Do BEVs, PHEVs need to be garaged in Northeastern US?

[CRT1]

So they just installed charging stations in the garage at work and I am starting to seriously consider adding a PHEV or BEV to our family.

Do these cars (Leaf, PIP, etc) require a garage or can I park and charge the vehicle in the driveway year round? I live in Boston so we do have some cold and some hot, but no ridiculous extremes.

My preference is to install an outdoor charging station with the J1772 plug or similar and continue to park in my driveway year round.

I have a small stand alone one-car garage that I use primarily as a tool shed. I could clear it out to park the BEV/PHEV in there, but I would have to run some power out to it. Not sure this is really a benefit since it probably stays pretty close to ambient temp anyway.

Thoughts?

[RedylC94]

Are those plugs designed to be safe outdoors even if you have to unplug to go somewhere during a hard rain?

[Right Lane Cruiser]

You can continue to park outside -- the plug is designed to be safe in the rain. You may have issues getting the charging port door open in freezing conditions, though.

There is a low voltage control signal line over which a handshake signal is exchanged with the car before the high voltage leads are turned on -- this makes it safe to handle when not plugged in and also incapable of shorting.

[EVuser]

We have 100's of outdoor EVSE's around here. They are sturdy and safe. Some added potential for vandalism so "out of sight out of mind" is a consideration. Usually taken for the value of the copper wiring.

If your drive has a slope it is a good idea to install a parking stop to go over. Most EV's by design can't be driven while the power cord is connected but that doesn't necessarily prevent gravity from rolling it down a incline.

I would much rather unplug/pluggin my EV in the rain than pump gas.

[herm]

You can also preheat/precool a BEV while its plugged in, saving you a lot of range in low range cars such as the Volt or iMiev. The battery also benefits from pre-conditioning.

Some of the EVSE charging docks cant tolerate bad weather, but there is never a shocking hazard.

[CRT1]

Test drove a Leaf yesterday, and I was impressed. It was a nicely appointed car and drove very smoothly. It is very quiet but then I am used to that since I can't hear the engine in my car unless I stomp on it and that doesn't happen very often. I liked the continuous power rather than the little hitches you get when an ICE AT shifts. I dipped all the way into the throttle at rolling speeds at the encouragement of the salesman and it seemed to have a nice torquey response with enough acceleration for me though not head snapping of course. Unfortunately I can't make the payments work right now with daycare expenses and all the work we want to do to our Fixer-upper house. Thinking about swapping my FIT for a used Prius and maybe an Plug-in conversion kit . . .