Can I use my Prius plug-in cable on my Spark, & vice versa

[bumblebear]

Both are SAE J1772 standard. I think it is okay, but just want to be sure. I have one at home and the the other at the office (higher commercial rates) but would like the option to top off at either location. 120 volt, 8 or 12 amps.

 

[Zoomit]

Yes! That's the beauty of having common standards. Charge away!

 

[NORTON]

The PiP EVSE may not be rated for 12A. Read the manual for the PiP.
The EVSE sends a pilot signal to the car's onboard charger to limit the current to what the EVSE is capable of.
The PiP is a very limited EV. Maybe the EVSE is limited too.

 

[bumblebear]

Thanks for the replies. The Prius ESVE nameplate rates it as follows:
INPUT 110-120V~ 12A 60Hz
OUTPUT 110V-120V~ 12A 60Hz
for use with electric vehicles
ventilation not required

It does have a Toyota name at the top but in all respects seems to be generic, for "electric vehicles". It should be able to negotiate the proper charge current. As Zoomit says, "that's the beauty of standards". I'll try it and report back.

 

[SparkE]

12A @ 120V = 1.44 kW (max), which is pretty low (comment on the 'limited' PiP).

The Spark defaults to 8A charging with its own EVSE, I'd imagine it would be the same for any EVSE (that can handle more).

I'd be interested to hear how it went.

 

[Zoomit]

12A is the max the Spark EV will take at 120V, so I'm not sure how it's limited in that regard. If you're plugging into a normal NEMA 5-15 wall outlet, that's the most you'll ever get. This EVSE seems just as capable as the EVSE that comes with the Spark EV.

 

[SparkE]

I was commenting on (referencing) an earlier post :

The PiP EVSE may not be rated for 12A. Read the manual for the PiP.
The EVSE sends a pilot signal to the car's onboard charger to limit the current to what the EVSE is capable of.
The PiP is a very limited EV. Maybe the EVSE is limited too.

 

[NORTON]

12A is the max the Spark EV will take at 120V, so I'm not sure how it's limited in that regard. ..

I was just talking down about the PiP's battery and limited EV functionality. I thought maybe it didn't need a full 12A - 120V EVSE.

BTW, 12A is used because that is 80% duty on a 15A Circuit Breaker/Outlet. This is the safe continuous duty standard.

 

[emv]

Any J1772 car can use any J1772 EVSE*. That's why it's called a standard. The charger and the EVSE negotiate the details of the session. If it can supply more juice than the car's charger can handle it throttles back and supplies the proper amount. If it can't put out the maximum the car can accept the car just charges at a lower rate. That's how I can plug my Spark into my Bosch EVSE that can put out 7200 watts. It steps back to the 3200 that the Spark requests.

*except for an ancient one with the Avcon connector

 

[NORTON]

... The charger and the EVSE negotiate the details of the session. If it can supply more juice than the car's charger can handle it throttles back and supplies the proper amount. ...

Just to clarify: An EVSE is only a big ass relay and a logic board. That relay is either closed or open, passing 120V or 240V to the car. It can not regulate current. The board sends a pilot signal to the car signalling the max current the EVSE is designed for.
Only the car's on board charger can regulate the current it draws through the EVSE.
The EVSE board also has Ground Fault safety functions.

 

[cwerdna]

Any J1772 car can use any J1772 EVSE*. That's why it's called a standard. The charger and the EVSE negotiate the details of the session.

Just because it's a standard doesn't mean there aren't compatibility problems.

Some folks at https://priuschat.com/threads/charging-pip-using-chevy-volt-110v-charge-cord.106366/ did some compatibility testing before. https://priuschat.com/threads/charging-pip-using-chevy-volt-110v-charge-cord.106366/page-2#post-1516358 was a summary.

