Why doesn't a Prime or other 110V charge EV not have ONLY a normal 110V inlet plug as best option?

Or at most have something about 1/2 the size of a gas cap (because maybe there is big legal/safety reason not to have exposed contacts to plug regular 110v female side into because somewhere down the line that male side is connected to power???) that resides under the little hatch that you plug into your 20amp rated standard cord? Sure, I guess it could have another CAR MOUNTED inlet plug for faster charge options like household 220 or whatever.

Why aren't "the guts" of whatever is in the special $400 cord not contained in the car rather than an EXPENSIVE and rather bulky and hard to put away monster mutant cord thingy?

Two reasons I'll never charge outside my own garage:
1)the cord costs $400 and Primes are common enough there might be a black market, and even a failed attempt to steal one if locked up would be a big problem. If someone cuts and steals a good quality 15amp 20ft cord that has been locked (twice length of Toyota cord) its 1/10 costhttps://http://www.ebay.com/itm/20ft-15-Amp-Indoor-Outdoor-Household-Extension-Cord-With-Lock-by-AC-WORKS/264926250352?hash=item3daed5c570:g:1~4AAOSwhCZbdJXr, and replaceable at any hardware store, and I'll also have a nice quality cord for general purposes.

2) I've worked a lot of construction, and even I really hate getting my hands dirty rolling up cords. I've found various rollers that mitigate most of that for NORMAL CORDS but stowing the special Toyota cord is going to be a wrestling match and not really worth the $1.50 worth of gas a full charge saves.

And shouldn't there be an easy way to tell your Prius "I'm using a long and weak cord, so today we are only going to pull 6amps, not 12amps" and not worry about it taking 10 hours instead of 5 hours?

I don't even know which, if any, of any of those EV Charging stations now seen at malls etc would work on a Prime. Do they or is there a quick paper printable cheat sheet or Google Maps, etc? Do you gotta sign up with your Credit Card to use them or is it considered "gratis" because Govt tax deductions? Only time I've seen a Prime charging in the wild was at SFO parking garage with extension cord from the (amazingly) just regular live 110v outlet on a wall.

 

nice to know they can be had for less than $400 and Dealer, but if they are $148 and work on lots of other cars it still seems like theft risk.

I'm no EE but still not getting whats the big diff and big deal to plugging in a car and plugging in any other piece of equip. My way of thinking says the car doesn't know if the 110v outlet is in a wall or end of a cord. Surely it would be trivial to have a system the inlet on the car is dead as a doornail and fully insulated and disconnected and safe as plugging in a lamp, even in pouring rain, with its own top rated GFI, etc, then you push a button and it STILL waits a good 3 count for you to take your finger away and then you see lights count down to "charging A-OK".

Also seems like giving you a weird awkward BULKY 10ft cord and saying "and don't you dare think about using any extension cord" is kind of a copout.

 

IIRC the lock feature was only for higher end Primes above the base LE. But as a practical anti-theft, anti-DAMAGE matter I'd want it to disconnect as normal as can be and not have some crazed copper theft troll trying to bust it off my car.

 

Car wont know what gauge cord, but thats basically same as Owner's Manual saying "Don't plug into sketchy house wiring" or "Check condition and amp rating of extension cord".
Sounds same as the EVSE not knowing how sketchy the wall outlet's wiring might be. My 2008 vintage track home will trip breakers in one room and at one unrelated outlet in garage for no reason even on light loads. As I mentioned above, it would be nice and EE-wise trivial to be able to tell the car "only pull a light load during this charge".

I'm thinking if the guts of the EVSE are behind a plate with 3 screws inside the car, and otherwise "naked", they would be cheaper to replace than the quality heavy duty housing and cord of the external regular EVSE.

 

I'm kinda wondering what would be required to mod a Prime so that the EVSE cord is stuffed into the car and "always plugged in" or if required gets manually plugged into the car from relocated car plug in the interior, and a standard 110V female cord plugs into the where the car's EVSE used to be. No Gender Dysphoria jokes, please.

Yeah, I know such a mod would completely blow any Warranty and Toyota Dealers would probably refuse to even rotate the tires.

Still not getting what the big safety issue is, VS other random plugging in of much less well engineered devices. Maybe its just because all sorts of cheap lamps, fans, hairdryers were around and produced by firms that didn't care too much about Liability, and now the danger exists but Grandfathered in? Sorta like how motorcycles would never be allowed if invented today?

 

To me, having to mess with an external, rather awkward cord IS "broke", just like when my old car's alternator when out and I had to hook it up to a battery charger, then unhook it, every day until fixed. An old car without electric fuel pumps and computers etc will go about 200 miles on battery just running the spark plugs, a new car will go maybe 30 miles. Both similar to full EV or Prime, respectively, and both still rate as "broke" due to inconvenience of awkward maintenance.

Yeah, thats me and one reason I'd dare try a Prime Ute is I've got a stock 2020 Prime LE to refer to.

I'm not the only Prime owner who doesn't feel its worth the hassle of charging, due to awkward non-user friendly design. Any plug-in device where space and weight is not critical and that need to deploy and stow a cord regularly should have self reeling, self storing cord, like some household vacuum cleaners. IMO that should be 3x as important for a car that will likely be charged outside where the cord will get dirty and otherwise abused. What hurts cords is getting rolled up the wrong way, and a good spool prevents all that and greatly increases cord life.

 

They do mention "cable handling system" which I assume is vacuum-cleaner style self reeling.

(C) Overall Cord and Cable Length. The overall useable length shall not exceed 7.5 m (25 ft) unless equipped with a cable management system that is part of a listed the electric vehicle supply equipment or electric vehicle charging system

 

pretty sure the EE Dept at Toyota could build a cheap, reliable fail safe that first looks at what current has just plugged in and go "Whoa!" and not proceed. It ain't like plugging a big simple saw motor that is all hard wired without any "ifs" considered.