Hi all I have been a lurker on here for many years. My hybrid car history is as follows: 2008 gen 2 Prius 100k miles 2010 gen 3 Prius 120 k miles 2012 Lexus CT200h 2013 Nissan Leaf 2014 Vauxhall Ampera (Chevrolet Volt) 2017 Prius Phev (Prius Prime) It's great to be back in Prius! One thing I wanted to share with you is an observation with the charging rates you can select from the smaller screen (ie not the sat nav screen). In the UK, we don't have the large central display, just a smaller one and the 2 MFD's above it. Being used to my Volt, I had the option for charging at 6 or 10 amp when using the granny charger. (That's at L2 or 220v here in the UK). The Volt would automatically charge to at 16amp if connected to a 'Fast' charger, ie a charging post at a supermarket (and charge at 3.3Kw/hr) My Prius Phev is only a few weeks old but today I noticed that if you plug into a 16amp charger, it will only fully utilise those 16 amps if the charging rate is set to Max. If you set it to 8amp (I'm not sure if you have the 8amp or max option in the America) then it pulls only 8amp regardless of being on the granny charger or plugged into a charging post, a marked difference over the Volt. So far I am impressed with the Prius. A big improvement over the Gen 3. MPG on petrol is excellent and much better than the Volt. Looking to this improving as the engine runs in. I recall the Gen 3 getting better once it passed 6k miles. Thanks for all the info over the years.
An interesting test would be to borrow a UK Volt 'granny charger' and see if it is adjusting the charging current between '6 and 10 amp' with the Prime set to MAX. I'm thinking this may be a case of dealing with different grid systems: 230V, single phase, 13A - UK 120V, split phase, 15A - USA 210V, two of three phases, 30-50A - USA commercial 240V, both phases, 30-50A - USA The portable charger in the USA is rated at 120V so it is easy to limit the charging current to 12A, the 80% of 15A. Plug into a 210-240V, the maximum 16A could be drawn if the portable didn't blow a fuse. We are seeing multi-voltage, multi-current EVSEs in the USA market. Still expensive, they are small enough to replace the portable EVSE yet flexible enough to handle up to 20-22A from 120, 210, or 240V outlets (they can come with adapters.) But owning two plug-in hybrids, I am skeptical about using L2 chargers for significant range extension: ~3.3 kW ~= 9 miles in an hour either one ~6.4 kW ~= 25 miles in an hour, BMW i3-REx ~40 kW ~= 80 miles in half an hour, BMW i3-REx CCS If I am parked for an hour doing something else, carpe diem, and snag a charge. But if I were trying to go cross country, using 40 kW CCS it would take: 1:10 hh:mm -> @70 mph (an overly optimistic rate) 0:30 hh:mm -> charge back to 80 miles 1:40 hh:mm to go 80 miles or 47 mph block-to-block Understand I'm OK with snagging a charging opportunity on a cross country trip but gas refueling time is so much shorter, I don't spend a lot of time hunting down charging stations ... unless I'm doing something else like a meal, appointment, or sleep. Bob Wilson
Bob, all the electrical arrangements you list are single phase. They're still single phase whether or not they have one or two hot legs. Split phase is just a way of attaining two voltages, both single phase, with the minimum of conductors used. Two of three phases is a misnomer--it's two legs of 3 phase--and still single phase. "Both phases" is not two phase power, that was used a hundred years ago (which needed four hot wires). "Both phases" is still single phase connected across two hot legs. The power coming into our homes doesn't have two phases. If displayed on an oscilloscope, all the power mentioned above would show a single sine wave. Three phase power shows three sine waves 120° apart. The antique 2 phase power had two sine waves 90° & 270° apart.
I didn't want to jump into vector math which is how I see the various circuit configurations. So in the USA, each "normal" leg is 120VAC: 120VAC - one leg 240VAC - two legs 180 degrees apart 210VAC - two legs 120 degrees apart By "normal" I am excluding power motors, heaters, industrial machinery, e.t.c. We talking about circuits that power lights and light-duty appliances and such. Bob Wilson
