This kind of circuit isn't very common in households, but it's fairly simple to get one if you need it - most houses have three-phase power right up to the door, so an electrician can install it in a few hours. My grandfather had one for his circular saw.
But yes, hunting for these circuits on a road trip will be harder than finding a household circuit. Although that could change rather quickly if electric cars prove popular.
> I'm in Scandinavia, and our standard household circuit is 10A@230V for 2.3kW.
Only 10A? That seems very low, the common "mainland" circuits seem pretty much all rated 16A (@230V). So you can't even run some electric kettles at your place?
(but I confirm you can get 3-phase for very high loads, you'll usually pay the electricity company through the nose for running it though)
I think the older standard was 10A circuits for most of the house, 16A for kitchen and washing room and a dedicated 20A for the electric stove. I thought 10A was the most common still, but I may be wrong there.
The standard for newer houses, the past 10-15 years or so, is indeed 16A. I have 5x16A + 1x20A and a 35A main circuit breaker, so I can pull about 8kW all together. Enough for a few kettles :)
(This is for a a 40m^2/400 sq.ft. condo. A house would have more circuits and a larger main circuit breaker. And this is for Norway - we tend to follow similar standards as Denmark and Sweden, but there may be differences I'm not aware of.)
In Australia 240v @10A is a atandard household circuit, and dryers etc. run on 240V 15A circuits. (I believe 400V is obtainable as per the GP but I haven't lived i Australia for a while.)
But when you need a lot of power, you would install a 400V three-phase circuit (230 V between one phase and ground, 400V between two phases), something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_and_multiphase_power...
This kind of circuit isn't very common in households, but it's fairly simple to get one if you need it - most houses have three-phase power right up to the door, so an electrician can install it in a few hours. My grandfather had one for his circular saw.
But yes, hunting for these circuits on a road trip will be harder than finding a household circuit. Although that could change rather quickly if electric cars prove popular.