I just got a new plug in and I love it. My question is this . . . Why supply the car with a charger cord that is so expensive and prone to weather damage and theft? All the electronics that are in the cord ie the fancy plug, the transformer could be integrated into the car. All that Toyota need supply would be a heavy duty extension cord.
If the plug was a standard 110 volt NEMA 5-15 plug, you might plug in live house current in rain and snow, that would pose an electrocution risk. Perhaps worse, you might drive off during charging leaving a live plug that would pose an electrocution risk. The SAE J1772 plug Toyota is required to actually use is unpowered until after it is plugged in. Some of the electronics needed to be sure it is safe to power up is in the cord. It detects drive off and powers down the cord, so that when unattached, it is always unpowered. SAE J1772 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Another reason may be that every country has it's own plug, so Toyota would have to built two dozen versions of the car.
And this is just for level 1 charging. Higher voltage and or current ie level 2 would be another set of plugs again. Aw look how cute Denmark is. Vietnam/Canbodia would be stranded extension cord wire twisted together wrapped with scotch tape cause they don't have wire nuts.
