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I have room on my panel to add a 220 V circuit. But do you need that for a plug-in hybrid?

No. Typical charge on 110V is about 3-4 miles of range per hour. If your PHEV has say 40 miles of range, you should get roughly a full charge overnight. And if you don't on some random night due to circumstances, it's a hybrid so there's no range anxiety. 

No. Typical charge on 110V is about 3-4 miles of range per hour. If your PHEV has say 40 miles of range, you should get roughly a full charge overnight. And if you don't on some random night due to circumstances, it's a hybrid so there's no range anxiety.

Does not seem remotely close to worth it.

I'm a somewhat experienced residential electrician but this might be more your area:

I've seen where they can be charged with 120V or 240V with the 240V charging quicker.

Aside from speed of charge, would there be any differences worth noting?

• Would the cost be the same? I'm guessing it would because a KW is a KW and whether you charge in eight hours at 120V or two hours at 240V you'd need the same total but am I missing anything? Maybe if you had peak/off peak rates you could more easily manipulate that with a 240V charger but that is mostly not a residential thing.
• Is one better for the long-term health and life of the batteries?
• Anything else?

Yep. Don't buy a plug-in car.

I suppose the electrical components would be optimized toward one or the other, so there could be inefficiencies like impedance mismatching and additional line losses induced by the non-optimal method.  Of course, some of this could be mitigated with computerization and smart electronics along the electrical charging path that would adjust for the differences.

See, this is why I asked the engineers here.  As a "somewhat experienced residential electrician" I can easily run the line and install the plug for either 120V or 240V but this stuff is beyond what I've ever needed to know.  I would want to know that if I had a PHEV because I think it would make a material difference over the life of the car.  Ie, it probably isn't material for a single charge where the cost is going to be minimal:

Per Kelly Blue Book:
Charging a "large battery" costs:

• $11.55 in Idaho (cheapest state unless I missed one)
• $15.25 in Texas where @utee94 lives
• $15.83 in Florida where @847badgerfan lives
• $15.98 in Illinois where @847badgerfan and @betarhoalphadelta are from
• $16.53 US Average
• $16.67 in Ohio where I live
• $31.55 in California where @betarhoalphadelta lives 
• $33.41 in Rhode Island (most expensive state unless I missed one)

For a single charge I would guess that the efficiency differences are more-or-less nominal.  Even a 10% penalty in Rhode Island is only going to alter your cost by around $3.34.  However, if you own this car for 10 years and charge it around twice a week that is pushing 1,000 charges so that 10% difference would be around a thousand dollars in Idaho, around $1,500-$1,700 in Texas/Florida/Illinois/Ohio, and north of $3,000 in places like California and Rhode Island.  

Yep. Don't buy a plug-in car.

LoL, I get the sentiment.  OTOH, I think that the PHEV has a lot more short-term potential than straight up electric.  

Charging a PHEV all the way is only about a kWhr.  If you charge at home, it's minimal in terms of cost, average of 16 cents.  Say you drive 15 miles to work, and then 15 home, that costs you 15 cents in electricity, call it 32 cents in CA.  An equivalent hybrid would get you there and back with a gallon of gas, probably less, so call it $3.50-$4.00 in CA.

You might use it on trips 3-4 times a year where the gas mileage would be about what the hybrid gets.  So, you drive 30 miles to work and back, 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year, that's 7,200 miles which might cost you 200 gallons of gas with a hybrid or $900 (in CA) at $4.50.

The electricity costs in CA would be about $80.  Assume you save $800 a year over 6-7 years you about cover the nut.  Or you could buy a hybrid and put the extra $6 K in some CD at 5% interest.

I'm a somewhat experienced residential electrician but this might be more your area:

I've seen where they can be charged with 120V or 240V with the 240V charging quicker.

Aside from speed of charge, would there be any differences worth noting?

• Would the cost be the same? I'm guessing it would because a KW is a KW and whether you charge in eight hours at 120V or two hours at 240V you'd need the same total but am I missing anything? Maybe if you had peak/off peak rates you could more easily manipulate that with a 240V charger but that is mostly not a residential thing.
• Is one better for the long-term health and life of the batteries?
• Anything else?

Slower charge rates are generally better for the batteries.

I understand that with the longer range EVs, many offer the ability to schedule your charging, i.e. you plug in when you get home for the day and it shows down your charge rate to be ready at say 7AM rather than charging as far as it can.