Add DC quick charger?

[Bonanzadriver]

Any updates on adding DC quick charging?

Anyone done it?

If so....

Pictures and pricing please.


Thanks

Dino

 

[PV1]

As far as I know, only one person has successfully added quick charging. It required a full transplant of the electrical system from one car to the other. Perhaps if the car already has the cold weather package it won't be necessary and just the port could be added.

 

[Don]

With the current pricing for 2012 models around $5K to $7.5K it would certainly be easier to trade cars . . . . probably cheaper too - Sell the one you have, buy another with DCQC if it's important to you

Don

 

[Bonanzadriver]

I'm not looking for "What's easier", in regards to simply buying one already equipped with the quick charger.

I truly am interested in how much time, effort and $$$ it takes to add this to vehicles not so equipped.

Obviously if it is prohibitively more expensive than the difference between the price of cars equipped vs not equipped, then I will opt for one equipped.

However, if it's less than say, $1,000 or so. Well then, that opens up ones search considerably.


So, although I appreciate advice as to what's easier, I would like to gather enough information to make a reasonably informed decision.


Thanks

Dino

 

[PV1]

Does the car in question have the cold weather package? If so, then adding a CHAdeMO port may be all that's necessary. One can be had for $800:

http://shop.quickchargepower.com/CHAdeMO-Inlets-YazInlet.htm

If not and it doesn't have to be CHAdeMO, then a charger like the Manzanita Micro could be tied into the high voltage bus for 12 kW charging (car must be in READY mode, but it would work). If there's no cold weather package and you want CHAdeMO, then a second car with CHAdeMO must be sourced, at which point a trade would be better than a total electrical transplant (code is different between the EV-ECUs, and all ECUs are VIN-encoded, so they must all stay together. Also, the battery packs are different with cold weather/QC car packs having internal ductwork and a fan). From the factory, the quick charge package automatically included the cold weather package, so it's certainly possible the only difference was the QC package including the CHAdeMO port, but nobody knows for sure.

 

[Don]

Does the car in question have the cold weather package? If so, then adding a CHAdeMO port may be all that's necessary. One can be had for $800:

I would emphasize the *may* in the above statement - No one has done this and while it *may* work, it's also entirely possible that it may not

If you are car shopping and DCQC is a must, I would certainly stick to looking at cars which come equipped the way you need them, rather than looking for a 'bargain' and thinking it's going to be easy (or cheap) to convert a car which didn't come equipped with DCQC from the factory

We were in your shoes two years ago. We bought our original SE brand new in 2012 and it doesn't have DCQC. We didn't want to pay the extra $3500 for an SE premium with features we thought we may never use. Not a big deal, as there isn't a DCQC station within 100 miles of here, but when we went looking for a second car when so many were coming off lease, we didn't even look at any cars that were not SE Premium models with DCQC and all the other bells and whistles. It really didn't matter how the lease cars were equipped - The used prices for the 2 to 3 year old iMiEV's were virtually the same for ES, SE's and Premium models - Many sellers didn't even know what they were selling. If they all cost roughly the same, why not get the best?. We found one with 3,900 miles and while we've still never used the DCQC, we do enjoy the upgraded stereo with the steering wheel controls, the Bluetooth phone, heated mirrors and occasionally the Nav system. Someday . . . . we'll use the DCQC too :mrgreen:

We did have to trailer the car home, as the one we bought was 750 miles away, but transporting a car a long distance is both cheaper and easier than converting one. We spent about $250 to get the car home using a borrowed trailer

If you buy one without and do the conversion, you'll be the first and everyone here will anxiously await the result of your experiment - I suspect there are many here who would love to do the upgrade if it proves to be easy and only costs $800

Don

 

[Isrev]

So I'm planning on a CCS retrofit, and luckily I found the workshop manual posted by user GdB;

http://myimiev.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1901

This should help with anyone still doing a CHAdeMO retrofit. I reached out to a Finnish Youtuber called Dala, and he said that its much easier to retrofit a CCS charging port if you tap directly into the HV because the LIM module controls the contactors. We would just have to add an LIM. I'll do my best to come up with some schematics in the coming months. I don't know too much about electrical engineering, but if there's a will, there's a way.