[JuneBug]

We took a trip to France for the 74th anniversary of D-Day. It was a family reunion of sorts. We visited the tiny town of Camembert in Normany, where the famous Camembert cheese was first invented. Now this is a tiny town (pop:200) in a rural area but I guess they get a good many tourists at the cheese museum. I was surprised to find a charging station there. What was different about this one was it had no cables. When I opened up the door on either side, there was a large outlet and a small outlet. I assume they were both 240V, but they were not marked. So, 2 cars can charge there, but it's a bring your own cable kinda thing.

On another day, we drove to Giverny to visit Monet's house and gardens. Here I spotted a couple of charging stations, and of the 4 spots, one was actually in use. No, that's not a Leaf, it's a close cousin by the name of Renault Zoe. According to my French cousin, it's the most popular EV there. She had never heard of the Opel Ampera.

 

[rmattila]

Type 2 with your own cable is the de facto charging standard in most of Europe. There are Type 1 to Type 2 cables that enable you to plug in a Type 1 car such as Volt or Ampera.

 

[hellsop]

Pretty necessary since Europe ends up getting CHAdeMO, Tesla, Mennekes, and J1772, and that's four different plugs to accommodate. Add in CCS for DC and you're up to five.

 

[FI Spyder]

Pretty necessary since Europe ends up getting CHAdeMO, Tesla, Mennekes, and J1772, and that's four different plugs to accommodate. Add in CCS for DC and you're up to five.

I was thinking of it preventing cable vandalism but your idea sounds the more plausible.

 

[rmattila]

Type 1 = J1772 (American cars)
Type 2 = Mennekes (European cars)

Voltage is 230 V
(Most homes get a 400 V three phase which converts into 230 V per phase.)