (I imported used into Ireland). I can try and get the part number if you want (it's at home so will have to check later).

    The PiP will do a maximum of 10A @ 230V, which means about 2 kW, so it will only take 90 minutes to charge (usable battery capacity is about 3 kWh). There are no different levels for charging at this voltage with this car.

    If you're talking about using public charging points, the portable EVSE is no good to you (these are for charging off normal domestic AC outlets) - you'll just need a cable to connect directly to the car. I don't know what's standard in Georgia, but in western Europe public AC chargers are generally Type 2 (IEC 62196) and your Prius is Type 1 (SAE J1772) - so if this is the same for you, you will need to get a separate Type 1 to Type 2 cable. I found some pictures of public chargers in Tbilisi which look like Type 2, but I couldn't find much information in English about EV charging in Georgia the country, and not the US state...

    I got my Type 1 to Type 2 cable from here: www.evcables.co.uk
    They also do portable EVSEs. Not sure if they're a viable option for you since you're outside of the EU (import duty could be expensive).
     
    #3 QuantumFireball, Mar 31, 2017
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2017
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  4. HighLouie

    HighLouie New Member

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    Thank you so much for answers, I meant portable EVSE, Sorry for not clearing that up.

    Please do if it won't be too much trouble.

    My car has been imported from US to Georgia.
     
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    congrats and welcome!
    evse upgrade won't work for you. go with quantum's recommendation all the best!(y)
     
  6. QuantumFireball

    QuantumFireball Active Member

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    G9060-47230 is the part number. It's rated for 220-240V 50/60Hz. There's a few on eBay from the UK but they're not cheap.

    If you buy from some other country with different domestic plugs, you can just cut it off and re-wire with something suitable for local use. When I bought my car it actually had an IEC 60309 230V 16A connector on it (standard for industrial/outdoor use around here - previous owner must have fitted this), but I just removed that and wired my own plug on it.

    Importing from the US sounds like an expensive way of getting a PIP! Surely the lights are non-compliant, and the radio is half useless, not to mention other potential issues? We often import used cars from Japan here (FM radio also an issue, but we're used to it), but that's mainly because depreciation on cars is astronomical over there.
     
  7. HighLouie

    HighLouie New Member

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    I'm sorry I wasn't able to respond. Thank you for that information, that's exactly what I needed. Georgia uses 240v 50Hz Electricity standard with mostly Type F sockets, so I assume "G9060-47230" part will work flawlessly if I just replace the plug as you said.

    I bought the car when it was already imported here. I wouldn't buy it without clean toyota diagnostic paper. I'm pedantic like that :D Pretty much everything works as expected. Fm frequencies are correct as well. The only issue was that I had to get used to MPGs and °F, instead of L/100km and °C.

    P.s. wow... Only place I could find this part was on ebay and it's really expensive...
     
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  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    how much in u.s. dollars?
     
  9. HighLouie

    HighLouie New Member

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    It's about 575 USD with shipping which is just too much for me... You can find it on british ebay, just search for "G9060-47230"
     
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  10. QuantumFireball

    QuantumFireball Active Member

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    In the US, for FM they only use odd decimals with 200 kHz increments, e.g. 87.9, 88.1, 88.3, etc. - whereas in Europe they may use 50 kHz or 100 kHz spacing. I don't know what the US Prius radio is like but some won't let you tune outside of the 200 kHz spacing. They also use 10 kHz spacing for AM (medium wave) whereas most of the world uses 9 kHz - maybe not a problem if you don't use AM any more, or the importer was able to change the radio configuration.

    Here's a cheaper option, but still not that cheap (€289): Portable Charger Type 1 - Charge your EV from any household electric power point
    You might have better luck looking for similar retailers closer to you. OEM portable chargers are generally quite expensive.
     
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  11. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    they're not cheap here, either. maybe you can search for a used one?

    so, because 220v is standard in europe, does that mean there is no L1 charging?

    also, what do you mean 'when i'm on the road or a different city.? what do you do at home, or in your city?
     
  12. HighLouie

    HighLouie New Member

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    Oh now that you mentioned it, I noticed that as well in my car. In Georgia there is 100kHz increments between channels, however, because there are so much US Imported cars (this my theory) and because noone really bothers to change car radio configuration here, stations still prefer to use frequencies that end with odd numbers. In fact there are only 5 stations that end with even number.

    I was aiming for This One, can you please check it out for me? I think it should work fine if I just replace the plug head with standard schuko type. Thank you in advance.

    I have a stationary solution which came with the car, however it's a bit bulky and takes too much space if I try to travel with it. I still have a spare wheel laying in my trunk, adding that would leave no space for actual luggage.

    I'm not sure to be honest, you're probably right, but there are so much variables with electricity, that I don't know if I'm qualified enough to answer that.
     
    #12 HighLouie, Apr 5, 2017
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2017
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  13. QuantumFireball

    QuantumFireball Active Member

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    I'm not aware of any country in Europe that isn't 220-240V for domestic supply. There's a big list here:
    Mains electricity by country - Wikipedia

    It's not clear from the description, but as it's intended for the US it may only be designed to work with 60Hz AC inputs. I found what looks like the same item (slightly different brand) here with pictures of the label, and it only says 60Hz. You may be better off sourcing from Europe if you want something guaranteed to work with 50Hz inputs.
     
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  14. HighLouie

    HighLouie New Member

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    I contacted local Toyota representative and asked for "G9060-47230" part. They offered me a ridiculous price of 1400 USD. This is just insane...