Shopping for a Prius, but can I charge it in Europe?

Wouldn't it be cheaper and way less hassle to acquire a vehicle in Europe that will be certain to have no issues with license and registration, as well as compatible with the vehicle's charging needs?

I mean, consider your worst case scenario of your vehicle arriving at the port and you think you covered all of the requirements but you forgot one detail and suddenly customs has seized your vehicle and you can't get it back and your only hope is to wait for months for the bureaucracy to release your vehicle so you can ship it back home?

I say this because there's lots of complicated laws in each country around the world about importing vehicles for sale. See: Grey import vehicle - Wikipedia

And while your intention clearly is not to sell your car, that's what the laws are set up to prevent. I mean, think of how much it would cost you if this didn't go as planned?

 

Generally a BAD idea......for all kinds of reasons.
Buy a car THERE.
Sell the one you have now before you leave.

 

Yep... When I was writing my reply the thought occurred to me that maybe you're doing this as a diplomat, but you didn't mention that. And if you want to complain about all our "unsolicited, irrelevant legal and purchasing advice" I'd like to complain about the lack of specificity which would of eliminated that.

 

Maybe inquire of a company in the NL that deals with EV charging cables?
Like these folks - Charge cables and charge stations for Prius Prime

They say "We have more than 10 years of experience in charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. We help you find the right solution to charge your electric vehicle. You will find cheap and high-quality charging cables that meet your requirements."

Just an idea!

 

People tend to give the best advice they have, based on the information provided.
Your snotty attitude doesn't sound very diplomatic to me.

 

Put me down as another “maybe.”

There are cables, such as this one, to adapt between SAE J1772 and IEC 62196-2 Type 2 charging connectors, but I don’t know about interoperability of control signals or power line frequency. As you may know, the standard AC frequency in North America is 60 Hz, but in Europe, it’s 50 Hz.

The edition of New Car Features (more info) that describes Prius Prime cars built for sale in the U.S. and Canada says—under Engine/Hybrid System: Hybrid/Battery Control: Plug-In Charge Control System: General—that the specification for “Power Source Frequency” is “60 Hz.” The label on the car itself, at least in the photos I’ve seen, just says “100–240V 1ϕ 20A,” with no mention of frequency. In contrast, the European edition of New Car Features, under the same heading, gives the specification as “50 To 60 Hz” for Prius PHV models built for sale in Europe and “60 Hz” for models built for sale in South Korea and Taiwan.

Since Japan uses both 50 Hz and 60 Hz, Toyota would have had to develop and validate a design for the electric vehicle charger assembly that works on either frequency, at least for their home market. (The charger assembly, not to be confused with the charging cable or EVSE, is the unit permanently installed in the car that converts AC to DC for charging.) It wouldn’t surprise me if the U.S./Canada version also works on 50 Hz power, but I don’t know if anyone has tried it, and in any case, such use would be outside Toyota’s published specifications.

That raises another issue: how difficult would it be to get warranty service and other repairs for the car in Europe? Oil changes and tires wouldn’t be a problem, of course, and I imagine Toyota would find a way to do a safety recall, if necessary, but there may be some practical limits on what Toyota dealers in Europe can do:

• Prius Prime and Prius PHV cars have many parts in common, but parts used only on Prius Prime cars, including many of the electronic control units (ECUs), wouldn’t normally be stocked in Toyota’s European parts supply system. These might be available only after a long delay, if at all.

• Toyota’s Global Techstream diagnostic software is licensed for one of four major areas (Japan, North America, Europe, and “General Countries” such as Australia and the G.C.C. region), and I don’t know if the license keys provided to dealers in Europe would allow their software to communicate with a Prius Prime car having the U.S./Canada versions of the ECUs.

If any of your future colleagues drives a Toyota vehicle en poste, perhaps they could share their experiences.

 

People in general are prone to actually ask the wrong question often, and they really need something else.

BUT enough of that, I think that you NEED to contact someone, a Toyota dealer maybe, in your destination country.
Maybe more than one source.......because you might not get the right answer the first time.
The guesses you are getting on here are about as useful as my advice of "don't do it".

 

Hey @NoteboomM . Did you manage to get an answer in the end ?

Thanks

 

I would like to know as well. I brought my 2020 Toyota Prius Prime from the US to Netherlands and am trying to figure out how to charge it.

 

As I said earlier in the thread...........
Find a Toyota dealer and ask THEM.
Hopefully it will just be a matter of getting a different charging cord.

 

Sorry, Sam, but the Toyota dealers here knew very little about the US Prius Prime. They're just not trained on them.
Dutch regulations require side blinkers and I had to source my own parts from Dubai and then they were able to install them. Saying "ask a Toyota dealer" is not particularly helpful advice.

The good news is I have solved it for my 2020 Toyota Prius Prime.
I bought this cable and am able to charge my car here in Europe at a standard charging point:
GC EV Type 1 kabel voor het opladen van elektrische auto's EV 5m 7.2kW 1-fase
Green Cell GC Type 1 Cable for charging EV Tesla Leaf Ioniq Kona E-tron Zoe 7,2kW 5m

That being said there is important considerations when importing an auto to the Netherlands.
If you don't want to pay import tax on it, make sure you move it as part of your household goods, and make sure that you have owned it for over 6 months before you leave your home country. Also, you must import it before you've lived in the Netherlands for over 12 months.

 

Don't go with that company. I bought a Menekes to Type 1 charging cable from them and the Type 1 end just didn't QUITE fit into the charging port for some reason. And when I told them this, they told me they consulted their expert and they were sure the reason it didn't fit was a voltage issue (120 vs 220). For EV Charging cable experts, they're kinda clueless.

See my reply (directly above this one) for the one that works perfectly.

 

IF.....you understand that any Toyota dealer anywhere should have relatively easy access to someone in the Company who KNOWS the right answer......it could be helpful advice. But you can make it harder than it needs to be if you so choose.