Hello Mudpie;
We bought (i.e. leased) our new ’12 (smoke/blue) RAV4EV on 3/28/13 so we are no experts – but we have loved every minute/aspect so far.
But we have experienced the research about in-home charger since day one.
First off, when we rolled off the lot, the RANGE on the car showed about 125 miles. We were impressed. We have never seen that level of ‘range’ sow up, since – even with ‘supercharging’ (i.e. Full Range Charging).
It’s one of the Qs we are saving for our next visit with the Toyota Dealership (City Toyota, of San Francisco).
We drove it around for a while, got home & into our garage (Mission District of S.F.), and plugged in the 110v cable that comes with the car.
The ‘Time to Re-charge’ meter said something over 12 hours (for 110v),
And something like 2 hours for 240v.
That is typical. In short, your 110v cable will never keep up with even minimal daily use of the car. You need a 240v charging station in your garage.
After considerable research, we learned that there are several (qualified)
Recharge Station Kits available, from several sellers. ALL are made by Leviton. There seems to be no competition. We learned that you have to jump thru a lot of hoops even to BUY one direct from Leviton. The raw cost of the appropriate Leviton unit is over a thousand; then you have to deal with them about installation. Figure $2k if you go “All Leviton”.
We didn’t. We did more research and learned that you can buy almost the same 240v charger unit (yes, Leviton) from Home Depot (on-line sales only) for about $700. Another $70. or so for the Mounting kit. (Yes, you need that). The unit arrive in 2 business days via normal shipping. Our electrician installed it using code-approved wiring, breaker, etc, for another $300.
Total cost, about $1,100.
They don’t tell you that when you get the car.
They should. They should have them on-hand, at the parts dept., for a reasonable price, for you to buy as an ‘accessory’ to the car purchase.
In any event, the point is, the main component is the big fat 18’ cable that leads from the wall unit to your car charging port. The cable and the very complex standard (what I call) Charging Nozzle.
You need this. You can’t take the 110v one that comes with the car, and re-wire it to work on 240v. It is a molded ‘nozzel’ and WAY to complex inside (I’m sure). You can’t just re-wire the nozzle with 10ga. Cable and put a dryer plug on the other end. You would get into a ton of warrantee voiding issues, and you won’t be able to dry your clothes.
You gotta go for the in-garage wall mounted Leviton charger.
Here’s an idea that I thought of….too late.
Pay a few bucks more to have your electrician put a TIMER between your
Dedicated 240v breaker, and the Charger. That way, you can plug in your car in the garage when you come home at 6pm, but set the timer to switch on the charger at midnight, when KW hours are cheaper!
All in all though….I say GO FOR IT!
The RAV4 EV is a GREAT car to drive.
It will handle your commute – no problem.
You will have a great smug feeling in traffic
(instead of a smog feeling).
And every time you pass a filling station,
You will be giving it the invisible middle finger!
Ziggy in San Francisco