There was Leaf TSB re: PEP EVSEs that I pointed to at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=15656. I most definitely have hit wonkiness with Eaton branded L2 EVSEs w/my Leaf. There are some threads if you Google for site:mynissanleaf.com eaton j1772 error. I recall seeing a red fault lit on the station and having to futz w/the station's reset button a few times before charging will start. Once started (via futzing), charging is ok and doesn't stop prematurely.

 

[bumblebear]

A followup as promised, the Toyota PiP cable does work fine and charges the Spark at either 8A or 12A. As expected.

We bought the Spark with the DC charger option, but so far we've felt no need for it, neither for 220V level 2. So far we've never visited a charging station away from home or office and rely completely on the supplied 120V EVSE. We use the Spark around town mostly less than 15 mi per day, so it is easy to top off overnight. We are in Berkeley, and have done round trips in the SparkEV over to San Francisco, Walnut Creek, and up to Benicia, and felt good about it and about the white HOV tags. That distance does take more than overnight, but not bad at all at 12A. The Prius with its 10 mi EV range is "relegated" to longer trips.

 

[SparkE]

We bought the Spark with the DC charger option, but so far we've felt no need for it, neither for 220V level 2.

I insisted on having a DCFC plug, because I wanted to be able to jump in the car and drive 40 miles away even if the battery was low - there are TWO fast chargers less than a mile from my house, on the way to the closest freeway on-ramp. I've ended up using it about once a month (sometimes for just 6 minutes or so to make sure I can get home if I can't find an available charger where I am going).

For driving around town (round trip of 80 miles or so) there's not much *need* for fast charging - unless you live in a place where you can't use a personal EVSE to plug in the car overnight, such as an apartment. A level-1 or level-2 EVSE is fine for most people, most of the time - they can let the car charge up overnight, or let it charge 2-4 hours at work and usually have a pretty full charge. A 50 kW FC is useful for a (fairly) quick boost to get to a specific place when the battery is low, or to extend a trip by 50 miles.

I think that a 'slow fast charger' in shopping areas (parking lots of mini- (strip-) malls or grocery/department stores) are very, very convenient. There are actually two stores near me that have one, and it's great : stop off for 10-15 minutes of shopping, plug in and get 20-30 miles from a 24 kW charger if your battery is less than 1/2-full. I actually specifically go to those two stores if I am in the area and I need random crap (AA batteries, Halloween candy, a magazine, whatever) and about 1/2 full. And I *tell the cashier* that I came to this store because of the 'fast charger'. (The 24 kW chargers are significantly less expensive to buy & install than the 50 kW chargers - less than 1/5 of the cost.)

My wife and I use the Spark EV almost exclusively. We actually set our routines so that most of the driving is electric. We basically only use the gas vehicle when both of us have to be driving at the same time (once, maybe twice a week). Well, if we are driving over 100 miles round-trip we might take the gas car. We put 20-60 miles a day on the car during the week, and maybe 30-60 over the entire weekend. There are days when I have gone out for something, stopped by 2-3 places on errands, get home and she takes the car and heads out, then we go out at night. If we are going up to Palo Alto or Mountain View (from San Jose), then I add a bit to the battery at the fast charger to make sure we can get home. I imagine that we will easily have 8000-9000 miles on the car after the first year.

 

[cwerdna]

(The 24 kW chargers are significantly less expensive to buy & install than the 50 kW chargers - less than 1/5 of the cost.)

Source? Even page 5 of http://web.archive.org/web/20140701... Comparison Study (25kW vs 50kW) 7-3-12.pdf doesn't point to anything as cheap as "less than 1/5 of the cost", even if you replace Fuji's $25K 25 kW CHAdeMO DC FC with a (heavily subsidized at) $6,548 Bosch/BMW/Chargepoint unit (e.g. http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/28/bmws-new-i-dc-fast-charger-will-give-free-juice-to-i3-drivers/) that's "for authorized BMW partners."

If you have additional data, please add it to http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3753.

 

[bumblebear]

On topic, I should add the vice versa. The Spark cable also successfully charges the PIP; starts at 12 amps, tapers off as it reaches capacity.