The New RAV4 EV

[efusco]

According to my contact at Toyota the Tesla UMC is not UL listed. FWIW, neither is the Volt EVSE.

There is no 240v option for the Rav4 other than the home Leviton system. I would think Ingeneer's upgrade would be mandatory.

Toyota's argument was that there was a well enough established charging network within the specified areas where the Rav will be sold that most people would never need to charge other than at home or at a public charging station. If grandma's house is at the edge of your range and she doesn't have a charger at her house you better plan to spend at least 2 days there to charge up for the drive home!

[TEG]

...I would think Ingeneer's upgrade would be mandatory...

The upgrade he does to LEAF (Panasonic) portable EVSEs only allows charging at 3.3kW (16A@240V) so it would be slow going that way.
If you were planning a RAV4EV Roadtrip that used NEMA14-50 at campgrounds you would probably want to find something else that could do higher current... At least 30A if not 40A...

[spleen]

The upgrade he does to LEAF (Panasonic) portable EVSEs only allows charging at 3.3kW (16A@240V) so it would be slow going that way.
If you were planning a RAV4EV Roadtrip that used NEMA14-50 at campgrounds you would probably want to find something else that could do higher current... At least 30A if not 40A...

The problem is that there are very few portable high current J1772 EVSEs available on the market. In fact, I'm not aware of any that support more than 240V 16 amps. There are some 240V plug in home chargers that are wall hung and could be removed for transport in the back of the car but I'd consider them "pseudo-portable".

(edit: OK, I take it back, I found the SPX PowerXpress which does do 24 amps ... but they get poor reviews from Leaf owners. Don't know about Volt owners experiences. Agree that it'd be nice if the Tesla UMC could be converted to a J1772 plug)

[efusco]

I would think the Model S UMC would be the way to go, with an adapter to J1772--someone would have to invent that.

[vfx]

vfx, I put the link at the bottom of post #685 above, here it is again:
Toyota Videos Spread The Word On RAV4 EV | Hybrid Cars

Thanks Mitch. I did watch those. I just had no way of knowing those were the black frame.

By the way, I was really eating up the engineers doting on Tesla. Warmed the cockles of my heart.

[Lloyd]

The problem is that there are very few portable high current J1772 EVSEs available on the market. In fact, I'm not aware of any that support more than 240V 16 amps. There are some 240V plug in home chargers that are wall hung and could be removed for transport in the back of the car but I'd consider them "pseudo-portable".

(edit: OK, I take it back, I found the SPX PowerXpress which does do 24 amps ... but they get poor reviews from Leaf owners. Don't know about Volt owners experiences. Agree that it'd be nice if the Tesla UMC could be converted to a J1772 plug)

Eaton and Clipper Creek make 70 A J1772 UL certified EVSE's

You can convert the TS-70 to J1772 http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showt...772-conversion

There is no reason that you could not convert the UMC to J1772. The connections on that end are the same.

[spleen]

Eaton and Clipper Creek make 70 A J1772 UL certified EVSE's

Lloyd - true, and if we were looking for just a home solution, there are many permanent wall mount J1772 EVSEs that would satisfy the bill like the Eaton and the Clipper Creek. I was talking about it in context of having something that you could use at home and away from home like the Tesla UMC and there really isn't much out there that does high speed J1772 charging off of a portable device that plugs into a 240V RV outlet. RAV4EV owners may have to rely on public J1772 charging infrastructure for charging away from home which may be fine in metro areas but may not work out so well in rural areas.

[spleen]

You can convert the TS-70 to J1772 http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showt...772-conversion

There is no reason that you could not convert the UMC to J1772. The connections on that end are the same.

Wow, Lloyd, just followed your link. Impressive! Certainly if you could convert a Tesla UMC to have a J1772 plug like you did with the HPC, that would accomplish the same thing. Of course, if you have the skillz to do that conversion, you would probably have the ability to create your own portable high power J1772 EVSE with the OpenEVSE project.

[doug]

Worth embedding here:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfO3_SG26So

[Doug_G]

Moved discussion of repairs to Will electric vehicles put parts/repair shops out of business?