Chevy Volt 110v Charger....

Yes. Yes, no.

The charge cord that comes with the 2013 Volt does work with the PiP. The older charge cords that came with the 2011 and 2012 Volts were a different design and did not work with PiP although they did work with the 2012 LEAF. Unfortunately, the 2013 charge cord is not yet available for general part ordering yet from GM (only available as an exchange when requested by a service technician). When it becomes available it will cost around $400 which is cheaper than the alternatives.

I plan to post a message here when it becomes generally available sometime soon after they have built up enough spare parts from their supplier. The new cord is also 14 gauge wiring throughout whereas the previous ones were 16 gauge throughout or 16 gauge everywhere except for 14 gauge on the 1 foot cable to the charge plug.

 

You should take a look at building a 120/240V EVSE using OpenEVSE for less than $400.

 

The proper name for the unit is EVSE. The charger's already inside the car.

 

Yes it will work, however I was told by EVSE upgrades that the unit is made of cheap materials and they have had issues with melting. I was told to avoid that portable EVSE. The best one is made for the Leaf.

 

Just for my knowledge, why would you want to use 2013 GM 110V cord on PiP? Faster more amps?

 

maybe to have a second evse and not have to pay a grand or more?

 

I'm pretty sure that was when they tried to repurpose it to a higher wattage than what it was designed for. Something you probably would never have happen with a PiP.

 

John, no there are reports that the stock Volt portable EVSE was having melting problems. EVSE upgrades said they would not even attempt to upgrade the volt charger to a 240. It was a good priced charger, so I asked him if it was worth purchasing as a second while my PiP charger was away, and he said he would not recommend it to anyone.

 

How about 1/2 the price of Toyota.

 

The "melting problem" on the 2011 and 2012 120V EVSE cords was with the actual 120V plug -- I'm not aware of any melting or other safety problems with the rest of the wiring, the EVSE box itself, or the J1772 plug. The original 120V plug ran warm (at least on some units) due to a poor connection between the 16 gauge wiring and the plug prongs. In addition, the plastic material used for the plug molding seemed to break down or "melt" after prolonged usage at those warm temperatures. Hot plugs also transmit heat through the copper wiring back to the EVSE box so some people also reported discoloration of the cord between the EVSE and the plug.

I used my original charge cord for daily charging for around a year before the plug showed signs of heat stress. I cut off the original plug and replaced it with a heavy duty replacement plug I bought at the hardware store and that plug ran very cool. Shortly after I fixed my own unit, GM began a "service campaign" to exchange the original charge cords with a replacement cord that had improved wiring between the EVSE and a new 120V plug design. I have not seen any reports of problems with the exchanged cords that have the new plug design.

The guy who runs EVSEupgrade, known variously as peef or ingineer online, has indeed criticized the 2011 and 2012 Volt 120V EVSE cord internal design and noted that it was not UL listed (although it was tested by another of the big safety testing labs known as ETL/Intertek). The 2013 model year 120V EVSE cord is a new design and has passed testing by both ETL/Intertek and is also now UL listed.

As I noted earlier, only the 2013 model year 120V EVSE cord from GM will work with the PiP. The 2011 and 2012 cords (as well as the service campaign exchange replacements) do not work with the PiPs that I have tested due to some initial handshaking incompatibility timing problem.

The EVSE cords prior to the 2013 model have a large orange button on the black EVSE box that was used for switching between 8A and 12A. The 2013 EVSE box is solid black, I think, and no longer has a capability for switching down to 8A on the EVSE itself (it's now configurable inside the car). Also, the pre-exchange cords used orange cord throughout. The exchange cords from the service campaign still use orange cord leading to the J1772 plug but have a black cord leading to the 120V plug. The 2013 cord uses a black cord leading to both plugs, I think.

 

Correct.

I'm not sure if GM or Toyota are violating any aspect of the J1772 standard or if there is just some ambiguity in the standard that allows them both to be compliant yet incompatible. It happens sometimes with relatively new specifications.

The 2011 Volt charge cord and the 2011 LEAF had similar interoperability issues that got resolved. The 2012 LEAF can use the 2011 Volt cord and the 2012 Volt cord can charge the 2011 LEAF. The 2013 Volt cord now works with the PiP and it's possible that Toyota might develop a software patch that refines the interop behavior of the PiP. There was also the recent issue between the LEAF and the GE Wattstation which turned out to be a hardware bug in the LEAF, I think.

 

Discussion of the cause sorta began at My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - GE WattStation Problem Thread (Was: Dead on Day 2 of use.) and Nissan and GE Have Figured Out Why the WattStation Damages Some LEAFs | PluginCars.com claims it's a software issue on the Leaf side.

Unfortunately, Nissan has given no ETA (AFAIK) for a fix and some people's chargers (inside the car) continue to be damaged and replaced under warranty. I don't know what's the hold up. It's costing Nissan $ and will cost owners $ once they're out of warranty.