[NOTE: After this article was published, Toyota's Jana Hartline contacted GreenCarReports to note that the price of the charger and installation will "start at $999," and attached a press release from Leviton that also cited "installation packages starting at $999."
The Consumer Reports article cited gave the price, including installation, as $999. It should have read "$999 or more".]
The cost of having an electric vehicle charger installed in your home just got a lot cheaper this week thanks to Toyota, which confirmed that its official 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid charging station will start at cost just $999, including installation.
While there are several home charging solutions now available for under $1000, installation is normally extra, prompting many electric vehicle owners to forgo level 2 charging stations at home altogether, or skip official routes and use alternative solutions to charge their car.
The pricing of the charging station isn’t exactly new news: when Toyota officially announced its pricing for the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, it said the official charger for the $32,760 plug-in hybrid would be offered at time of purchase “from $999”.
But according to Consumer Reports, Toyota has confirmed the $999 charging station deal includes installation. Better still, Toyota said that regardless of what is actually required to install the charging station in customer’s homes, everyone will pay the same.
2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid
The one-size-fits all pricing plan from Toyota is a breath of fresh air in an industry where electric car owners are regularly being charged anything up to $1,818 for an ‘easy’ installation of an official charging station -- with more complex installations costing thousands more.
In other words, for people who have older properties which require major wiring upgrades, or people who have their home’s main breaker box a ways from the place they want the charging station to be, the Toyota deal could save them a lot of money.
Since Toyota is subsidizing the installation costs of its official charging station, you won’t be able to take advantage of the deal unless you’ve ordered a 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, but we think Toyota’s headline-grabbing price can only help to bring the price of rival charging stations down. In short, prices will fall, so if you're buying an electric car, make sure that you remember to shop around to get the best deal on your car's charging station.
2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid, production model
While the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid doesn’t exactly offer much range in all-electric mode, the charging station deal ensures that owners of the plug-in hybrid will at least have no excuse to drive as many miles as possible in all-electric mode.
There’s no official word yet if the charging station deal will be time-limited to early adopters, but we’re hopeful that Toyota will continue the scheme throughout 2012, as well as introduce a similar incentive to owners of the all-electric RAV4 EV, which Toyota is due to launch some time next year.
+++++++++++
