Dealing with the hybrid plug in wire in rain,snow,cold,folding the wire and putting it away.Having to wear gloves sooner or later because the wire will be dirty.
It just seems like too much of a hassle.

 

On the contrary, if I were an employer, I would offer a benefit to my employees that I would install a special dedicated parking area with charging stations, cords at the ready. Free recharges as an incentive to make the switch.

 

If we had been driving plug-in electrics for decades and someone just introduced the new-fangled gasoline vehicle everyone would complain about making the extra stop to buy expensive gas, standing around outside in the heat/cold/rain/snow while the tank fills, and handling that smelly gas hose. It's all what you get used to.

 

It's illegal pumping your own gas here in Jersey but I get your point.

 

If they could improve plug-in and more stations/ease of use.... MAYBE...

 

I hate hate hate having to stop and fill up with gasoline, hate the smell if it gets on my hands or clothes plus a few times I've had idiots hassle me to try and buy crap before "hey man, I got these nice speakers...." ....I'd much rather plug-in at home in my nice warm, safe garage; I also could easily plug-in at work...there's quite a few 110v outlets on the exterior of my building.


EDIT ---- forgot to mention --- plugging in would also lessen the dependence on foreign oil.

 

I believe you need a 220v line.

 

its not required, it just takes half the time to charge versus 110/120v.

 

You would have to change the outlet for the 220v style plug.
Can that be done?

 

what car are you referring to ?

I know the Volt can charge via a typical 110/120v outlet with no issues...it must come with a converter for different plugs.

The Leaf, I don't know but it would take 20 hours to fully charge via 110/120v - but 220v is very common; I have a 220v outlet in my garage with nothing plugged into it.

leaf info -- Your Nissan LEAF will be delivered with a 110/120V Trickle charge cable that works with the onboard charging system. As the name implies this will be primarily used for opportunity charging and is not recommended to be your primary method of charging. For that we have the Nissan home charging dock which uses a 220/240V dedicated line in your home.

 

I would guess any hybrid plug in sold in the US.
I know the wire is thicker and the plug end of a 220v plug is a lot bigger,more heavy duty and has a different prong design than a 110v.I can't see a typical 110v plug end for charging but I guess it's possible.

 

from Toyota website... http://www.toyota.com/upcoming-vehicles/prius-plug-in/

Prius PHV doesn't require a special charging station. With a standard household 110V electrical outlet, you can recharge it in approximately three hours. With a dedicated 220V outlet, recharging takes just one and a half hours. It's that easy. And as more cities and businesses build public and private charging stations, it will be even easier.

of course the range is only about 15 miles...but still my MPG would double on my 26 mile commute (mpg averages upper 50s regularly - 58mpg on current tank)

 

Interesting,Bag.
Well all i can say is I don't think a plug in will be in my future unless I don't have a choice.
Then again,I said the same thing about a hybrid vehicle and I own one.
I like the hybrid technology so much that I think I'll only buy hybrids from now on.

 

Where I live really bad weather is a somewhat rare event, not a factor. Handling dirty equipment at gas stations is more filthy to me, so I do it with care and wash my hands afterwards. And the plug-in hybrid for me would most likely be a 3rd vehicle, used only for the tasks that it was designed for.

 

The only problem is that 220v outlets are pretty expensive to install. Using a normal outlet makes no sense if you have to wait 6-8 hours to drive somewhere.