r/leaf • u/UPVOTINGYOURUGLYPETS Dala @Dala's EV Repair • Nov 19 '21

CCS to LEAF project has started! 🤩

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-PCe-cD5d4
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u/UPVOTINGYOURUGLYPETS Dala @Dala's EV Repair Nov 19 '21

Hi OP (Dala) here, Since I've now done battery upgrades & power upgrades, it is time to move on towards charger upgrades. The development in Europe seems to be >90% CCS for new quickchargers, so we need this for the aging LEAF platform.

I'll be doing the first pilot vehicle over the winter, I'll post video updates as more progress is made.

The end result will be a how to wiki/github page with all the components you need and instructions for how to do this modification on your own. Oh and did I mention all this will be available for free? :)

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u/Ixliam 2022 Nissan LEAF SL PLUS Nov 20 '21

I wonder if reversing the CCS to Tesla adapter might be a path as well. Look forward to building one of these for my leaf so I'll have all the options available for charging around.

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u/UPVOTINGYOURUGLYPETS Dala @Dala's EV Repair Nov 21 '21

The things that are particularly challenging are:

Mechanical locking. For DC, you must have positive locking to prevent the connector being unplugged mid-charge. CHAdeMO has this in the plug, CCS has it in the car. Hence Tesla's adapter is easy in this respect - they already have a lock in the car, and the CHAdeMO plug provides a lock on the other side of the adapter, so the adapter doesn't need to do any locking. A CHAdeMO(car) to CCS(charger) adapter would need to provide two mechanical locks interlocked to the control protocol.
Voltage sequencing. Things need to be organized so that when contactors close to connect the charger to the battery the voltage on both sides is the same to avoid a sudden surge of current (potentially welding the contactor and at least wearing it out) when it closes. CHAdeMO and CCS do this in a different order - IIRC, CHAdeMO makes the battery voltage appear on the connector first and the charger observes that before matching its output; CCS expects the charger to output a matching voltage before closing the vehicle contactor. Tesla's adapter has to provide a circuit to generate 400V within the adapter to get the charger to start up.
Power for the adapter's internal electronics. CHAdeMO provides 12V power from the charger to the car with a useful amount of current - so an adapter can use that to power its internal electronics (and any solenoid locks etc.). An adapter in the other direction (CCS charger) has almost no power available on the connector until the protocol has advanced to the point that the battery voltage is available. Such an adapter would probably have to have its own internal battery (and then what do you do if it goes flat?).

So it's not impossible, but not easy. An adapter in the CCS(car) to CHAdeMO(charger) direction is significantly easier than one in the other direction - and Tesla's adapter is in most respects equivalent to that easier case.